Mass Unemployment Is a Crisis — But We’re Not Treating It as One
The expiration of stimulus benefits has thrown millions into poverty, even as the unemployment crisis continues to hammer workers. There’s a deep sickness at the heart of the American economy.
People wait in line at a food distribution site in Brooklyn, New York, on September 29, 2020. (Spencer Platt / Getty Images)
In 1992, Bill Clinton’s top strategist, James Carville, posted the following note in campaign headquarters:
Change vs. more of the same.
The economy, stupid.
Don’t forget health care.
That year, President George H. W. Bush’s popularity rating had plummeted from a post–Gulf War high of 89 percent to a recession-induced low of 29 percent, one of the steepest drops recorded in US history. As in most recession-era contests, the electorate threw out the incumbent, choosing the candidate who spoke out against rising unemployment and falling wages (and who promised that longed-for mirage of US politics, universal health care).
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