Other industrialized nations kept their unemployment rates low by guaranteeing paychecks during the pandemic. Here, as of mid-May, 36.5 million Americans have filed for unemployment and received just a one-time $1,200 check to hold them over. And this number is probably underestimated -- unemployment offices have been so overwhelmed that many claims can't even be filed.
7. Government matters. For decades, conservatives have told us that government is the problem and that we should let the free market run its course. Rubbish. The coronavirus pandemic has shown, yet again, that the unfettered free market won't save us. After 40 years of Reaganism, it's never been clearer: Government is in fact necessary to protect the public.
It's tragic that it took record unemployment, graphic videos of Black Americans being murdered, and millions of people taking to the streets for many of us to grasp how broken, backwards, and racist our system really is.
We cannot cling to the idea of "going back to normal" because "normal" is what got us here. We can no longer accept piecemeal reforms of our broken systems. We need to reimagine a political and economic system that values humanity and builds prosperity for every American. Let's get to work.
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