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comment by goobster
goobster  ·  1442 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: 22 million Americans have filed for unemployment benefits in the last four weeks

I'm betting unemployment passes 50m in the next 2 months.

IIRC the "are employed" category of Americans generally hovers 150m, out of the 330m people in the country.

1/3 of Americans unemployed for, say, 3 months, is going to Change Shit. Big time.





kleinbl00  ·  1442 days ago  ·  link  ·  

"young people with nothing to do" is one of the principal causes of revolution.

Daughter and I watched a bunch of local teenagers push a shopping cart off a cliff in the park last month. Yesterday someone had artfully arranged all the garbage out of a bin on a park bench. Now - those are undoubtedly kids who would otherwise be in school. But "fuck with shit to feel less powerless" is one of the fundamental erosive drives in human society and "powerlessness" and "uselessness" and "idleness" share a lot of real estate on the venn diagram of unemployment.

humanodon  ·  1441 days ago  ·  link  ·  

And yet, I would be absolutely shocked if the populace started to organize in a meaningful way to push for change that benefits them, and not the wealthy.