US jobless claims hit 60 million as Congress dithers
Ramin Mazaheri
Press TV, Chicago
Jobless claims in the United States have now surpassed the 60-million mark in just six months. That is according to latest figures.
By comparison, there were only 37 million claims during the worst 18 months of the Great Recession a decade ago.
By every measure, the United States coronavirus lockdown, which was initially only supposed to last three weeks, has destroyed the economy, except for the extremely rich, who have seen their wealth grow by an estimated 40 percent, or 1.2 trillion dollars.
Half of all households report facing serious financial problems. In major urban areas like Chicago, that number rises to a stunning 66 percent for Black and Latino families. Nationwide, a third of households overall have exhausted their savings.
The data is increasingly clear: there has not been an immediate ‘V-shaped’ recovery nor a more protracted ‘Nike swoosh’ recovery, but a socially-disastrous ‘K-shaped economic recovery,’ as inequality is further separating the wealthy and the lower classes.
Extra unemployment payments ran out six weeks ago. Democrats and Republicans have refused to agree on a second stimulus package even though joblessness, poverty, hunger and insecurity of countless types increase daily to ever-more disastrous levels.
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