Stephan: The American neoliberal vampire economic system was already coming unglued before the Covid-19 pandemic broke no matter what the stock market had to say. But the grotesque mismanagement of this crisis has brought that failure to create equitable economics into its own crisis. Consider unemployment; this report lays it out.
What should have happened, of course, is what happened during the Great Depression under Roosevelt: the creation of the Works Project Administration (WPA), the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), and a host of other programs. Trump and those around him couldn't see this because they don't see the importance of social wellbeing. And so we have a depression level unemployment level with none of the Rooseveltian creativity and guidance. As a result, the virus crisis, I think, is just a first step in the restructuring of American economics. To me that's not the issue, it is going to happen. The question is: How long is this restructuring going to take?
Rectangles are painted on the ground to encourage homeless people to keep social distancing at a city-sanctioned homeless encampment across from City Hall in San Francisco, California, on May 22, 2020, amid the novel coronavirus pandemic. Credit: Josh Edelson / AFP / Getty
The rash of layoffs sparked by the coronavirus pandemic and statewide lockdowns are expected to increase homelessness by up to 45%, according to a new analysis by an economist at Columbia University.
The analysis estimates that about 250,000 people could be left homeless as a result of skyrocketing unemployment. The Department of Housing and Urban Development estimated that there were 568,000 homeless people in the country in January, before the outbreak.
