Working In These Times

The Big Issue: Failed State

There are two basic labor stories right now. One is: People have been laid off, or furloughed, or had salaries cut, and do not know when things will get back to normal. They are experiencing terrible hardship, and are scared. The other is: People are still working, and they feel unsafe and exposed and vulnerable, and do not know when things will get back to normal, and are scared. Enormous crises will always catch us unprepared to some degree, but it is fair to say that the U.S. government has done a good job protecting working people, with two exceptions: Those who are employed, and those who are unemployed.

While European countries pour money directly into payrolls in order to keep their economies in a state of pause, allowing people to maintain much of their incomes and to avoid mass business failure, the U.S. has decided to allow tens of millions of people to access benefits through the unemployment system, which necessitates them being unemployed. Unfortunately, many state unemployment systems are antiquated and broken, so you can’t actually get a check from them. The White House has magnanimously designated to the states control over all the things the states are unable to do. As the states sink hundreds of billions of dollars into debt, the federal government, which owns a printing press for dollars, has not seen fit to prevent their budgets from collapsing—the printing press was busy getting Donald Trump’s name inserted on the checks.

There is an ideological component to this, of course, but there is also the fact that Donald Trump’s economic advisory team, much like his political advisory team, is made up of an unsavory collection of faux-TV stars, washouts, and kooks who have found a new life with a president even less competent than they are. The empowerment of Jared Kushner and Larry Kudlow, in a nation full of actual economic experts, should not be underestimated as a reason why things are falling apart so quickly.



Next up will be the white collar jobs disappearing. Many who have been comfortable enough up to this point will suffer the pain also, and because they tend to be a bit wealthier and a bit more politically influential than those who have suffered already, the roar of the backlash will be stronger. Populism will surely flourish. But right wing populism is having its test right now. And here we are. Perhaps the devastated American work force will now give left wing populism a try. As the president famously said, “What do you have to lose?”