'We are living through the first economic crisis of
the Anthropocene'
Columbia University Historian Adam Tooze notes:
“Faced with the crisis, Jair Bolsonaro and Donald
Trump have cut ludicrous figures. But they express a deep desire to deny the
significance of the shock. Who would not rather think that this was simply the
flu? Given this temptation, what we should guard against is not open displays
of denial but the soft alternative. Covid-19, like the unprecedented hurricanes
and devastating fires of 2019, will be dismissed as a freak of nature. That is
comforting. It will be good for business in the short run. But it sets us up
for another crisis. If it is right that Covid-19 is a crisis like no other,
what is to be feared is that there will be more like it to come”