Shortages of PPE and ventilators not to mention beds and staff are what happens when you run a society based on the market principles of efficiency, competition and profit. Unemployment caused by staff layoffs are efficient. But only for the firm. Are these unemployment numbers a clear measure of inefficiency in a society embedded in a market economy? What if the market were embedded in society?

The response to this virus but also the climate crisis — thought by some to be on pause — is all affected by our faith in markets. Thoughts and prayers to either god or the market will not help.

We must rethink our core beliefs starting with money. It is clear now that money should only be a means to measure how well we are doing in creating a society where life and the quality of life matters more than the widely-accepted market principles of profits which are made ever greater by efficiency and competition.

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