Inequalities may widen
The coronavirus outbreak has exposed existing inequalities and risks making them much worse without reform, argues Nobel prize-winning economist Angus Deaton.
The Scottish-born Princeton professor is calling for changes to the US healthcare system and the country’s big techmology firms.
“Someone compared the pandemics to an X-ray machine that makes the inequalities already there much more transparent,” the 75-year-old said.
“The educated people, most of us have jobs we can continue to do almost the same way, we talk to people on Zoom and we get paid just the same.”
But those with less formal education were often “essential workers who risk their lives with Covid-19. Or if they are in nonessential things, they might lose their jobs”.
In the US, death rates have risen for those without university degrees and were going down for those with one, he added. In addition, “mortality rates from Covid-19 are much higher for African-Americans than for whites”.
He said these factors could not have predicted the wave of protests that have swept the US following the death of George Floyd.
“But I nor you can say it has nothing to do with Covid-19,” he said.
Deaton, who won the Nobel prize in 2015, is lauded for his insights into poverty and health issues – and he sees this as a key area for change. He expressed hope that the outbreak would finally force reform of US healthcare.
“When people lost their jobs they lost their medical insurance,” he said. “There are a huge number of people who have been treated for Covid-19 and survived and will end up with huge medical bills.
“There’s a huge number of people that have died from Covid-19 and their families will end up with huge medical bills.
“And they cannot pay these bills – even people who have insurance, because often insurance has huge deductibles.”
Asked what could replace the US system, Deaton reeled off a list including the French, Canadian, German, Dutch and Swiss models.
“Anything is better than pretending that the market can deliver healthcare,” he said. “All you get is this enormous conspiracy to sort of transfer money from ordinary people to much better-off people. It’s been a major destroyer of jobs and a major source of inequality.
“The stumbling block for better welfare in America has often been race and maybe what’s happening now will change that.”
However, he was not optimistic: “The most likely thing it that it will end up the same as it was.”
“I’m really worried that big tech firms are going to prosper while many other businesses go bankrupt.
“I think all the indicators turn towards making inequalities worse.” – AFP
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Limpopo wants the provincial department of basic education to remove five companies from the provincial database for not delivering personal protective equipment (PPE) to schools reopening after the Covid-19 nationwide lockdown.
According to the Limpopo Covid-19 Command Council, about 42 schools in the province were still closed after the companies did not deliver the PPE.
Attempts to establish what was behind the companies’ failure to deliver on time and what the department was likely to do in response hit a brick wall as the MEC and the departmental spokesperson did not answer their phones or text messages.
“The DA in Limpopo is deeply concerned about the credibility and reliability of the suppliers on the provincial personal protective equipment (PPE) supplier database,” said DA Limpopo provincial treasury spokesperson and legislature member Risham Maharaj.
“We have learnt with shock from the MEC for basic education Polly Boshielo that the suppliers’ failure contributed to the province’s unpreparedness to reopen schools on 1 June
“Boshielo mentioned that five of the six suppliers sourced from the databases of the department of treasury and Limpopo economic development, environment and tourism failed to deliver PPE on time. But the MEC could not immediately name and shame the said companies.
“These companies’ contracts must be abandoned. The departments should restart the process to find new suppliers and that should be done with the urgency it deserves.”
Maharaj said the PPE suppliers on the provincial database were registered in the central supplier database in line with National Treasury instruction note 05 of 2020-2021.
He said these suppliers had been scrutinised and had stated they could deliver the services they offered and were able to deliver big supplies within a maximum of five to seven days, unless the items were urgently needed.
“The provincial government should not be doing business with suppliers that are untrustworthy.
“We, therefore, demand that suppliers who failed to provide the PPE as undertaken must be removed from the database of the Limpopo suppliers of PPE during this Covid-19 pandemic,” he said.
According to the chairperson of the Limpopo Covid-19 Command Council, Premier Stanley Mathabatha, the reopening of schools in Limpopo on 8 June was a resounding success.
He said the problems of the 42 schools which could not open were delayed water provision, sanitation and mobile toilets.
He said the largest number of schools that could not open were in Capricorn North and sanitation was the main reason.
Last week, cooperative governance MEC Basikopo Makamu visited Tours Primary School in Ga-Masoma, outside Tzaneen, which was closed amid late provision of PPE. The school had no toilets, no water and no proper classrooms.
The MEC undertook to convey his findings to Boshielo for an urgent intervention.
On Monday, the school was still closed.