Today is the first of the month, which means that millions of Americans are expected to pay their rent.
While the country has seemingly shut down to stop the spread of the Chinese coronavirus, millions of Americans have been forced to file for unemployment after seeing their hours slashed, or completely done away with thanks to local and state government orders telling people to stay at home. How are these people supposed to pay their bills?
A quick answer might be “have companies stop collecting/delay payments”, but that ignores the fact that those companies have to pay bills and employees as well. There’s a domino effect when you force a company to stop collecting payments that are due. Suddenly that company is unable to pay employees. And the companies that service their needs take a hit as well, and it goes on and on.
The cold hard truth is there is no perfect solution. There are decisions that need to be made based on what we believe to be the biggest threat to our country.
UNEMPLOYMENT
More than three million people filed for unemployment last month. That’s three million people going on government assistance not because they were bad employees, but because entire cities have decided to shut down over a virus. Three million people aren’t able to provide for themselves and their families because of our country’s decision to close up shop for the foreseeable future.
Some economists are projecting that 3 million is only the beginning to what could be a total economic meltdown that sees more than 30% of the country unemployed.
Economists at the Fed’s St. Louis district project total employment reductions of 47 million, which would translate to a 32.1% unemployment rate, according to a recent analysis of how bad things could get.
The projections are even worse than St. Louis Fed President James Bullard’s much-publicized estimate of 30%. They reflect the high nature of at-risk jobs that ultimately could be lost to a government-induced economic freeze aimed at halting the coronavirus spread.
Those numbers may seem high, but businesses can’t keep paying people if they aren’t able to make money from customers. Sure, the big name stores are considered “essential”, but what about the thousands of small businesses that employ millions who are unable to operate as they normally would? How are they supposed to stay in business while paying salaries?
Politicians love to talk about the “mom working three jobs to keep the lights on”, but right now, that “mom” isn’t able to work because her “three jobs” are closed. How is she supposed to feed her kids? How will she make rent?
“DEATH” vs. “THE ECONOMY”
There’s this presumption among those privileged enough to sit and home and continue collecting a check that opening the country back up equates to certain death.
Here’s the thing: nobody wants anyone to die, and a lot of people die due to poverty.
It’s so easy to sit around and work from home knowing your bills are covered, but what about the waiter living with two roommates? What about the cashiers who have seen their hours cut in half? Are they supposed to just “stay home”, and be okay with it?
President Trump said that the cure can not be worse than the virus. If these projections end up being even close, then we will have failed that objective.
Conservative Daily Update 