America loves a good comeback story, but only at the movies. In the theater of history, promises to build back better have often followed in the wake of war and crisis — but the nation’s ruling class has always ensured that they’ve rung hollow.

Modern times are no exception. During the coronavirus pandemic, the country paid homage to the extraordinary sacrifices of its nurses, teachers, and factory workers, but it has proceeded to rebuild in the interests of big business and wealthy elites. The fate of the Build Back Better Act currently hangs in the balance, but even if it does pass, the bill will be a shadow of its former self, having already been stripped of paid family leave, expanded Medicare eligibility and benefits, tuition-free community college, a tax on billionaires, and more.

The nation’s pitiful response to the devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic calls to mind the recovery from the financial crisis and recession of 2008–9, which imposed austerity and debt on working people while bailing out financial institutions. While Republican intransigence presented formidable obstacles for the Obama administration, possibilities for genuine change were hamstrung from the beginning by Barack Obama’s unwavering faith in a neoliberal orthodoxy that has been ascendant since the 1970s.