'This is the crisis of my lifetime': George Soros explains how the pandemic erased the old status quo and created unknown consequences for capitalism's future

• Billionaire investor George Soros called the coronavirus pandemic a once-in-a-generation crisis that tossed out the status quo with unknown consequences for capitalism's future.
• "We will not go back to where we were when the pandemic started. That is pretty certain," Soros said.
• He also speculated it would be "a long time" before a vaccine was successfully developed.
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The liberal billionaire investor George Soros called the coronavirus pandemic and its ensuing effects an "unprecedented event" with uncertain consequences for the future of capitalism.

In an interview with the European Council of Foreign Affairs published Tuesday, Soros laid out the earth-shaking ramifications of a pandemic that's wreaked havoc on individuals and thrown the global economy into a tailspin.

"This is the crisis of my lifetime," Soros said. "Even before the pandemic hit, I realized that we were in a revolutionary moment where what would be impossible or even inconceivable in normal times had become not only possible, but probably absolutely necessar. And then came COVID-19, which has totally disrupted people's lives and required very different behavior."

He continued: "It is an unprecedented event that probably has never occurred in this combination. And it really endangers the survival of our civilization."

Soros said "everything else is up for grabs," and he didn't believe anybody "knows how capitalism will evolve" as a result. But he was confident about one outcome.

"We will not go back to where we were when the pandemic started. That is pretty certain," Soros said.

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Soros speculated it would take "a long time" to successfully develop a vaccine. He also said he believed President Trump had exhibited autocratic tendencies that were being restrained by the constitution during the outbreak.

Soros's organization, Open Society Foundations, donated $130 million to combat effects of the coronavirus and mitigate its impact on at-risk populations and immigrant families, The New York Times reported.

In the US, infections are still rising even as states begin to reopen their economies. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert,said on Saturday there was "virtually no chance" of the virus being fully eradicated.

Over 80,000 people in the US have died from the virus, and the number of deaths continue steadily mounting.

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