Page 65 - COVID-19: The Great Reset

will benefit equally from medical treatments and vaccines.
Particularly in the US, as Angus Deaton, the Nobel laureate who

co-authored Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism with
Anne Case, observed: “drug-makers and hospitals will be more
powerful and wealthier than ever”, [59] to the disadvantage of the
poorest segments of the population. In addition, ultra-

accommodative monetary policies pursued around the world will
increase wealth inequalities by fuelling asset prices, most notably
in financial markets and property.

However, moving beyond the immediate future, the trend could

reverse and provoke the opposite – less inequality. How might it
happen? It could be that enough people are sufficiently outraged
by the glaring injustice of the preferential treatment enjoyed
exclusively by the rich that it provokes a broad societal backlash.

In the US, a majority or a very vocal minority may demand
national or community control over healthcare, while, in Europe,
underfunding of the health system will no longer be politically
acceptable. It may also be that the pandemic will eventually

compel us to rethink occupations we truly value and will force us
to redesign how we collectively remunerate them. In the future,
will society accept that a star hedge fund manager who
specializes in short-selling (whose contribution to economic and

social welfare is doubtful, at best) can receive an income in the
millions per year while a nurse (whose contribution to social
welfare is incontrovertible) earns an infinitesimal fraction of that
amount? In such an optimistic scenario, as we increasingly

recognize that many workers in low-paid and insecure jobs play
an essential role in our collective well-being, policies would adjust
to improve both their working conditions and remuneration. Better
wages would follow, even if they are accompanied by reduced

profits for companies or higher prices; there will be strong social
and political pressure to replace insecure contracts and
exploitative loopholes with permanent positions and better
training. Inequalities could therefore decline but, if history is any

guide, this optimistic scenario is unlikely to prevail without
massive social turmoil first.

64