Why the Most Powerful and the Richest Country on Earth is so Devastated by Coronavirus?

the United States of America has always bragged to be the most powerful and the richest country on earth, but the recent Coronavirus Pandemic has proven otherwise. As of today, in the USA over 557,000 individuals have been infected and almost 23,000 have died due to infection. Need to remember the USA population is around 350,000,000 while China with over 1,700,000,000 population only 84,171 got infected and 3,339 individuals lost their lives. Also, need to remember that the Coronavirus started in China and it would be quite reasonable that one would expect more casualty in that country as they were caught by surprise.

The United States had ample warning about this horrific virus and in fact, the virus first travelled to other neighbouring countries in South East Asia, then travelled to Europe with mainly Italy being the first country with many casualties.

The arrival of Coronavirus in the USA was in late February or so while every day we would hear that death toll in China, Italy, and South Korea, which meant the USA was fully aware of the Coronavirus. When Coronavirus landed on USA shores and started infecting people, both the state and federal governments realized that there are not enough test kits. In fact, in the beginning, there were only 200 test kits available throughout the United States. Adding insult to injuries, there were and to this date still are a shortage of face mask, gloves so to diminish the risk of spreading the virus. Further, the shortage of ventilators which are crucial in saving the infected individual’s life as the person needs to be hooked up to a ventilator to help him/her with breathing.

The main role of any government is to protect its population against harms. The harms could be in the form of natural disasters, health crisis, and wars. The only thing that the USA may be ready for is war given the fact that the USA is number one manufacturer of weapons of all kinds. The US Defense budget is $750 billion which is higher than combining the top 7 countries defence budget combined. Rather than focusing on the defence budget, the USA should have focused on health matters. Had the federal government spent more resources on the health programs and procured medical supplies and equipment, fewer individuals would have lost their lives due to Coronavirus. The USA had plenty of notices and time to prepare for this virus, but due to the incompetency of President Trump and his administration so many people had to get infected and lost their lives, not to mention the dire impact on the USA economy.

As to the USA being the richest country on earth, that is another fallacy. If the richness is measured by natural resources of a country, that may be true, but if the richness is measured by the government’s financial power, that is certainly false as year after year the US National Budget falls short and the US has to borrow money in the form of selling treasury bonds. The US government owes trillions of dollars in the form of treasury bonds to its population as well as to the foreign countries. China is the biggest creditor of the US government.

The strength of a country is revealed during tragedies like Coronavirus, not through amassing military weapons and bragging to the most powerful country on earth which is nothing but a fallacy, as all one needs to do is to examine the USA involvements in Afghanistan and Iraq. These are two clear examples of USA’s failures.