If Covid-19 is a test of government effectiveness, then the world’s most powerful country has failed spectacularly.

180,000 Americans have died from Covid-19 — more than double the number who perished in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq combined https://trib.al/bYQvwpi ">https://trib.al/bYQvwpi&q...
America has done significantly worse than most other rich countries, with a mortality rate of 500 deaths per million people compared with:

https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🇩🇪" title="Flagge von Deutschland" aria-label="Emoji: Flagge von Deutschland">Just over 100 in Germany
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🇯🇵" title="Flagge von Japan" aria-label="Emoji: Flagge von Japan">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🇰🇷" title="Flagge von Südkorea" aria-label="Emoji: Flagge von Südkorea">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🇹🇼" title="Flagge des Taiwan" aria-label="Emoji: Flagge des Taiwan">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🇨🇳" title="Flagge von China" aria-label="Emoji: Flagge von China">Fewer than 10 deaths per million in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and China https://trib.al/bYQvwpi ">https://trib.al/bYQvwpi&q...
America has done significantly worse than most other rich countries, with a mortality rate of 500 deaths per million people compared with:https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable=Just over 100 in Germanyhttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🇯🇵" title="Flagge von Japan" aria-label="Emoji: Flagge von Japan">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🇰🇷" title="Flagge von Südkorea" aria-label="Emoji: Flagge von Südkorea">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🇹🇼" title="Flagge des Taiwan" aria-label="Emoji: Flagge des Taiwan">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🇨🇳" title="Flagge von China" aria-label="Emoji: Flagge von China">Fewer than 10 deaths per million in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and China https://trib.al/bYQvwpi&q..." title="America has done significantly worse than most other rich countries, with a mortality rate of 500 deaths per million people compared with:https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🇩🇪" title="Flagge von Deutschland" aria-label="Emoji: Flagge von Deutschland">Just over 100 in Germanyhttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🇯🇵" title="Flagge von Japan" aria-label="Emoji: Flagge von Japan">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🇰🇷" title="Flagge von Südkorea" aria-label="Emoji: Flagge von Südkorea">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🇹🇼" title="Flagge des Taiwan" aria-label="Emoji: Flagge des Taiwan">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🇨🇳" title="Flagge von China" aria-label="Emoji: Flagge von China">Fewer than 10 deaths per million in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and China https://trib.al/bYQvwpi&q..." class="img-responsive" style="max-width:100%;"/>
The coronavirus crisis could turn out to be a historical turning point.

Five hundred years ago, China was the greatest power on the planet, with the world’s biggest capital city and best run government. The West then rose by mastering statecraft http://trib.al/bYQvwpi ">https://trib.al/bYQvwpi&q...
America was aiming to put a man on the moon while millions of Chinese were dying of starvation.

Since that decade, Western governments have ossified while Asian governments have caught up and, in many cases, overtaken the West http://trib.al/bYQvwpi ">https://trib.al/bYQvwpi&q...
Today, the average citizen is safer from Covid-19 in https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🇸🇬" title="Flagge von Singapur" aria-label="Emoji: Flagge von Singapur">Singapore, https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🇰🇷" title="Flagge von Südkorea" aria-label="Emoji: Flagge von Südkorea">South Korea or https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🇹🇼" title="Flagge des Taiwan" aria-label="Emoji: Flagge des Taiwan">Taiwan than in the U.S.

They also enjoy better health and send their children to better schools http://trib.al/bYQvwpi ">https://trib.al/bYQvwpi&q...
Today, the average citizen is safer from Covid-19 in https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable=Singapore, https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🇰🇷" title="Flagge von Südkorea" aria-label="Emoji: Flagge von Südkorea">South Korea or https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🇹🇼" title="Flagge des Taiwan" aria-label="Emoji: Flagge des Taiwan">Taiwan than in the U.S. They also enjoy better health and send their children to better schools https://trib.al/bYQvwpi&q..." title="Today, the average citizen is safer from Covid-19 in https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🇸🇬" title="Flagge von Singapur" aria-label="Emoji: Flagge von Singapur">Singapore, https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🇰🇷" title="Flagge von Südkorea" aria-label="Emoji: Flagge von Südkorea">South Korea or https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🇹🇼" title="Flagge des Taiwan" aria-label="Emoji: Flagge des Taiwan">Taiwan than in the U.S. They also enjoy better health and send their children to better schools https://trib.al/bYQvwpi&q..." class="img-responsive" style="max-width:100%;"/>
Step 1. Build resilience

The obvious place to start is by dealing with the complete lack of preparedness for the virus. The U.S. could copy the Swiss system, where each employer is responsible for keeping up-to-date kits for its workers http://trib.al/bYQvwpi ">https://trib.al/bYQvwpi&q...
Step 2. Protect and unite

Nearly 30 years after one of us covered Rodney King’s beating in LA, Blacks are 3 times more likely than Whites to be killed by the police.

The U.S. needs to fire bad cops. Like bad teachers, they& #39;re protected by powerful unions http://trib.al/bYQvwpi ">https://trib.al/bYQvwpi&q...
Step 3. Lift the fog

America’s budget is incomprehensible because it is stuffed with perks and exemptions that benefit special interests. Bills don’t run to thousands of pages by accident; they conceal what is going on from the public http://trib.al/bYQvwpi ">https://trib.al/bYQvwpi&q...
Step 4. Simplify, cut, modernize, sell

The U.S. shouldn& #39;t have a tax code so complicated that 9 out of 10 tax-filers pay for help to complete their returns. The income tax rate could be lowered if you got rid of the $1.6T of exemptions for the well-off http://trib.al/bYQvwpi ">https://trib.al/bYQvwpi&q...
Step 5. Stop subsidizing the rich and the old

America looks after the old, not the poor. Nearly 90% of social insurance payments go to people who are 65+. We don’t need to be giving a state pension to Bruce Springsteen or Warren Buffett http://trib.al/bYQvwpi ">https://trib.al/bYQvwpi&q...
Step 6. A fairer health-care system

The U.S. should draw on systems in Germany, Canada and Singapore to guarantee every American a standard of free health care, paid for by the government but provided at both public and private hospitals http://trib.al/bYQvwpi ">https://trib.al/bYQvwpi&q...
America faces a choice between two endings: one in which the ship continues to rot and another in which it is repaired and rejiggered.

Other ships are beginning to go past the U.S. The rest of the world is not staying still. It is time to wake up http://trib.al/bYQvwpi ">https://trib.al/bYQvwpi&q...
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