Pills for greed or pills for need.

The COVID 19 pandemic promises to have far-reaching and long-term effects in the future. The pandemic may trigger worldwide economic disintegration. But also there are signs evident of human solidarity and of collaboration, even of reorganising society, itself. 

The International Association of Health Policy analyzed the world’s response to the pandemic in a teleconference in late March. Vicente Navarro, a public-health academician based in Barcelona and Baltimore, summarized their deliberations, that, “several studies of recent years…had predicted that such a pandemic would occur and that the world was not prepared for it.” And, “states on both sides of the Atlantic have applied policies of privatization and cuts in public spending. The institutional base for providing services has deteriorated along with the quality of health and social services.”

Navarro and his group explained that “the biggest problem wasn’t a lack of resources, but the enormous inequalities in the availability of those resources. Therefore, it was a political and not an economic problem.” They pointed to “the minority interests of economic and financial groups that put profits for themselves above the common good.”

Capitalism now faces the deepest crisis in its several centuries of existence. Capitalism cannot escape from this crisis, no matter how many trillions of dollars governments borrow or central banks print. But nothing is clearer than the capitalists’ priorities - their stock portfolios come first and people’s desperate need for food, housing, water, a distant last. Under capitalism, disease is an immensely profitable industry, and pharmaceutical corporations excel at extracting enormous amounts of wealth. Of course, Big Pharma would have us believe that without their investments in scientific research, millions of people would not benefit from the medicine they sell. What system other than capitalism would encourage the  maximum profits so that Big Pharma investors can pursue high share prices and high dividends and another opportunity to swell their bank balances? Medicines that can be sold to wealthy consumers in developed countries, are fast-tracked, while drugs and treatments that might benefit the poorest billions are neglected.

 Human life is secondary to the pursuit of profits. This is why the chaos of the market must be superseded by a more scientific system of planning – a socialist system, where drugs are produced to meet the needs of humanity.

Mutual aid is alive. Everywhere people are working so that others might live and survive. The Socialist Party is striving to build a global community with a shared future for mankind. Our fellow-workers must acknowledge capitalism’s failures in dealing with the pandemic — and make the significant changes necessary for the security of our future. Could there be just the faintest glimmer of light at the end of this tunnel?

Extracted and adapted from here
https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/04/16/covid-19-how-big-pharma-and-big-philanthropy-consume-the-world/