As the pandemic rages on, many people are asking themselves whether the cost of the shutdown is worth the proposed benefit. At present, many Americans are failing to pay their rent and other bills while grocery stores remain understocked. In addition to this, we continue to hear mixed projections on how long the lockdowns will last.
Some say that it will only continue two to three more weeks, while others project that it will take months. Worse still, some reports claim that the “shelter in place” orders will remain in effect until a vaccine is made ready for public consumption.
Anyone who knows the first thing about pharmaceutical manufacturing knows that it could take years to produce a vaccine that will meet with the approval of all the pertinent regulatory bodies.
Now, the Federal Reserve reports that they expect unemployment to go as high as 34%, and that total job losses could number as high as 47 million. Worse still, many of these lost jobs are expected to be made obsolete by the time the virus scare has passed.
Economist Miquel Faria-e-Castro wrote a research paper recently which claims, “These are very large numbers by historical standards, but this is a rather unique shock that is unlike any other experienced by the U.S. economy in the last 100 years.”
President Donald Trump has shown great sympathy for the American workforce, commenting that he wanted to offer aid to workers who were out of a job through “no fault of their own.” He has also repeatedly expressed a desire to “turn on the economy” as quickly as possible.
“America isn’t built for this,” Trump said during a press conference. “People want to go back to work and they need to go back to work.”
One CNBC article offers a hopeful message which contradicts the Fed’s message. It spoke about the calculations made by the central bank. It read, in part, “They don’t account for workers who may drop out of the labor force, bringing down the total reported unemployment rate, and they don’t estimate the effect of recently passed government stimulus, which will extend unemployment benefits and subsidize companies for not cutting staff and extending unemployment benefits.”
As the debate rages on, the number of workers filing for unemployment is expected to break records for the second week in a row.
Regardless of the effectiveness of “social distancing” and “shelter at home” orders might have, the impact of soaring unemployment and homelessness are well-known.
The results of widespread poverty, for example, can be seen in Democrat-run cities like San Fransisco, Los Angeles, and Chicago. In these places, tent cities have sprung up overnight. Human feces can be seen in the streets. Exposure to the elements, disease, infection, and crime kill far more than the Coronavirus could ever hope to kill.
For those who are out of work, forced to stay at home, and who have seen the first of the month come and go with no money for rent, the ravages of poverty are much more frightening than a virus that causes no noticeable symptoms for 80% of those who contract it.
