Although the coronavirus crisis has brought double-digit unemployment to the United States, some affluent Americans are continuing to prosper in the stock market. Liberal economist Paul Krugman addresses that disparity in his New York Times column this week, noting how the wide gap between the haves and have-nots continues during the pandemic.
Krugman points out that earlier this week, the S&P 500 “hit a record high” — and Apple “became the first U.S. company in history to be valued at more than $2 trillion.” He quickly adds, however, that “the economy probably doesn’t feel so great to the millions of workers who still haven’t gotten their jobs back and who have just seen their unemployment benefits slashed.”
“The $600-a-week supplemental benefit enacted in March has expired, and Trump’s purported replacement is basically a sick joke,” Krugman explains. “Even before the aid cutoff, the number of parents reporting that they were having trouble giving their children enough to eat was rising rapidly. That number will surely soar in the next few weeks. And we’re also about to see a huge wave of evictions, both because families are no longer getting the money they need to pay rent and because a temporary ban on evictions, like supplemental unemployment benefits, has just expired.” Continue reading.