By normal, take it you mean the last 5 to 10 years? If so, then think your wrong.
Austerity, market forces, public service cuts, 0 hours contracts etc etc. I think this crisis will change the dominant thinking, and think I have history on my side.
Up until about the late 1970's, the state was viewed much more favourably and government was there to regulate and manage for the public good. Think it would be difficult to argue now that the last 40 years have done much at all to protect the state and public services.
I really can't believe people will forget this time in a hurry and will therefore want a much bigger state and safety net.
Do you really think so? I mean the last financial crisis in 2007-8 which the banks caused, wreaked havoc globally and obama bailed out the banks, left the poor people to saddle the toxic mortgages and get foreclosed. The ECB with the EU enforced austerity measures on the weaker members of the EU and no one was really able to do anything greece, italy, latvia, ireland are some victims. Italy is really paying the price now with lack of government funding over the years. Even before that, if you go back further to the time when "Thatcherism" was practiced, where the free market was promoted, selling nationalised companies to private bidders, cutting social measures and tax cuts for the well off... Were the masses able to do anything to stop her? No.
Going to the 07 crisis, some people reacted with new thoughts, but most people the only thing that changed was their awareness and their are still many people that do not even know how the banks caused the crisis, they just don't like banks and do not even know why. I think it's hard to campaign for change when you still need to make a living. I have not seen people act in large groups to move towards change for an extended period of time for the greater good like many years ago. I honestly think people will end up going back to some sort of living, it may not be immediate but within the next 5-10 years. The economy is more polarized than it has ever been due to the affects of the last finacial crisis and people just suck it up. I do not think this pandemic will push people over the edge to demand some sort of change like universal basic income. The airlines are getting bailouts this time in the US which spent their profits on share buybacks to shore up their share price and now the taxpayer is footing the bill. Donald Trump was even considering getting people to go back to work to save the economy as he does not want it to tank during the election year. In the UK it is not as bad in the US but really, the 1% are not going to foot this bill the government is spending now.
If I turn out to be wrong then fair enough, but when you look in history, most times when disaster has happened...there is short term demand for change, but it always goes back to who has the power in society in the end. Everytime, it has not been the masses.
