In times of crisis most parts of society respond in a positive way, indicating that cooperation is an essential part of modern society. However, there are parts of society that are not responding to the current coronavirus situation in ways that are helping the social good, such as those seeking to profiteer from the crisis. It also stands, on the economic front, that the impact of coronavirus is hitting the poorest members of society the greatest. As a third example, the coronavirus pandemic is providing opportunities for fraudsters and scammers to launch cyberattacks, something that has been made easier through the rise in home working.
Extreme view on free markets
According to economist Michael Roberts, some in financial circles have argued that the virus is ‘getting rid’ of the old and the sick who are mostly unproductive in generating value and profit. After the pandemic is over, the world will be ‘leaner and fitter’ and able to expand more ‘productively’. It also stands that some of the ore extreme versions of capitalism, such as hedge funds, have been accused of profiteering from the coronavirus pandemic, as they exploit the economic turmoil to make billions of pounds in quick profits.
Further with profiteering from the coronavirus pandemic, Bloomberg notes that the loan arrangements put in place by several governments is leading to many banks being set to profit, given the expansion in loans and the types of interest rates being charged.
This is despite some governments, for example the U.K., urging companies, including major banks, against profiteering from the coronavirus crisis. Given the delay in loans being used, financial institutions have also been urged several times to accelerate the passing on of the benefits of the historic economic stimulus measures, which most governments have had to resort to, to their customers.
Low income households
Research shows that people with low income is associated with higher rates of chronic health conditions, including diabetes and heart disease, factors that increase susceptibility to COVID-19.
As an example, looking at the situation in Canada, Laura Cattari, campaign co-ordinator at the Hamilton Roundtable on Poverty says that much of the advice, relating to buying food, disinfectants and so forth is something that is especially challenging for people on low incomes. She says: “The idea that someone relying on welfare or disability supports will have enough money to stock up on two weeks’ worth of food and basic supplies is often just not realistic.”
Another example is with New York, where Time Magazine has reported on the impact of the coronavirus upon poorer communities. Such communities, that already have high unemployment rates, have seen an increase in job losses and very little social support. The magazine notes: “since the city began releasing data by ZIP code, that poorer neighborhoods have more reported cases than the tonier blocks.”
Cyber-scams
There has been an increase in cyber-scams and cyberattacks, either taking the form of spoof emails or websites offering coronavirus advice or cures, or as a consequence of the increase in remote working, where many people do not have the necessary security settings in place to protect computers and other devices.
Many companies have seen a shift from less than 20 percent remote work to more than 90 percent, almost overnight,. This has led to issues raging from the technical (scaling limitations) to those associated with security (insufficient cybersecurity controls).
