Shutdown Buchzusammenfassung - das Wichtigste aus Shutdown

Einleitung anhören

00:00

Zusammenfassung von Shutdown

Name: Shutdown
Rating: 3.3 (91 reviews)
Author: Adam Tooze

Adam Tooze

How Covid Shook the World's Economy

3.3 (91 Bewertungen)

24 Min.

Themen

Pandemic International Economics Crises & Scandals Global Politics

Inhaltsübersicht

Shutdown
in 8 Kernaussagen verstehen

Audio & Text in der Blinkist App

Kernaussage 1 von 8

What’s in it for me? Getting your head around 2020 . . .

To look at the data, you might assume that an asteroid struck the earth.

SARS-CoV2 afflicted 95 percent of the world’s economies and produced the most intense, most comprehensive economic contraction in recorded history.

At minimum, ten of millions fell ill and well over 3 million died. Three billion people lost jobs or were furloughed. Nearly 1.6 billion children had to stay home from school. For days, weeks, or months, COVID-19 halted the public life of nearly every person on the planet.

Yet, as astonishing as Covid continues to be, public health experts knew something like it was coming. Covid was a gray rhino – just like that charging animal, it was a massive, identifiable threat that was heading right at humanity.

We had better take a lesson or two from 2020, because more grey rhinos are charging.

In these blinks, you’ll learn

how Covid was both unprecedented and predictable;
what the world’s governments got right, and what they got wrong; and
how the economic lessons from Covid can prepare us for the next cataclysmic threat.

Widespread, willful unpreparedness allowed the virus to bring public life to a screeching halt.

However the chaos of 2020 is written about in history books, US President Donald Trump is certain to have a starring role.

Over the course of the crisis, Trump flirted with Covid denialism. He hemmed and hawed on social distancing, endorsed quack remedies, and railed against the best science available. He inflamed international and domestic divisions when unity was needed most. His performance was dangerously ill-advised, and it had a massive impact.

However, the conditions that lent Covid its world-shaking power go far beyond the US and long preceded Trump’s presidency.

The key message here is: Widespread, willful unpreparedness allowed a virus to bring public life around the world to a screeching halt.

We’ve known for decades that our modern lives create more – not less – disease. Endless encroachment into wilderness, industrial farming, mega-urbanization, overuse of antibiotics, global mobility, and fake medical news, to say nothing of a warming climate, all increase the generation of new maladies.

More specifically, after SARS in 2003, swine flu in 2009, and MERS in 2012, virologists predicted with near certainty that a new and contagious flu-like virus was close at hand. If it spread throughout the world, mild lethality would mean a death toll exceeding WWI and WWII combined.

Public health experts also knew that a flu-like virus could spread through global corridors of trade and travel. They knew it could brutalize poorer populations. Take Sub-Saharan Africans, for example – in 2017, they were already 12 times more likely to die from communicable disease than a European or a citizen of the United States. The numbers were sure to be even worse in the case of a highly contagious disease. The same inequity would be true within countries. In the US, respiratory infections account for 80 percent of deaths by communicable disease, and poverty demonstrably increases the incidence and lethality of those infections, a grim fact that is particularly true in poor Black, Latino, and Native American populations.

In terms of a response, governments knew that 7.8 billion people would rely immensely on the World Health Organization, a woefully underfunded agency with a budget of $4.4 billion, roughly equivalent to one large hospital. Within the US, Americans would rely on a healthcare system that excludes tens of millions and a patchwork of hospitals that are managed according to revenue and cost, not preparedness. The catastrophic stakes were known and they went unaddressed. However, when Covid hit, it hit first in a place that, compared to most, was as prepared as one can be.

China’s decisive response to Covid’s emergence in Wuhan solidified the regime’s legitimacy.

In November 2019, a new virus began to pass from person to person in Wuhan, China. Within weeks, the sick filled the city’s hospital beds. Gasping and terrified, many suffered a death that resembled suffocation.

The provincial leadership of the Communist Party kept the crisis quiet, suppressing reports that might reach party leadership, which was in the midst of annual meetings. But on January 6, 2020, China’s President Xi Jinping received news of the spreading illness. Xi was ready.

In the West, responses to Covid were slow and uncoordinated.

After almost four years of ordeal, Britain left the European Union on January 31, 2020. According to UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the country was set to usher in a new era of freedom and greatness, so long as it avoided irrational fears, such as “pandemic panic.”

A week later, the US Senate acquitted Donald Trump of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress for the second time. Trump celebrated with a tour of red states, where he held rallies packed with adoring crowds.

The US took radical action to save the existence of the world economy as we know it.

When people’s physical safety isn’t guaranteed, there isn’t much of an economy. So in the spring of 2020, as COVID-19 circulated from one person to the next, the global economy began to evaporate.

Air travel dropped 94 percent. Salons, gyms, dentists’ offices, stores, tourist attractions, schools, and countless other businesses that put people near one another ground to a halt. COVID-19 jeopardized the supply of goods and services, slashed demand, and imperiled the livelihoods of millions in what amounted to the steepest worldwide economic drop in history. Soon, this shockwave breached the safest collection of assets in the world: the market for US Treasuries.

While the EU and US reeled within the new fiscal reality of the pandemic, China resumed its upward trajectory.

When Covid first struck Europe in February 2020, it broke out in a cluster of towns southeast of Milan. Rome ordered the region into lockdown and enforced the quarantine with a cordon of police and military personnel.

While the media rightly focused on the human toll, Covid’s economic contagion – the supply, demand, and labor shock – was also terrifying, and in fiscal terms, Italy was extremely vulnerable. It owed $1.9 trillion, nearly one and a half times its GDP. Covid then broke out in France and Spain. If Covid dragged their GDPs below their total debt, the European economy would enter a doom spiral.

Emerging markets survived through stress-tested methods of getting credit.

In April 2020, as the virus made its deadly way into the Global South, a coalition of European and African governments petitioned the IMF – the International Monetary Fund – to triple loans and aid to poor countries. The US, however, vetoed the deal. Word behind the scenes was that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin bowed to pressure from Republican IMF-skeptics led by Texas Senator Ted Cruz.

The IMF did manage to put a moratorium on loan repayments, but in the midst of the pandemic, middle and lower-income countries didn’t need debt forgiveness. They needed cash.

In the Fall of 2020, Covid surged again through the US, deepening the country’s wounds.

On May 25, 2020, a white police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota knelt on the neck of a Black man named George Floyd. Floyd had allegedly attempted to pass off a counterfeit $20 bill at a corner store, and in the midst of his arrest, face down on the street, he repeatedly told the officer who knelt on his neck that he could not breathe. A bystander filmed the arrest, and soon millions would watch Floyd die under the officer’s knee.

Covid’s devastating effects fall hardest upon the poor. In 2020, given US history and its present disparities, Black Americans were more likely than white Americans to suffer illness and job loss. They were also more likely to die.

The story of Covid is far from over, but a consensus has emerged on how to handle its economic fallout.

The speed with which medical science produced a vaccine for SARS-CoV2 has no precedent in history. Before Xi Jinping even knew that Covid had hit Wuhan, professors in Shanghai had successfully sequenced the virus’s genetic code. Within the year, several vaccines against the virus were available.

However, few outside of the rich world have gotten a vaccine. Supply bottlenecks, vanishing will on the part of rich governments, and the intellectual property concerns of pharmaceutical companies have slowed the global rollout. Meanwhile, variants are emerging.

Du möchtest die gesamte Zusammenfassung von Shutdown sehen?

Kernaussagen in Shutdown

Mehr Wissen in weniger Zeit

Sachbücher auf den Punkt gebracht

Kernaussagen aus Sachbüchern in ca. 15 Minuten pro Titel lesen & anhören mit den „Blinks”

Zeitsparende Empfehlungen

Titel, die dein Leben bereichern, passend zu deinen Interessen und Zielen

Podcasts in Kurzform ^Neu

Kernaussagen wichtiger Podcasts im Kurzformat mit den neuen „Shortcasts”

Worum geht es in Shutdown?

Shutdown (2021) explores the unprecedented shock COVID-19 dealt the world economy. The story begins with the revelation of the disease in January 2020 by Chinese President Xi Jinping and ends precisely a year later with the inauguration of US President Joe Biden, and through this history, Shutdown shows how markets and governments reeled from the blow, how they regained their footing, and what we might learn for the next worldwide crisis.

Wer Shutdown lesen sollte

News junkies and history buffs alike
Those who know that economic policy matters
Anyone seeking perspective on our tumultuous times

Über den Autor

Alan Tooze is a professor of economic history at Columbia University and the author of numerous award-winning books, including The Wages of Destruction, a history of the Nazi economy, Deluge, which traces the fallout of the First World War, and Crashed, an autopsy of the Great Recession.

Kategorien mit Shutdown

Society & Culture Economics Politics

Ähnlich wie Shutdown

Crashed

Adam Tooze

How a Decade of Financial Crises Changed the World

29 min

4.4

Slouching Towards Utopia

J. Bradford DeLong

An Economic History of the Twentieth Century

32 min

4.1

COVID-19: The Great Reset

Klaus Schwab and Thierry Malleret

A vision for what the post-Covid world could look like

A Surprising Economic History of the World

Ten Dangerous Trends That Imperil Our Future, and How to Survive Them

Own Your Morning. Elevate Your Life.

A Friendship That Changed Our Minds

9 min

4.0

23 Things They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism

Ha-Joon Chang

Why capitalism is not what you think it is.

23 min

3.9

The Laws of Human Nature

Robert Greene

What affects your day-to-day life

29 min

4.5

The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money

John Maynard Keynes

The “Keynesian Revolution”—the Masterpiece That Changed Economics

The Small Changes That Change Everything

A foundational work in the history of Western political philosophy

A Common Sense Guide to the Economy

How It Explains the World

16 min

3.1

Theories of Childhood

Carol Garhart Mooney

An Introduction to Dewey, Montessori, Erikson, Piaget & Vygotsky

19 min

4.4

The Metabolism Reset Diet

Alan Christianson

Repair your liver, stop storing fat, and lose weight naturally

366 Meditations on Power, Seduction, Mastery, Strategy, and Human Nature

My Battle With Europe’s Deep Establishment

A Moonshot Guide to Changing Capitalism

20 min

4.0

The Web That Has No Weaver

Ted J. Kaptchuk

Understanding Chinese Medicine

18 min

4.7

Thinking, Fast and Slow

Daniel Kahneman

Intuition or deliberation? Where you can (and can't) trust your brain

28 min

4.5

Why Nations Fail

Daron Acemoglu & James A. Robinson

The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty

Companies, Countries, People – and the Fight for Our Future

28 min

3.8

The Power of the Downstate

Sara C. Mednick

The New Science to Ignite Energy, Enhance Sharpness, and Reclaim Balance

22 min

4.7

The Greatness Mindset

Lewis Howes

Unlock the Power of Your Mind and Live Your Best Life Today

My Life in Special Operations

23 min

4.3

How to Be Your Own Therapist

Owen O'Kane

Boost Your Mood and Reduce Your Anxiety in 10 Minutes a Day

19 min

4.4

Understanding Artificial Intelligence

Nicolas Sabouret

A Straightforward Explanation of AI and Its Possibilities

The history and core principles of the Eastern philosophy of Zen

A Retelling of the Myths of Ancient Greece

18 min

4.7

The Fine Art Of Small Talk

Debra Fine

How To Start a Conversation, Keep It Going, Build Networking Skills – and Leave a Positive Impression!

Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle

19 min

4.6

30 Ways to Reboot Your Body

Ben Greenfield

A Complete User Manual for Getting the Most Out of the Human Body

10 min

3.5

The Demon-Haunted World

Carl Sagan

Science as a Candle in the Dark

A Brief History of Culture, Sex, War and the Evolution of Us

21 min

4.2

The Dawn of Everything

David Graeber & David Wengrow

A New History of Humanity

A Daring Strategy to Change How We Live, Lead, and Love

15 min

3.4

Fashionable Nonsense

Alan Sokal and Jean Bricmont

Postmodern Intellectuals’ Abuse of Science

13 min

4.1

Dare to Lead (New Version)

Brené Brown

Brave work. Tough conversations. Whole hearts.

The Secret to Love That Lasts

20 min

4.5

Love Your Life, Not Theirs

Rachel Cruze

7 Money Habits for Living the Life You Want

15 min

4.4

You Are Not Your Brain

Jeffrey M. Schwartz and Rebecca Gladding

The Four-Step Solution for Changing Bad Habits, Ending Unhealthy Thinking, and Taking Control of Your Life

Illness, Medicine and What Matters in the End

19 min

4.5

The Procrastination Cure

Jeffery Combs

7 Steps to Stop Putting Life Off

16 min

4.5

The 16 Undeniable Laws of Communication

John C. Maxwell

Apply Them and Make the Most of Your Message

Health, Wealth and the Origin of Inequality

Timeless Stoic and Buddhist philosophy

A Manual for Surviving Worst-Case Scenarios

14 min

4.4

The Future of Capitalism

Paul Collier

Facing the New Anxieties

20 min

3.9

❤️ für Blinkist️️️

Ines S.

Ich bin begeistert. Ich liebe Bücher aber durch zwei kleine Kinder komme ich einfach nicht zum Lesen. Und ja, viele Bücher haben viel bla bla und die Quintessenz ist eigentlich ein Bruchteil.

Genau dafür ist Blinkist total genial! Es wird auf das Wesentliche reduziert, die Blinks sind gut verständlich, gut zusammengefasst und auch hörbar! Das ist super. 80 Euro für ein ganzes Jahr klingt viel, aber dafür unbegrenzt Zugriff auf 3000 Bücher. Und dieses Wissen und die Zeitersparnis ist unbezahlbar.

Ekaterina S.

Extrem empfehlenswert. Statt sinnlos im Facebook zu scrollen höre ich jetzt täglich zwischen 3-4 "Bücher". Bei manchen wird schnelle klar, dass der Kauf unnötig ist, da schon das wichtigste zusammen gefasst wurde..bei anderen macht es Lust doch das Buch selbständig zu lesen. Wirklich toll

Nils S.

Einer der besten, bequemsten und sinnvollsten Apps die auf ein Handy gehören. Jeden morgen 15-20 Minuten für die eigene Weiterbildung/Entwicklung oder Wissen.

Julia P.

Viele tolle Bücher, auf deren Kernaussagen reduziert- präzise und ansprechend zusammengefasst. Endlich habe ich das Gefühl, Zeit für Bücher zu finden, für die ich sonst keine Zeit habe.