Friday May 8 unemployment statistics were as dire as many had expected. The US Department of Labor released an unemployment rate for April of 14.7%, the worst since the Great Depression and far surpassing the worst days of the Great Recession. In light of these numbers it is not surprising that cries for “opening up” the economy would gain traction among many working class citizens. Nonetheless the push for resuming normal economic activity, present from the earliest days of many state lockdowns, raises an important question. The CARES act, despite its many flaws, did include substantial relief for unemployed workers. Often more than their initial incomes, as Lindsey Graham complained. Yet even from the earliest spike up of the unemployment rate not only did many object, large numbers flocked to food banks, often for the first time in their lives. Many food banks were soon overrun. Shocking as this was, few in the corporate media pursued in any depth the question of why the US had become as economically fragile as it was ecologically. Continue reading “The Trump Depression could be worse than the Great Depression”
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