Links: working through apocalypse

[sonia]

The world as we know it is ending. Why are we still at work? by By Anna North.

Reorienting the American economy around care would mean fairly compensating workers in fields like child care and elder care, which routinely pay poverty-level wages. It would also mean providing other workers with the paid leave, flexibility, and reasonable schedules necessary for them to attend to their own care responsibilities at home.

Overall, surviving the disasters of the 21st century will require a new kind of strength from Americans — not the dogged persistence to keep doing our jobs while the world falls down around us, but the empathy and generosity to come together to stop the collapse. As Remes put it, “nothing is possible when we all have to pretend to be independent all the time.”

You might get a breakthrough case of Covid-19 this winter. Here’s how to prepare. by Rachel Wilkerson Miller.

It’s also wise to get physically and mentally ready on a personal level. During uncertain times, it can be helpful to gain some small semblance of control. While we wait to learn more about omicron, doing something lightly productive — even just restocking your now-expired cold meds — can offset feelings of powerlessness or anxiety you may be experiencing.

Comments

[silveradept]

There needs to be a massive reconfiguration of work, and to do that, we'll probably also have to do a massive reconfiguration of wealth so that when we have to do things like shut down to true essentials, everyone has the paid leave and reserve assets to be able to ride out the quarantines. I wish I had more optimism about the political will to make this happen, but at least in the States, it seems our politicians are little more than the pawns of the very wealthy who believe in keeping up enough appearances for us to think otherwise.

[sonia]

Yeah. I saw a tweet that said people are fighting student loan forgiveness because it would increase the net worth of Black people by a lot, and I thought, "Oh."

[silveradept]

Ah, that is a lightbulb moment. Cancelling student loan debt would improve the lives of white people significantly as well, but there's a long history of doing harmful things just so that not-white people want additionally benefit from them.