Crises Don’t Bring Changes

I thought this guy was serious–until I read past the first sentence.

And he’s correct, of course.  Catastrophes have no effect on the way the U.S. federal government is structured, how it functions, or whom it serves.  As long as the rich can make money by plowing along in a certain direction, regardless of how devastating that may be to our lives, we’d be very foolish indeed to think that a change may be in the offing.

Of course, this is why our approach to climate change mitigation is so feeble.  Right now, we’re experiencing a full-on global pandemic that’s crashing every aspect of human life, and it’s not making a dent in our healthcare discussion (because that industry grosses $3.5 trillion annually, more than $11K per person, 18% of GDP).  Climate change won’t ruin the planet for at least a few decades, and the fossil fuel industry grosses even more ($4.8 trillion). No wonder our attention to the matter is so infinitesimally small.