From Huff Post: GOP Stripped Flu Pandemic Preparedness From Stimulus…

Famously, Maine Senator Collins, the supposedly moderate Republican who demanded cuts in health care spending in exchange for her support of a watered-down version of the stimulus, fumed about the pandemic funding: “Does it belong in this bill? Should we have $870 million in this bill No, we should not.”

On the economy (deregulation), on the environment (the volcanoes), on healthcare (preparedness), the GOP has shown that it has no contact with the real. They truly live in the crystal world of the mind; the world as it ought to be and not as it is. They are the last utopians. But the real remains rational.

I know, I know, Paul has already posted this story. But I want to point out that the problem with the pig flu, as with the bird flu, is neoliberalism. Look no further than that. It turned the world into a world market, but sans any substantive infrastructure or social institutions outside of the advanced capitalist economies. We can not live in a world that only sustains markets and cash flows and nothing else. The world made from the image of the neoliberal ideal is a very dangerous one.

Charles Mudede—who writes about film, books, music, and his life in Rhodesia, Zimbabwe, the USA, and the UK for The Stranger—was born near a steel plant in Kwe Kwe, Zimbabwe. He has no memory...

12 replies on “Another Blow for the GOP”

  3. Slog Ticker:

    First case of flying-pig flu confirmed in Seattle, Washington, when Charles Mudede, described by some as a local “writer” started babbling feverishly and experiencing hallucinations.

    Coworkers are being quarantined, having exposed themselves to potential infection for several hours.

    “He always acts like this. How could we have known?” an anonymous tipper pondered.

  4. No, the problem with the pig flu is that it kills people. The only issue that has neoliberalism as the cause of its problems is your theory on neoliberalism.

  10. Charles, Anthony & Paul,
    It is greatly unfortunate what is happening in Mexico. I don’t believe it necessary to politicize or make light of this situation. Swine flu has nothing to do with Sen. Collins, the GOP, neoliberalism or anything else except public health. The USA is far better prepared than most countries to combat a pandemic should it occur. It is an exceedingly difficult task even to determine that. So, let’s not panic but remain prepared.

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