Pandemic, Inc.: Chasing the Capitalists and Thieves Who Got Rich While We Got Sick

Swindlers, price gougers, and unscrupulous politicians profited from the Covid-19 pandemic, according to this eye-opening investigation from ProPublica journalist McSwane. He alleges that much of the $8 billion handed out by the Paycheck Protection Program went to “unsavory actors,” and notes that senators Richard Burr and Kelly Loeffler sold off their stock portfolios in February 2020 after hearing a classified briefing about the novel coronavirus. McSwane also reveals that, based on a recommendation by Jared Kushner, a Silicon Valley engineer with “no experience in medical supplies or government procurement” was given an $86 million contract by the state of New York to produce 1,450 ventilators and failed to deliver a single piece of equipment. In Dallas, McSwane visits the “crumbling” factory of Prestige Ameritech, one of the few American mask manufacturers, and meets an executive whose warnings about the dangers of relying on overseas companies for masks and other medical equipment went unheeded for more than a decade before Covid-19 hit. In San Antonio, McSwane talks with a man who repackages KN95 masks not approved for a medical setting and sells them to local hospitals. Lucid analysis and dogged reporting make this a startling exposé of how unfettered capitalism, startup culture, and government corruption exacerbated the worst effects of the pandemic. (Apr.)