By: Dr. Salam AL
Rabadi
Based
on an evaluation of the policies and strategies, that have been adopted to face
the economic and financial repercussions of the global Covid 19 pandemic,
addition to increasing pressure as a result of the difficult challenges for all
countries on the deficit in the government budgets level, we can say that all
the efforts of politicians and economists to find new opportunities and
alternatives in all sectors have not achieved the desired results. It must be
noted the basic problem in the modern world on a level relationship between
sustainable development and economic growth are: The problematic of the gap
between the rich and the poor. Therefore, we can put the following question:
Do we
in the era of the economy for the economy and not for the society?
Far from theorizing and according
to the statistics and data on the economic gap (if we take into account that
the largest percentage of citizens are workers or employees are gainfully
employed), it must be recognized by the fact that the economy is growing far
from the labor market and has a negative impact on this sector more than other
sectors. Also, if the facts based on the public interest will remain the
primary criterion to evaluate the successful economic policy, we can say that
the economy is no longer working for the benefit of the peoples. Accordingly,
it is obvious that the gap between the leading entrepreneurs and the owners of
wealth on the one hand and the salaries of the workers on the other hand, it
will growing doubts about the safety of the community.
Hence, if the Free trade and
movement of capital are initiating the growth and wellbeing, and if the goals of the World Trade Organization
(WTO) will be achieved in the future at the level of removing quantitative
restrictions, unifying all customs duties and making the world a free trade
zone, here question marks must be raised about whether:
Will these policies and goals lead
to exacerbate economic and social crises? Or will it be a point of positive
change and transformation?
It has become evident that the
competition between countries (whether industrial or developing) to cut wages
or salary will lead to disastrous results, this will not increase the
well-being of communities but will increase the rigidity of the painful social
status. It should be noted in this context that lower wages are reflected in
commodity prices and benefit from them will be directly in favor of the
high-income consumer (who has lost nothing of his income as a result of
reducing the cost of production). On the other hand, it is the middle and lower
classes that lose part of their income and are affected more than others( they are more affected). Proceeding
from this reality, we cannot ignore the following dialectic:
Who will bear the most economic
burdens as a result of the crises associated with the Covid-19 pandemic:
capital or workers?
In the past, the economic equation
more closely reflected the widening gap between the rich and the poor, as
follows: the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. But now, in light of the
current existing facts, this equation is no longer sufficient to clarify the
picture, as it has become clear that a new formula has emerged based on the
following principle:
The rich
become richer and the poor are getting poorer at a faster rate?
Likewise, in the event of a
careful reading of the current economic reality and based on economic pattern
that governments follow, where work is underway to increase the tax burden on
the labor sector and workers, not to mention that increasing tax exemptions and
facilities provided by governments to transnational companies, this economic
and financial patterns will inevitably lead to a deterioration, and reduction
in financial revenues in the public budgets of countries, which these
governments try to compensate this decrease in revenue is through increasing
taxes on other classes (the poor), or by reducing social services (especially
health and educational care).
In this context, by tracking the
economic and social repercussions of the Covid 19 pandemic, it can be said that
there is a moral and economic defect at the level of global governance when we
know that there is a high speed in providing money in order to find solutions
to the global financial and economic crises,. Compared to that there is caution
and extreme miserliness when it comes to financing Humanitarian programs with
relatively little cost.
For example,
we only need tens of billions annually to eliminate hunger and malnutrition in
the entire world (and the United Nations has approved several different
programs to achieve this goal), but these programs are still on paper, only due
to lack of availability the necessary funds. This is also what can be concluded
previously at the level of support for global projects and programs related to
combating epidemics and infectious diseases, as well as this reality currently
applies to the level of difficulties facing the United Nations (UN) and the
World Health Organization (WHO), in order to secure the necessary funds to
support scientific research related to confronting the Covid 19 pandemic, away
from political strategies, states' interests, or policies of economic
exploitation.
In conclusion and in light of how
countries and global institutions deal with the dilemmas of the Covid-19
pandemic, these tragic facts (far from the ideological dimensions in the study
and evaluation of the global economy) put us with this logical dialectical
question which raises a lot of controversy:
Does the problem lie in the
priorities and strategic options of countries? Or is it in fact a problem of
the actual capabilities available to states?
