Why are we so unprepared? Why were epidemiologists and pandemic experts ignored?

Society was designed to produce goods and services. It was designed to build “shareholder value” or bring “returns on investment”. It's not designed to take care of our basic needs. The metrics that matter are growth, inflation or the stock indices. For example, economists will say that the economy “did well” when it grew $2.2 trillion from 2007 to 2014. But at the same time, poverty increased by almost 12 million people. Society matters most when you are down and out. The elites squandered trillions on tax cuts, buy-backs or the wars of oppression. Instead, they should have spent it on diabetics, they should have spent it on pandemic preparedness, they should have invested in the wellbeing for us all.