Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/05/08/worst-jobs-report-ever.html
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The 1% are licking their chops.
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This is really frightening. I have seen it more than once during my lifetime that, in time of rising unemployment, people left out in the cold (sometimes literally in the cold, mind) are flogging towards populism, and even towards violence. Angst is a terrible adviser…
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I’m having trouble understanding why people could possibly be surprised by this. Retail stores can’t keep people employed if they can’t sell anything. Manufacturers can’t keep people employed if retail stores aren’t buying their goods. Wholesale suppliers can’t keep people employed if manufacturers aren’t buying their goods, etc. etc. etc. I predict that this is only the tip of the iceberg, too.
We should be concentrating economic efforts on transitioning to the new normal. Not going back to the old normal. This virus ain’t going anywhere. And as the Siberian permafrost melts (which it’s doing at an alarmingly high rate), who the heck knows what new fun viruses sitting dormant are going to stop by to say hello.
Ya can’t go home again.
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This is going to be a very Machiavellian analysis, and I’m sorry for anyone who’s feelings I am going to hurt.
We can end up one of two places with this.
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We can get universal health care, universal income, and stronger protections for everyone; a slightly more socialist but still very free country. This is how the USA left the great depression in the 1920s.
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We can go with the Nazi route. This is how the USA left the great depression of the 2010’s; and we are still dealing with our orange furhur.
As much as I hate to say this… we need to make sure that we go the former route. We need to keep harping that this is Trump’s fault; that we need to help people, that we need to rebuild our economy to support the 99.999% as much as the .001%.
You are right. We are going to get a populist surge; just like what Trump rode into office. We just need to make sure that we channel that surge into someone who won’t mess it up. Frankly, it kind of worries me because Biden isn’t naturally that leader. I am hoping that a leader can be identified and Biden primaried in 2024 by someone who shares his ideals but who is younger and more dynamic.
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What really scares me is we were going the Nazi route before all this, when ostensibly things were “going well” (though fundamentally they weren’t, for most people). The fact that Trump was the one that ushered in this horror undermines him a bit, but…
No, because that could take years. We’re supposed to stay at home until new cases reduce a certain amount and there’s robust testing and contact tracing systems in place. But none of that is happening, and with the dysfunction in this administration, that’s not going to happen.
For those of us taking this seriously, upset that the government isn’t, that kind of gathering still isn’t seen as safe. If someone could organize a means of protesting that didn’t involve leaving home, that might work… but it wouldn’t get the coverage that a few dozen people (with guns) gets. (And these decisions are being made by people who aren’t going to be paying attention to contrary protests anyways.)
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Two things:
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I’m not remotely convinced that Joe will win. He’s not exactly a candidate who lights people on fire with motivation to vote, and Donald and the GOP are going to lie, cheat, steal, and rig this election every which way they know how.
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Statistically speaking, I don’t think you’ll have to worry about Joe in 2024, in any case. You’d probably have a hard time finding an actuary to give you even odds on whether he’ll even still be alive by then.
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Option 3: Let the middle country declare their own State of 'Merica and split the country up along economic and social boundaries. The US has become too diversified with requirements and expectations. As a New England resident, I’m sick and tired of paying KY to keep voting in McConnells to mess up our judicial system.
I really hate to say this, but let them feel the burn of what happens when their tax payer money runs out and they have to start pulling up their own bootstraps.
Amy McGrath FTW.
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There are many oases of blue within red “middle country” (much of which is actually reddish-purple).
And there are more than a few red folks in your New England neighborhood.
Why are you throwing like-minded folks from the Midwest to the wolves while accepting the enemy within?
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Yeah, I avoid them as much as I can. Especially Maine for some reason. Why can’t it be more like Vermont?
What I can’t avoid is some idiot from KY packing the courts without a single friggin’ oversight. I’m not throwing the Midwest to the wolves since I’ve tons of friends and family there. I was just trying to say that maybe it’s time to think about moving back to more “states rights” with less federal intervention including taxes. See how it works out.
First, I’m hoping that Biden can get elected. I suspect he can, because he doesn’t have the same problems Hillary does (for example, he lacks a vagina) but there’s no end to the Republicans’ fuckery.
If he does get elected, if he were to get primaried, I would prefer he were primaried by an actual leftist, or at least a non Phil Ochs liberal. A Social Democrat at least. Someone who represents progress, not 90s Republicanism dressed up as milquetoast centrism, not “he’s not a sociopath who will make you drink bleach”. I want him to be replaced by the real deal… Assuming we’re lucky enough to have him to be replaced.
He will be 81, not 91. He will be slightly above the life expectancy for the average American male, but he’s not the average American male. He’s a wealthy career US Senator, not a truck driver from Kansas. I suspect he will be alive well into his 80s.
How about no.
As someone born and raised in the Midwest, fuck that noise. We’re not all ignorant hillbilly dirt farmers. Some of us are well educated progressive folks who are doing the best we can for our communities, and are tired of being told we’re beyond redemption just because of where we live. That would be bad enough, but most of this condescension comes from East Coast types who would look down on us anyway just because our grandparents didn’t go to the right colleges.
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Perhaps they could draft a new document containing some articles of how the confederation of these states might work. Sometimes you need to try bold new ideas.
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Do you mean “communism” literally, meaning that the people have seized the means of production? Do you have any evidence that this has happened in the US, or are you using “communism” to mean anything the right wing doesn’t like?
If anything, I just think the 1% are strengthening their position, and the wealth gap is getting wider.
But sure, according to those same 1%, we’re living in a communist country no matter what.
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Thanks, Obama! - The Right
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I apologize. That comment was made in anger and is very unfair.
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It’s alright. There’s a lot to be angry about it. We’re all feeling pretty powerless about all this, even though we’re trying our best.
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