Image: dowell via Getty Images

We need to treat COVID-19 like a war to revive our economy.

After World War II, America was the most prosperous it had ever been. The reason for this was because of the sheer amount of collaboration between every citizen that occurred. Although we cannot currently work together as they did during the war, we should try to after the pandemic is over.

The first order of business after COVID-19 has a vaccine and our population can get back to work should be to bring our factories back from China.

The most prominent reason for doing such is that our economy is struggling; as of April 16, 2020, 22 million Americans had filed for unemployment. Bringing back factories will not only make our economy stronger, but it will also increase the number of people who have jobs, similarly to after World War II.

In a country’s economy, the number one rule is to have more exports than imports. At the moment, we are importing a lot more than exporting, with the deficit being $617 billion. This is terrible, as we are importing many different things from China such as pharmaceuticals, shoes, technology like phones and televisions, and more.

Although we cannot easily get companies out of China, as costs are much lower there, we can take a similar approach to what Japan is doing; they have set aside $2.2 billion to give to companies who move from China back to Japan.

There is no doubt that it would be costly, but there are many benefits. Pulling jobs from China will not only boost our economy and provide more American’s jobs, but it will also decrease our reliance on other nations.

Since many of our products are produced in China, goods rapidly increased in price when COVID-19 hit, as many Chinese factories stopped production. If we were to bring jobs back, we could rely on ourselves and control what we export and import more than what we do now.

Additionally, in China, a lot of business practices are considered unethical, such as long hours with little pay, dangerous machinery with little protection, and no benefits. If we were to bring industries back to the U.S., we would know exactly where all of our products come from and could control how they are produced.

The last reason why the government of China is not good to work with is that it is very shady. According to multiple sources, China knew about COVID-19 before they told anyone. New research now suggests that this undisclosed knowledge goes as far back as November.

It spread rapidly because they did little to contain it or raise the alarm; if they moved more quickly, they could have saved almost 155,000 lives.

In the future, pulling out of China will be very beneficial in all aspects.

After COVID-19 has a vaccine and everything is back to normal, we must all work together to ensure that we do not fall behind. Producing our goods in only one part of the war.

At the moment, there is the most political divide that there has maybe ever been. On March 23, Republicans proposed an emergency stimulus package; however, it was denied by Democrats because it did not have everything that they wanted. This partisan divide cannot persist.

As Abraham Lincoln once said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” His words ring true to this day, as although we are separated for the time being, we must eventually join together to restore the nation to its pre-pandemic glory.