by Evan Zilber ’22
2020 is not off to a great start so far, but the wonders of democracy may change that.
President Trump is facing off against Joe Biden this year, and a huge factor in our next election will undoubtedly be the coronavirus and how it was handled.
Prior to the pandemic, the economy under Trump was looking strong – corporate tax cuts and protectionist methods such as his trade war with China allowed for low unemployment rates and a steady rise in GDP.
Despite this, the standard American issue of an unequal concentration of wealth also grew under Trump, who ironically rose to fame mainly due to his populist rhetoric.
Now, amidst a pandemic that has killed over 100,000 Americans, the corporate sector is looking stable because of bailouts using taxpayers’ money – in fact, billionaires’ wealth increased 10% during the first three weeks of the pandemic, according to Forbes.
Although Biden may seem more appealing to the working people, he wouldn’t necessarily be an upgrade either, as his globalist approach would only harm the domestic workforce – guises of inclusivity are often just methods of acquiring cheap labor.
Corporate collusion with the government is essentially inescapable in the present status-quo.
NASDAQ prices do not necessarily correlate to a content populace: the recent killing of George Floyd was the final straw on the camel’s back for black Americans, and with little to no worry of job security due to COVID-19, a national uprising has erupted.
Societal issues often stem from economic ones and vice versa, and the riots on the streets are a prime example of this phenomenon.
Each election year, the phrase, “the lesser of two evils,” becomes more and more omnipresent – this leads one to wonder why the people don’t follow a “non-evil” direction. 2020 may be the year in which they finally do.
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