Thread by @szabo_jon

[Thread] Two pictures of life today in the richest country the World has ever known.

#1 - The queue for food at a Pittsburgh area food bank
#2 - A ‘socially distant’ homeless encampment in Las Vegas

2. The American economy was, until the arrival of #COVID19 , supposedly the ‘strongest in history’. Full of jobs, opportunity, and promise.

But so much of it was a lie.

3. Banker on Wall Street? Hedge Fund manager? CEO? Corporation? Then yes, courtesy of an artificially inflated stock market and tax cuts you didn’t need, you were rolling in unadulterated wealth.

4. Middle class? Working class? Average American family? You were probably getting by on the surface, but underneath you were drowning in record amounts of debt of all kinds, as costs for almost every facet of your life soared around all around you.

5. Poor? Good fucking luck. Working two and three jobs and still not enough to pay the costs for a basic apartment in any major metro area, let alone put anything away. No health insurance, no savings and basically no realistic path of betterment in your living situation.

6. And the country as a whole? 23 trillion in debt and running trillion dollar deficits in this ‘incredible economy’. A sociopathic President and a non-functional Federal government.

7. And here comes #COVID19. And it’s going to blow the whole myth up.

3.3 million unemployment claims last week and possibly a similar number this week.

Reputable economists calling for up to 30% unemployment soon.

8. Add in the fact that 20% of the population isn’t in the workforce normally (retired, etc) & 30% unemployment would mean one out of two people not working.

Apocalyptic.

9. Half the country had literally no savings before this. HALF.

Now sickness is ravaging the country and the economy has come to a grinding halt.

Deaths in a BEST case scenario are estimated at 200,000.

And a significant portion of the country still thinks it’s ‘the flu’.

10. We’re in trouble folks. I am worried. And I am scared.

This disease scares me. Our government’s reaction to it scares me. The economic devastation scares me.

And it’s just beginning.

We’re going to go through hell. And it’s going to take a while. Maybe a long while.

11. But we have an opportunity to be better on the other side.

Better to each other. Better for each other.

A better country.

A chance to truly become the ‘Greatest Country in the World’.

Not as a slogan, but as a reality.