A shopper picks up a package of toilet paper at a store in Burbank, California, on November 19. Paper towels and other cleaning supplies are flying off retail shelves amid a new wave of panic buying as the United States faces the most recent surge in coronavirus infections. Photo: AFP A shopper picks up a package of toilet paper at a store in Burbank, California, on November 19. Paper towels and other cleaning supplies are flying off retail shelves amid a new wave of panic buying as the United States faces the most recent surge in coronavirus infections. Photo: AFP
A shopper picks up a package of toilet paper at a store in Burbank, California, on November 19. Paper towels and other cleaning supplies are flying off retail shelves amid a new wave of panic buying as the United States faces the most recent surge in coronavirus infections. Photo: AFP
Josef Gregory Mahoney
Opinion

Opinion

The View by Josef Gregory Mahoney

US is infected with ‘pandemic capitalism’ as markets incentivise suffering

  • A distinct strain of pandemic capitalism is present in the United States as stock prices soar and the government and markets prioritise profits over people
  • Women, the working poor and minorities have taken the brunt of the suffering while drug companies, tech firms and friends of the government lined their pockets

Josef Gregory Mahoney
Josef Gregory Mahoney

Updated: 10:21pm, 30 Nov, 2020

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A shopper picks up a package of toilet paper at a store in Burbank, California, on November 19. Paper towels and other cleaning supplies are flying off retail shelves amid a new wave of panic buying as the United States faces the most recent surge in coronavirus infections. Photo: AFP A shopper picks up a package of toilet paper at a store in Burbank, California, on November 19. Paper towels and other cleaning supplies are flying off retail shelves amid a new wave of panic buying as the United States faces the most recent surge in coronavirus infections. Photo: AFP
A shopper picks up a package of toilet paper at a store in Burbank, California, on November 19. Paper towels and other cleaning supplies are flying off retail shelves amid a new wave of panic buying as the United States faces the most recent surge in coronavirus infections. Photo: AFP
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Josef Gregory Mahoney

Josef Gregory Mahoney

Josef Gregory Mahoney is professor of politics at East China Normal University in Shanghai, where he also directs the International Centre for Advanced Political Studies and the international graduate programme in politics. He was previously with the Central Compilation and Translation Bureau in Beijing, then China’s leading think tank.