The real state of the economy"Officially the US unemployment rate is 6.3% but as the Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell, noted last month the real unemployment rate in the US is closer to 10% when misclassification errors are taken into account."
“I’ve lost my health insurance; my car is in desperate need of repairs and I do not have money to buy food,”
“I have absolutely nowhere to go if I’m evicted. That means we won’t be able to keep our dog we’ve had for eight years and my kids will lose most or all of their stuff. We’ll be living in my van in the middle of winter. If I’m evicted, I won’t be able to take much with me. I still haven’t taken down Christmas decorations. What’s the point? If I’m evicted I lose all that too. All of this could have been avoided if they sent out more stimulus checks and I received unemployment.”
"...estimated unemployment systems are currently only reaching at most 30% of all unemployed workers, leaving an estimated 8 million unemployed Americans not receiving benefits."
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/mar/02/us-unemployed-millions-without-bThe real state of the economyenefits
“…millions of unemployed workers facing surprise tax bills, ranging from several hundred to several thousand dollars, and many say they just cannot pay. For tax purposes, weekly unemployment payments count as income just like wages from a job. But few people realize the money they get from the government is actually taxable. Fewer than 40 percent of the 40 million unemployed workers in 2020 had taxes withheld from their payments …”
“My savings is gone. Most of my 401(k) is gone. I’m $6,000 in credit card debt and behind on my rent, and now I owe the government $1,500 in taxes on my unemployment.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/03/01/unemployment-benefits-are-taxed/
Consumerism was the engine of the economy Pre-covid, what now?
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