Professor Richard Wolff: Massive WWII-style mobilization needed to combat global panic

Economics professor Richard Wolff said Friday that the United States needs “huge measures” to combat the negative economic effects of coronavirus.

“A radical public – this cannot be done by a private enterprise – this has to be a marshaling, the way we do in a war … like in World War I or II” Wolff told Hill.TV.

“We have to marshal our resources,” he continued, “If you remember, in World War I or II, we threw aside private enterprise … During World War II, we had rationing in this country because we did not believe that allowing the market to function was an adequate way of responding to the need to survive in a deadly war,” Wolff explained.

In the U.S., there have been over 1,700 cases of COVID-19 and at least 40 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Dozens of states and Washington, D.C., have issued emergency declarations and canceled K-12 schools for the coming weeks. 

All four major American sports leagues have suspended play, the NCAA Division I men’s and women’s basketball tournaments were canceled, and many cities and states have banned large gatherings of any kind.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) testing process has been a target of criticism as the coronavirus has spread throughout the country. Instead of using the World Health Organization’s (WHO) test kit, the CDC decided to make its own test, which slowed its response. Once the tests were finally rolled out, they weren’t fully effective.

According to the CDC’s website, between CDC and public health labs, approximately 13,500 coronavirus tests have been processed. By comparison, South Korea – which has suffered a sizable coronavirus outbreak of its own – has tested more than 200,000 people with the help of a highly efficient drive-through testing system.

President Trump is expected to declare a national emergency at a press conference at 3 p.m. EDT Friday.