"So if it's the same values and principles then i'd wonder why productivity didn't dramatically increase last year? "

Exactly, and that's the question they never want to answer. I think it was Reagan who invented the whole 'trickled down' concept, meaning if the rich get rich enough, their excess cash will somehow find it's way to those they don't give a shit about. Unsurprisingly, that has never happened even though the rich are richer now than ever.

And while the rich and powerful in the west demonize socialism in the best of times, in periods of crisis like this, they accept bailouts because they're "too big to fail". So it's socialism for the rich, and rugged individualism for everyone else.

It's a pathetic situation which can only lead to social, economic, and environmental collapse, if not outright war, which in a nuclear age won't be pretty. Regardless, I have little doubt we are witnessing the beginning of the end of an era.

I'd like to be more positive. But if we, as a species, can't even get our shit together to make a unified stand against a virus, how are we going to address global warming?

In fact, I suspect those in power don't really care about these crises because, either consciously or not, not only do they not give a shit about 30% of the world's population dying, it's actually a good thing. They're mostly poor, needy people anyway, so who gives a shit. Famine, war, chaos, these have all, historically, served to increase the wealth and power of the wealthy and powerful.