> David Harvey: “Forty years of neoliberalism… had left the public totally exposed and ill-prepared to face a public health crisis of this sort… In many parts of the supposed “civilized” world, local governments and state authorities, which invariably form the front line of defense in public health and safety emergencies of this kind, had been starved of funding thanks to a policy of austerity designed to fund tax cuts and subsidies to the corporations and the rich… Much of the cutting-edge model of contemporary capitalist consumerism is inoperable under present conditions… The spiral form of endless capital accumulation is collapsing inward from one part of the world to every other… Workforces in most parts of the world have long been socialized to behave as good neoliberal subjects (which means blaming themselves or God if anything goes wrong but never daring to suggest capitalism might be the problem). But even good neoliberal subjects can see that there is something wrong with the way this pandemic is being responded to.” // Recommended read: Seventeen Contradictions and the End of Capitalism (Harvey 2015)
> William Davies: “The global financial crisis of 2008 failed to provoke a fundamental shift in policy orthodoxy. In fact, after the initial burst of public spending that rescued the banks, the free-market Thatcherite worldview became even more dominant… It will take years or decades for the significance of 2020 to be fully understood. But we can be sure that, as an authentically global crisis, it is also a global turning point. There is a great deal of emotional, physical and financial pain in the immediate future. But a crisis of this scale will never be truly resolved until many of the fundamentals of our social and economic life have been remade.” // Recommended read: The Happiness Industry: How the Government and Big Business Sold Us Well-Being (Davies 2016)
> Ivan Krastev: The coronavirus crisis will cause a strengthening of the big government, nationalism and anti-globalization, professionalism and expertise, big data authoritarianism, crisis management capacities, and intergenerational conflict. // Recommended read: The Light that Failed: Why the West is Losing the Fight for Democracy (Krastev and Holmes 2020)
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