The UN Cannot Lead Us Out Of This Crisis

Its multilateral bodies are short on vision and too dependent on financial powers to take charge, as the pandemic recedes

- D Ravi Kanth

TRADING THOUGHTS

As economic historian Adam Tooze said, “an entire model of global economic development has been brought skidding to a halt” by the COVID -19 crisis, exposing the malignant methods which have worked to channel wealth to those at the top while draining the public purse and stretching public services — upon which the health and resilience of most of us depend — to a breaking point.

Scrambling for a response, policymakers from advanced economies have replaced the neoliberal mantra of “there is no alternative” with doing “whatever it takes”. These neo-liberal economic policies based on market fundamentalism have also contributed to the rapid spread of the Hindutva ‘virus’ in India.

Finding our way out

In rapid succession, novice UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak discovered his inner Keynes; US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin became an (unwitting) advocate of universal basic income, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel abandoned her religious devotion to strict debt and fiscal rules. Whether this will be enough to prevent another Great Depression remains to be seen. As Tooze warns, with the main centres of economic and political power disoriented, it is unclear “who will lead the way out of the crisis”.