“A shot across the bow.” Last Thursday, the stock market crashed again with the Dow falling 1861 points, the largest fall since the free fall of the market in March from a Dow high in mid-February of 29,551 to a low of 18,592 points. The headlines read: “Sudden renewed Coronavirus fears startled Wall Street and the White House.”
Nineteen states in the U.S. are showing a surge in coronavirus cases including an increase in hospitalizations. This cannot be attributable to more testing. There are now more than two million coronavirus cases in the US and more than 113,000 deaths. There is solid evidence, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the surge in new cases in the affected states is due to a human behavior problem where the essential guidelines to end this pandemic are being blatantly disregarded.
Last Monday in our Blindsided article, we talked about the power of great leadership in managing crises like wildfires that get out of control, violent riots that spread across the nation or pandemics that infect millions and kill hundreds of thousands. It appears now with a surge in new coronavirus cases in nineteen states and the Dow sending us a message last Thursday, that a leadership crisis in the U.S. has now reached the point of becoming a serious problem in getting control over this extremely dangerous pandemic and its potentially devastating economic aftermath.
What happened to the highly capable medical advisors on the “White House Coronavirus Task Force” that provided needed expertise during the height of the pandemic in March and April? What happened to the effective use of the Defense Production Act and other all-out measures to maximize the development of wide-spread Covid-19 screening tests, vaccines, and a cure to end this thing as quickly as possible?
What about the art of great leadership? The art of convincing all citizens to respect each other by wearing surgical masks and observing social distancing at all times while in public without locking them down and keeping them from doing things, including working? Right now, that is our only remedy in addition to good hygiene habits.
What about the idea of getting everyone to work together for the good of all in solving this thing, instead of creating divisive tribal camps where the wearing of masks and social distancing is considered by one camp as a sign of weakness and only for wimps? Is there any wonder that there is a surge of new coronavirus cases in 19 states and the market gave us a nice kick in the behind last Thursday as fair warning? Should Wall Street and the White House really have been startled by all of this as the headline suggests?
What’s that old Peter, Paul and Mary song: “Where have all the leaders gone, long time passing? Where have all the leaders gone, long time ago?”