Responding to and properly recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic will require structural reforms that fix underlying problems in America’s economy and democracy. Structural reforms are necessary to protect public health, mitigate the risks of future outbreaks, and ensure the eventual recovery benefits most Americans.
Too many workplaces lack adequate safety protections, millions of Americans still don’t have paid sick leave or health coverage, and roughly 2 in 5 people have virtually no savings to cover a financial emergency and cannot afford to stay home. Almost as importantly, the pandemic and the political response to it will inevitably reshape the country’s economy. After the financial crisis in 2007, the big banks that caused the crisis managed to become larger and more powerful, and the rich got even richer. In contrast, most Americans struggled through the recovery, and by at least some measures the economy had not fully recovered before the coronavirus pandemic started.
The above excerpt was originally published in Center for American Progress.
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