**August 6, 2020**

Meyerson on TAP

Lebanon and America: Two Failed States

"Lebanon knew of danger for years. It didn't act."

That's the front-page headline in today's New York Times
,
atop a story detailing how 2,750 tons of explosive ammonium nitrate,
which the Lebanese government had known about, blew up in Beirut on
Tuesday, killing at least 135 people, injuring at least 5,000, and
leaving hundreds of thousands homeless.

Press accounts of the disaster detail the emerging consensus of the
Lebanese people that their governing elites have long neglected the
public good, and make clear that the nation's economy is structurally
too weak to fix the damage the explosion wrought.

Dysfunctional government neglecting public safety? Dysfunctional economy
leaving a large share of the nation behind? Sound familiar?

Instead of one mighty blow, our nation has been singularly incapable of
stopping or even limiting the spread of COVID-19. We may be the
wealthiest nation on earth, but fully one-quarter of the people the
pandemic has killed are Americans, even though Americans constitute just
4 percent of the world's population. The number of Americans who've
tested positive for the disease is more than five times the combined
total of Europe, Japan, South Korea, Canada, and Australia.

And just as in Lebanon, this deadly fish stinks from the head. It takes
a government of stunning ineptitude and indifference to transform our
nation into the world's most vulnerable; it takes a president focused
only on himself and dismissive of science-and an administration he's
created in his own image-to produce such mournful numbers. And it has
taken a Republican Party (with the help of some Democrats) dead-set
against rights the rest of the world takes for granted to withhold paid
sick leave and universal medical care from its people, to fight to
withhold adequate unemployment insurance and public employment, to make
the prospect of economic recovery far slimmer than it needs be.

All failed states have their own story, but we're up there with
Lebanon, grieving, gasping, and hemorrhaging needlessly.

~ HAROLD MEYERSON

Follow Harold Meyerson on Twitter

[link removed]

Why Cori Bush Succeeded

And what her victory means for progressive politics and the
Congressional Black Caucus BY ALEXANDER SAMMON

Wall Street's Newest Way to Part Investors From Their Money

SPACs, or special purpose acquisition companies, have become a hot
product. As usual, that's good news for the big guys and bad news for
the little guys. BY DAVID DAYEN

The Afflictions of the Comfortable

How high-profile writers drop their masks in the pandemic BY MICHAEL
MASSING

Richie Neal Rolls Out Nancy Pelosi Ad to Save His Re-Election

But the ad's content is completely at odds with Neal's record. BY
DAVID DAYEN

Unsanitized: Testing Delays Have Us Flying Blind

Plus, deal hopes fade. This is The COVID-19 Daily Report for August 4,
2020. BY DAVID DAYEN

To receive this newsletter directly in your inbox, click here to
subscribe. 

[link removed]

 

[link removed]

 

[link removed]

 

[link removed]

 

[link removed]

 

[link removed]

 

[link removed]

YOUR TAX DEDUCTIBLE DONATION SUPPORTS INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM

Copyright (C) 2020 The American Prospect. All rights reserved.
_________________

Sent to [email protected]

Unsubscribe:
[link removed]

The American Prospect, Inc., 1225 I Street NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC xxxxxx, United States