With countries across the world struggling to contain the COVID-19 spread and the global death nearing 50, 000, there is increasing fear and uncertainty about the aftermath of the novel coronavirus pandemic. In the United States, which is reeling under the onslaught of the outbreak, hospitals are cautioning against an acute shortage of drugs, oxygen tanks and trained personnel.

Renowned American linguist and historian, Noam Chomsky, in an interview with Truthout on the novel coronavirus outbreak and its global response, said that measures to prepare for a crisis of such magnitude were stopped by what he terms “the cruel imperatives of an economic order”, in which there’s “no profit in preventing a future catastrophe.”

On being asked about other developments, including the high number of infections in the US, Chomsky told that scientists had been warning of a pandemic since the SARS epidemic that broke out in 2003, which, too, was caused by a coronavirus. The vaccines for it was developed but did not move beyond the pre-clinical level, Chomsky said.

He, however, noted that scientific understanding alone is not enough and pointed to neoliberal capitalism as the cause of the unsuccessful response of the US to the coronavirus crisis.

“Market signals were clear: There’s no profit in preventing a future catastrophe. The government could have stepped in, but that’s barred by reigning doctrine,” he said.

Referring to Ronald Regan’s ‘government is the problem’ statement, Chomsky added that the former president had meant that decision-making has to be given even more to the business world, “which is devoted to private profit and is free from influence by those who might be concerned with the common good.”

The subsequent years, Chomsky said, injected a dose of “neoliberal brutality to the unconstrained capitalist order and the twisted form of markets it constructs.”

The extent of the pathology is displayed by one of the most “dramatic and murderous failures — the lack of ventilators that is one the major bottlenecks in confronting the pandemic,” Chomsky added.

The historian said he believes that the assault by the neoliberal system has intensified the “pathological element of the national culture, but the roots go much deeper.”

Regarding responses of countries like Singapore, South Korea, Russia and China — which lie outside the Western neoliberal universe — the linguist said that it appears that China seems to have contained it, at least for now.

Among European countries, Chomsky noted, Germany appears to hold the global record in low death rates. He credits Germany’s success to the country’s health infrastructure, diagnostic capacity and rapid response. “Boris Johnson’s reaction in the UK was shameful. Trump’s US brought up the rear,” Chomsky was quoted as saying by the report.

“The Cuban superpower was once again ready to help with doctors and equipment,” Chomsky added.

Chomsky concluded his remarks by saying that the key feature that stood out in the response seemed not to be “democracies vs. autocracies, but functioning vs. dysfunctional societies — what in Trumpian rhetoric are termed ‘shithole countries.’”