An estimated 37% of Americans have the luxury of working from home, leaving the roughly two-thirds of workers who must go to a job site vulnerable to layoffs. Sadly, that’s exactly what’s happening — at an alarming rate. Another 5.2 million Americans filed jobless claims last week, bringing the four-week total to an astonishing 22 million.
“Most economists expect the jobless level to be in the neighborhood of 10% when the April tally is completed,” CNBC reports, “and there are forecasts it could rise above 15%.” In fact, there are far worse projections than that.
All of this comes along with news that the small-business aid program for forgivable payroll loans — to keep people employed — has run out of money, in large part thanks to Democrat obstruction of GOP efforts to supply more. Democrat leaders would rather have people directly dependent on the government anyway, so they blocked the expansion of funds with political poison pills. …
Yet there is light at the end of the tunnel. There are key indicators that the spread of coronavirus has slowed. Reducing the rate of infection and death is one of the benchmarks decision-makers will look for in beginning to reopen the economy. Many nations in Europe, including economic powerhouse Germany, are beginning to send many people back to work this week. In the U.S., President Donald Trump has made efforts — however haphazard — to lay out a path for reopening the economy.
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