The Big Fail by Bethany McLean and Joe Nocera talks about how the United States government, along with the other big agencies there, are supposed to be best equipped to deal with a pandemic such as when Covid-19 struck, which generally failed the American public. It is truly fascinating to have experienced and survived my first viral pandemic, but even more fascinating is learning afterward how our government, along with other agencies whose main job is to deal with situations like these, have reacted in this most critical of times. Although I was not completely shocked by the events, I was still horrified to read about how the most prosperous country in the world, with so many modern tools at their disposal, can still seem like they were caught with their pants down in such a critical moment in our history. While there were obviously positive highlights and how things came to be, especially coming from some politicians whom I never expected, the overall feeling after having read through this is that we flunked our report card when it came to our handling of the virus outbreak. What’s also not surprising? It’s coming down to two or three obvious things: money, politics and more money.

What took place, in those early weeks, was as struggle between those who wanted to do everything and those who wanted to do nothing…

Authors

The book gives us a good glimpse of just how bad things get when a country is unprepared to handle a pandemic. So many unforeseen events and consequences reared their ugly heads and forced the public to take a good, hard look at what happens when so many things are left unchecked. The most maddening part is that many of the crises could have been averted if only the right people in government and big companies actually paid any attention. The PPE shortage situation highlighted in the book gives us the biggest glimpse of how globalization is touted as good when big companies are able to save their bottom line, but it left everyone scrambling once the global supply chain shut down.

“The Fed has effectively shifted from lender of last resort for banks to a commercial banker of last resort for the broader economy.”

Michael Feroli – J.P.Morgan’s Chief Economist

Equally important is the topic of how, again, as usual, when things get tough on the country, it is not the wealthy that suffers but the marginalized and citizens who already have nothing. No bigger example highlights this fact than what is happening to private equity companies buying out hospitals to maximize shareholder profits by increasing medical care costs, exploiting loopholes in the system to squeeze even more life out of their assets, and then moving on to the next big purchase.

Even in the middle of the pandemic, most corporations simply could not shed their now-ingrained habit of putting shareholders above employees.

Authors

Finally, the politics. The United States has been so politically divided. It used to be that one was able to stay away from politics as it was just the “stuff” that happens to politicians and something we usually only get a glimpse of in the news and whatnot. Not so anymore in this modern day and age. When the stakes are so high for politicians, it’s near impossible to admit any wrongdoing. One is expected to double-down, regardless of the statistics presented proving otherwise.

During Covid-19, a mask wasn’t just a mask; it was a symbol of one’s politics.

Authors

One of the more entertaining sections to read involves how Operation Warp Speed came to light, along with the process and people involved in creating the vaccines for Covid-19. Another great read involves how some were on the great search for PPE, especially for nitrile gloves and masks, and uncovering so much fraud and exploitation that makes one wonder if our government actually cares or not.

“It was a complete waste of time. FEMA took the masks. We never saw them again. The government never had the slightest interest in helping hospitals get PPE.”

Schessel

The blame game. It has always been and will always be about pointing fingers. If a global pandemic such as Covid-19 can’t force our parties to work together, it’s really hard to say what actually will. Although I don’t classify myself as anti-government, this book highlighted so many important things to make me question: on what side are they really helping? At the moment, it looks a lot more like the people with wealth. At the same time, I believe a government is needed but cannot and should not be abolished completely. So many questions remain. At least COVID-19 showed us this much, if nothing else. But with so many citizens having so many more pressing issues to deal with along with a “shorter-term memory” of past events, it’s likely that nothing will change.