Who decides on reopening

The Recession Is Over for the Rich, But the Working Class Is Far from Recovered

“The recession is nearly over for high-wage workers, but low-wage workers are no more than half-recovered,” said Friedman, who led the research, which is sponsored by Harvard and Brown universities and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

When Governor Newsom created his reopening task force, he staffed it with high executives of major companies, former big-name politicians (good lord, recalled Gray Davis made the cut!) environmental and political activists, and union bosses. I doubt, highly doubt, anyone on the list had a household income under $400k or a net worth under $3mil, nor were any merely high school graduates, or--heaven forbid--drop outs. There wasn't one gardener, waitress, manufacturing laborer, check-out clerk, minimum-wage earner, or small business owner. It was all big names and flashy resumes. (Read the list for yourself.)

Now, here we are four months later, and those people who were unrepresented on that task force are still ordered to be poor and desperate--they're losing their businesses and homes, and their children will lose a year of education with all the lifetime of poverty that comes with that--while all the people in the task-force's class are working and getting paid, and their kids all have parents with the education or money to actually move forward academically this year.

Funny how that works, huh?

It comes down to the question of who decides. In a technocratic world, the well educated and well placed get the freedom to choose, everyone else gets told what to do--and gets screwed.

I doubt it even crossed Newsom's mind, or the mind of anyone else on the task force, to seek a diversity of employment, education, wages, or class. They assume they should rule, because they are wealthier and better credentialed. 

It's the modern aristocracy claiming their right to power.