10 million non-essential workers

Congratulations to everyone on the new opportunity.

A staggering 6.6 million people applied for unemployment benefits last week as the coronavirus outbreak continued to ravage nearly every corner of the American economy, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

The speed and scale of the job losses is without precedent. In just two weeks, the pandemic has left nearly 10 million Americans out of work, more than in the worst months of the last recession. Until last month, the worst week for unemployment filings was 695,000 in 1982.

There is a line of thought that suggests, since that's 10 million people who are about to find out just how shitty the "social safety net" really is, that maybe this will be a moment when we re-think the way we treat one another in this country.

Don't count on that, though.  It might surprise some to find out how fast the political narrative gets to, "Why can't these 10 million people looking for handouts just learn to code?"  It will come quick.  That's what this whole fight was about.  Republicans aren't going to budge on any of this stuff. They're getting ready to fight "World War IV" over it. 

Stephen Moore, a former Trump senior adviser now with the conservative pro-business Committee to Unleash Prosperity, said he envisioned major problems for Congress in reaching an agreement. He said that while the economy will likely need another large cash infusion to recover, Democrats pushing more spending will clash with Republicans eager to use tax cuts instead, such as suspending employers’ payroll tax like Trump has proposed.

“This will be World War IV,” he said. This would be Congress’ fourth bill addressing the virus and the collapsing economy.

The casualties are already sky high.