A piper needs paying

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See updates through June 4, 2021, at end of post.

The idea of a general strike has come up before. It’s always fizzled and it’s important to be clear about why it fizzled and why it might not this time.

Once upon a time, labor had some power with which to resist capitalist predation. Labor once even had its own newspapers; these were undermined as more business-friendly publications moved to an advertising model that enabled them to lower prices for subscriptions and at the newsstand. Capitalists were obviously less interested in advertising in labor papers; these were unable to compete and a “free press” became somewhat less so for workers.[1]

When we think of a peak for the labor movement, this would probably be in the 1960s, but by the 1970s, with “stagflation”[2] and the rise of neoliberalism,[3] wages took an increasing share of blame for inflation as, through labor unions, workers insisted on higher wages to compensate for inflation, hence raising prices further in a wage-price spiral. Unemployment is a means of reducing worker leverage, hence reducing upward pressure on prices.[4]

The thing to understand about inflation is that it devalues money, which is a proxy for property. If you have a lot of money, inflation means that money is worth less and you are less rich. It also means that people who owe you money effectively owe you less—hence a relationship with interest rates.

Inflation hurts everyone: The staple goods that people need to survive also increase in price, making it harder for the poor to pay their debts to the rich, which also impacts the value of that debt, some of which must be considered as uncollectible “bad debt,” effectively worthless. But if you’re poor, as long as you’re getting by, inflation also means that you effectively owe less money to the rich because the money itself is worth less.

Hence, neoliberalism’s animosity toward labor. Neoliberals understand worker power as translating to higher wages, thus higher inflation, thus a reduction of value in the assets of the wealthy.

One of the ways that neoliberalism represses workers is through so-called “free” (always ask, for whom, to do what, to whom?) trade, which forces workers to compete internationally with other workers in other places. Thus an international “race to the bottom” in wages, working conditions, regulation, and taxes on the rich.[5] Note that there is no counterbalance here for the poor and even claims such as those by Jeffrey Sachs that “free” trade has improved living standards for the absolute poor[6] have been shown to be dubious at best.[7]

It seemed like the first thing Ronald Reagan did when he became president was to fire all the air traffic controllers who participated in a strike.[8] I believe some were later allowed to return to work, but not with that particular labor union, and only at lower wages. Since then, already weakened labor unions have been effectively gutless. Social inequality increases[9] as worker power diminishes.

Max Weber pointed out that a market system inherently privileges whomever has the greater power to say no. The wealthy can wait for a better deal. A worker needs money just to pay rent and put food on the table; s/he often can’t wait. Which means that the wealthy can extract concessions from the poor even beyond those the poor can really afford. Hence the rich get richer and the poor get poorer as benefits and handicaps accrue from each transaction.[10]

One of the problems that worker misclassification, that is, classifying workers as “independent contractors” when they should be treated as employees, exacerbates is a shifting of risk from employer to employee. Uber and Lyft drivers, for example, risk their personal automobiles in tens of thousands of miles of traffic and pay insurance premiums to try to offset that risk. Taxi drivers face a disproportionate risk from fluctuations in the supply and demand for taxis when they pay fixed lease fees (“gates”) to work scheduled shifts. These drivers are rarely, if ever, rich. They assume risks they really cannot afford from companies that are owned by the rich and are never really compensated for that risk. This is one way of at least keeping poor people poor, when not pushing them entirely into destitution.

An increase in social inequality is inherent to capitalism and can be restrained only through intervention in the market. This is anathema to capitalist libertarians, whose fantasy of the labor market is of an implausibly level playing field in which such inequities do not exist, let alone accumulate.[11] Such intervention has historically arisen through government regulation and labor unions, hence Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s “New Deal” of the 1930s, which capitalist libertarians have opposed ever since and neoliberals have opposed from the inception of neoliberalism.[12]

Neoliberalism intellectually derives from capitalist libertarianism but abandons the idea of a level playing field,[13] treating such inequality as, in fact, desirable and essential to “innovation,” as if the poor are incapable of innovation and therefore less deserving. Hence a morality play we have seen in the decades beginning with the 1970s that has further exalted the rich. Greed has again become ‘good’ as we continually mythologize about a rising tide lifting all boats and benefits trickling down from the rich to the poor.[14]

As the poor become ever more desperate, their ability to engage in collective action, a strike, for example, diminishes. The rent still needs paying.[15] Even the reality of destitution is expensive as the poor, often humiliated for the sake of humiliation, are forced to make costly choices that their better off counterparts don’t face.[16] How indeed, can people go on strike when they’re living out of cheap motel rooms or on the streets?

But now we are in a situation with the pandemic where millions of people have lost their jobs and face homelessness. Through no fault of their own, they already can’t pay the rent.[17] They already have to steal to survive.[18] They already face homelessness in, by the way, winter.[19] And they’re up against a political system that seems not merely heartless[20] but positively malicious.[21]

Desperate people do desperate things. And you really have to wonder what happens next. Whether that takes the form of a general strike or even a full-blown revolution remains to be seen.

Some things are perfectly clear: Empty apartments do not collect rent. Desperate people are more likely to steal than to buy.[22] It’s a pretty twisted morality, a pretty twisted society, that elevates the “property rights” of the rich to such heights so far above basic human need.[23] The rich can only play this game, that neoliberalism has exacerbated, so far before they get bitten by their own greed.

And if I were a politician in Washington, D.C., I’d be taking all this a whole helluva lot more seriously than the politicians who are in Washington, D.C., have been.

Update, December 20, 2020: Congressional leaders announced a new stimulus package which is supposed to help relieve economic pain from the pandemic. Stimulus checks will be for up to $600.[24] The eviction moratorium that isn’t an eviction moratorium[25] will be extended through the end of January, though Joe Biden may be able to extend it further.[26] Millions of people, who have been unemployed for months, are an average of over $5,000 behind on rent,[27] and millions have sunk into poverty.[28] So it’s hard to see what good, really, $600 will do.

Update, December 24, 2020: Political and economic elite disdain for the poor and working class appears in 1) the paucity of and long delays in economic relief packages,[29] 2) a mishandling of the economy and of the pandemic that appears more malicious than incompetent,[30] and 3) the miserable pay offered front-line workers who have too often worked without adequate protection even as retail corporate profits have soared,[31] and while millions of others face homelessness[32] and poverty[33] due to job loss. It was all entirely foreseeable, indeed foreseen, but the capitalist god indeed demands human sacrifice[34] and our elites seem determined to offer it.[35]

In the latest development, the House of Representatives failed to pass by unanimous consent[36] an increase in direct payments to $2,000 that Donald Trump, of all people, demanded,[37] from the $600 that Congress had agreed[38] after months of delay.[39] It is, at the very least, more of the same.[40]

Update, December 27, 2020: The additional unemployment benefits that boosted payments and also helped the usually unassisted self-employed that were included with an earlier COVID-19 relief bill[41] have now expired,[42] and the finger pointing has begun:

But both parties dithered for months[43] because there are exactly two real goals here:

  1. Uphold neoliberal dogma so as to protect the rich (the “donor” class).[44]
  2. Blame the other party for upholding or for allegedly but not really failing to uphold neoliberal dogma.

Meanwhile, millions face homelessness.[45] Millions have been pushed into poverty.[46]

Update #2, December 27, 2020: Donald Trump reportedly signed the COVID-19 economic relief bill[47] he had earlier criticized,[48] but not before additional unemployment benefits had lapsed.[49] Whether Trump gets the $2,000 direct payment, rather than the $600, remains to be seen.[50]

Update, December 28, 2020, revised December 29: I realized that in writing this, I neglected to cover austerity, especially as an excuse for cutting social safety net programs. This isn’t just worrying about debt that will allegedly[51] eventually need to be repaid, but a belief that increased government borrowing raises interest rates and crowds out investment by cutting into lendable funds, increases the money supply,[52] and, thus, inflation. There’s no solid explanation for why government borrowing is thus evil and not private borrowing, but neoliberals dogmatically imagine that private spending is several times more beneficial for the economy than government spending.[53]

The gripe about government spending sweeps with a broad brush. Somehow, investments in infrastructure, including roads, bridges, and airports, “crowd out” investment. Somehow, education, even at the primary and secondary levels, “crowds out” investment. Somehow, government-funded research “crowds out” investment. Further, it assumes that any money spent on the poor or unemployed is wasted, that such humans have no potential whatsoever, unless through “job training” programs that omit a broader education essential for civic participation. The very same activities, if privatized, that is, performed by private companies, somehow do not “crowd out” investment. But curiously, the brush that maligns government spending is rarely so broad as to sweep military spending or the cost of endless wars.

This is, of course, particularly relevant in whether economic relief payments for the pandemic should be $600, as originally passed, or $2,000, as Donald Trump wants.[54]

Update, December 29, 2020: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell prevented an immediate vote on a bill already passed by the House of Representatives to raise the stimulus payments to $2,000.[55]

As the legislative jockeying continued Tuesday, [Donald] Trump escalated his blistering attacks on GOP leaders for their inaction so far.

“WE NEED NEW & ENERGETIC REPUBLICAN LEADERSHIP,” he wrote.

He also said there would be consequences for his political party if they didn’t act.

“Unless Republicans have a death wish, and it is also the right thing to do, they must approve the $2000 payments ASAP,” Trump wrote. “$600 IS NOT ENOUGH! Also, get rid of Section 230 – Don’t let Big Tech steal our Country, and don’t let the Democrats steal the Presidential Election. Get tough!”[56]

Democrats object but it appears McConnell is actually trying to give Trump all of these things:

[Mitch] McConnell’s moves on Tuesday appeared to mirror demands that [Donald] Trump laid out on Sunday. In a statement released after he signed the $900 billion stimulus bill into law, he said the Senate would “start the process for a vote that increases checks to $2,000, repeals Section 230, and starts an investigation into voter fraud.” Those are the three provisions McConnell has attempted to package into one piece of legislation despite objections from Democrats.

“Section 230” is a reference to a 1996 federal law that broadly indemnifies tech platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Google for the actions of their users. Trump has railed against the tech companies as they have started to crack down on his unfounded postings alleging voter fraud in the November election, as well as much more aggressive actions targeting postings made by his supporters containing threats and disinformation.[57]

Update, December 30, 2020: Mitch McConnell’s attempt to combine an increase in stimulus payments to $2,000 with a Section 230 repeal and election fraud commission has, according to Politico, “no chance of becoming law.” Some, apparently including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, see the effort as a move to kill the increase entirely,[58] as the payment increase cannot be split off from McConnell’s bill and the House of Representatives would have to come back into session—not impossible—to approve any changes.[59]

There is still, evidently, a chance that $2,000 checks will become law. But it is also possible that neoliberals among the Democrats figured they could rely on McConnell to kill it.

Update #2, December 30, 2020: Mitch McConnell has made it clear he does not approve of the Democrats’ bill, passed by the House of Representatives, to raise the economic stimulus payout from $600 to $2,000.[60]

[Mitch] McConnell said he opposed the House-passed measure out of a belief it would greatly inflate the U.S. debt and benefit some families who are not in need of financial assistance. Some of the people who would qualify for the payments belong to households earning up to $300,000, the GOP leader contended, adding that many of them had not been disadvantaged by the pandemic.[61]

McConnell reiterated his intention to bundle it with a Section 230 repeal and the establishment of an election fraud commission. Even as the Democrats characterize these other provisions as ‘poison pills’ meant to kill the increase,[62] I continue to rather strongly suspect that this is precisely what they expected him to do, enabling them to pretend to care about people being pushed into poverty[63] and homelessness,[64] but breathing a sigh of relief as neoliberal dogma is upheld, yet again.

Update, January 29, 2021: Text previously here has been moved to a new blog post entitled, “The GameStop Squeeze.”

Update, May 9, 2021: As COVID-19 vaccines have become increasingly available and “normal” life begins to return,[65] but an economic stimulus package passed early in Joe Biden’s presidency bumps up unemployment benefits, employers have been complaining that they can’t find workers, that there is a so-called “labor shortage” that isn’t actually borne out by the evidence.[66] It turns out this is an old game that capitalists have been playing, well, since slavery, and it’s all pretty bluntly about keeping workers subordinate.[67]

Today, with the additional unemployment benefits from the recent Covid-19 relief bill, business owners are living their greatest nightmare: workers with genuine leverage over their wages and working conditions. The owner of a Florida seafood restaurant recently explained this straightforwardly: “You need to have incentives to get people to work, not to stay home. You’ve got the hard workers who want to have a job, but the others need that motivation.”

In theory, there are many possible such incentives: better pay, better working conditions, even a slice of ownership of the company. But the owning class hasn’t been interested in those incentives at any point in the last few centuries. There’s only one incentive that makes sense to them: You work or you starve.[68]

This actually dovetails neatly with my interpretation of employers’ demands that workers all fight traffic simultaneously to be at the same places at the same times for work, that as we’ve seen in the pandemic, can often be done from home. This can’t, I reasoned, really be about productivity. It has to be about control.

And it’s about keeping workers working for as close to nothing as possible:

[B]usiness turned to a two-fold strategy: first, lobbying to keep unemployment benefits at the lowest level possible, and second, preventing the unemployment rate from ever getting too low. It may seem counterintuitive that businesses would not want the economy operating at full capacity. But low unemployment alters the balance of power between owners and workers just as unemployment insurance does — and when workers can easily quit and get another job across the street, the dreaded worker shortage simply appears again in a different guise.

The battle against low unemployment was eventually cloaked in scientific jargon. In 1975, two economists announced the existence of the non-accelerating inflation rate of unemployment, or NAIRU. If unemployment fell below NAIRU, inflation would start rising uncontrollably as businesses were forced to pay workers more and more. At the time, NAIRU was purportedly 5.5 percent, while later estimates placed it somewhat higher. This meant that whenever unemployment was getting too low, the Federal Reserve had to step in and strangle the economy until lots of people were thrown out of work.[69]

Naturally, that “non-accelerating inflation rate of unemployment” (NAIRU) was set at a level higher than that actually proved necessary to avoid inflation.[70] And the idea of long-term unemployment is to ensure that workers are terrified of ending up in,[71] well, a situation pretty much like mine, consigned to lifelong poverty and financial insecurity.[72] The very fact of my misery reinforces conformity[73] and helps the rich to feel more secure.

Update, May 10, 2021: When, I first wrote in my page on my job hunt that the job hunt process seemed to be a scam, I did so based on my own experience, in combination with a recognition that, then, nearly twenty years of failure could not solely be my own, that something else had to be going on.[74] Even when I first wrote yesterday’s blog post, noting the discrepancy between capitalist cries of a “labor shortage” and my own ongoing experience of the labor market, I was really rather mystified as to what that something else was.[75]

Then I found Jon Schwarz’ article in the Intercept, making clear that capitalist cries of a “labor shortage” or a “worker shortage” date back to slavery, that they are not so much about an actual shortage of workers as they are about ensuring that those workers will be paid as little as possible and about maintaining the power relationship that ensures worker devaluation. Schwarz[76] is not the first to draw a connection between capitalism and slavery; indeed, the former has its roots firmly embedded in the latter.[77] Nor would Schwarz[78] be the first to point to a stigmatized class of people, preserved in destitution, as a means of social control,[79] ultimately to protect the position and power of an economic and political elite.[80]

My failures remain my failures. I cannot sell; anything I attempt to sell or market is doomed. Which, even as this only partly explains the failure of my job hunt, also dooms any attempt I might make at entrepreneurship, including, by the way, writing a book, an action which these days requires authors to market their work.

So even as I now understand the labor market as intentionally rigged to keep me, as a member of a class of people, destitute, I remain stuck in a situation I find intolerable and, with a Ph.D., profoundly unjust. I need to do something, even as with Robert Merton, I understand that I am being denied socially approved means to socially approved ends.[81] I have to do something. Because this is not okay.

Update, June 4, 2021:

[I]f the pursuit of maximum employment is an uncontroversial aim in the context of American oratory, it is a radical one in the context of U.S. policy. For the bulk of the past four decades, our government hasn’t merely declined to achieve full employment through public hiring; it has actively sought to keep millions of Americans perpetually unemployed.

This bipartisan consensus against full employment was rarely articulated to the public in forthright terms. During the crisis that consolidated the paradigm, policy-makers were sometimes blunt; in 1979, Fed chair Paul Volcker told Congress that in order for inflation to be brought down to a tolerable level, “the standard of living of the average American has to decline.” But as inflation became more of a historical memory than a present danger, the government’s prioritization of price stability over employment became increasingly camouflaged behind the dry technocratic verbiage of central-bank press conferences. Once decoded, the gist of this new consensus was simple enough: If unemployment falls beneath its “natural” threshold, then employers will be forced into a bidding war for scarce workers, who will then secure wages in excess of their productivity, which will force businesses to raise prices, which will lead workers to demand yet-higher wages, which will force businesses to raise prices further still, thereby setting off an inflationary spiral that will be difficult to stop. Thus, to save the economy from such destabilization, the government has to reduce economic demand — by raising interest rates, or cutting federal spending, or both — before unemployment gets too low, even if inflation is not yet apparent.[82]

Eric Levitz’ claim is that this has now changed, that while Republicans still prioritize low inflation and low wages to the benefit of the wealthy, hence the fictitious “labor shortage,”[83] which I have addressed,[84] Joe Biden wants labor to have bargaining power, to raise wages and dignity. If this is true, it would indeed be, as Levitz claims, a radical shift away[85] from anything I have seen in my adult life.[86]

I’ll believe it when I have a real job. But so far, what I’m seeing[87] remains utterly bogus.[88]

  1. [1]Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky, Manufacturing Consent (New York: Pantheon, 2002).↩
  2. [2]Gabriele Gratton, “Our economic model looks broken, but trying to fix it could be a disaster,” Conversation, June 7, 2019, https://theconversation.com/our-economic-model-looks-broken-but-trying-to-fix-it-could-be-a-disaster-118397↩
  3. [3]David Benfell, “Conservative Views on Undocumented Migration” (doctoral dissertation, Saybrook, 2016). ProQuest (1765416126).↩
  4. [4]N. Gregory Mankiw, Principles of Economics, 6th ed. (Australia: South-Western, 2009).↩
  5. [5]David Benfell, “Conservative Views on Undocumented Migration” (doctoral dissertation, Saybrook, 2016). ProQuest (1765416126)↩
  6. [6]Jeffrey D. Sachs, The End of Poverty (New York: Penguin, 2005).↩
  7. [7]Jason Hickel, “Progress and its discontents,” New Internationalist, August 7, 2019, https://newint.org/features/2019/07/01/long-read-progress-and-its-discontents↩
  8. [8]Lou Cannon, President Reagan (New York: Public Affairs, 2000).↩
  9. [9]Taylor Telford, “Income inequality in America is the highest it’s been since census started tracking it, data shows,” Washington Post, September 26, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/09/26/income-inequality-america-highest-its-been-since-census-started-tracking-it-data-show/↩
  10. [10]Max Weber, “Class, Status, Party,” in Social Theory, ed. Charles Lemert, 6th ed. (Boulder, CO: Westview, 2017), 94-101.↩
  11. [11]David Benfell, “Conservative Views on Undocumented Migration” (doctoral dissertation, Saybrook, 2016). ProQuest (1765416126).↩
  12. [12]David Benfell, “Conservative Views on Undocumented Migration” (doctoral dissertation, Saybrook, 2016). ProQuest (1765416126); Charles A. Reich, The Greening of America (New York: Crown, 1970); George Seldes, 1000 Americans (New York: Boni and Gaer, 1947; repr. Joshua Tree, CA: Progressive, 2009).↩
  13. [13]David Benfell, “Conservative Views on Undocumented Migration” (doctoral dissertation, Saybrook, 2016). ProQuest (1765416126).↩
  14. [14]Daniel Altman, Neoconomy (New York: Public Affairs, 2004); Mark Blyth, Austerity (New York: Oxford University, 2013); Jacob S. Hacker, Winner-Take-All Politics (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2010); Daniel Stedman Jones, Masters of the Universe (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University, 2012).↩
  15. [15]Kate Gibson, “Minimum wage doesn’t cover the rent anywhere in the U.S.,” CBS News, June 14, 2018, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/minimum-wage-doesnt-cover-the-rent-anywhere-in-the-u-s/↩
  16. [16]Barbara Ehrenreich, Nickel and Dimed (New York: Metropolitan, 2001).↩
  17. [17]Heather Long, “Nearly 8 million Americans have fallen into poverty since the summer,” Washington Post, December 16, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/12/16/poverty-rising/↩
  18. [18]Abha Bhattarai and Hannah Denham, “Stealing to survive: More Americans are shoplifting food as aid runs out during the pandemic,” Washington Post, December 10, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/12/10/pandemic-shoplifting-hunger/↩
  19. [19]Heather Long, “Millions of Americans are heading into the holidays unemployed and over $5,000 behind on rent,” Washington Post, December 7, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/12/07/unemployed-debt-rent-utilities/↩
  20. [20]David Benfell, “The mysterious expectation that elites give a damn,” Not Housebroken, December 16, 2020, https://disunitedstates.org/2020/08/01/the-mysterious-expectation-that-elites-give-a-damn/↩
  21. [21]David Benfell, “Imagine a malicious elite,” Not Housebroken, December 18, 2020, https://disunitedstates.org/2020/12/18/imagine-a-malicious-elite/↩
  22. [22]Steven E. Barkan, Criminology: A Sociological Understanding, 3rd ed. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2006).; Jeffrey Reiman, The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison, 7th ed. (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2004).↩
  23. [23]Erich Fromm, The Sane Society (Abingdon, Oxon, England, 1956; repr. 2010).↩
  24. [24]Jeff Stein, and Mike DeBonis, “Senate majority leader announces approximately $900 billion deal on emergency relief package,” Washington Post, December 20, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2020/12/20/stimulus-congress/↩
  25. [25]Kriston Capps, “Landlords Challenge U.S. Eviction Ban and Continue to Oust Renters,” CityLab, October 22, 2020, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-10-22/landlords-launch-legal-attack-on-cdc-eviction-ban; Gretchen Morgenson, “Large corporate landlords have filed 10,000 eviction actions in five states since September,” NBC News, October 26, 2020, https://www.nbcnews.com/business/personal-finance/large-corporate-landlords-have-filed-10-000-eviction-actions-five-n1244711; Kyle Swenson, “Renters thought a CDC order protected them from eviction. Then landlords found loopholes,” Washington Post, October 27, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/10/27/trump-cdc-eviction-moratorium-loopholes/↩
  26. [26]Jeff Stein, and Mike DeBonis, “Senate majority leader announces approximately $900 billion deal on emergency relief package,” Washington Post, December 20, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2020/12/20/stimulus-congress/↩
  27. [27]Heather Long, “Millions of Americans are heading into the holidays unemployed and over $5,000 behind on rent,” Washington Post, December 7, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/12/07/unemployed-debt-rent-utilities/↩
  28. [28]Heather Long, “Nearly 8 million Americans have fallen into poverty since the summer,” Washington Post, December 16, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/12/16/poverty-rising/↩
  29. [29]David Benfell, “The mysterious expectation that elites give a damn,” Not Housebroken, December 22, 2020, https://disunitedstates.org/2020/08/01/the-mysterious-expectation-that-elites-give-a-damn/↩
  30. [30]David Benfell, “The modern Scrooge,” Not Housebroken, December 12, 2020, https://disunitedstates.org/2020/12/12/the-modern-scrooge/; David Benfell, “Imagine a malicious elite,” Not Housebroken, December 20, 2020, https://disunitedstates.org/2020/12/18/imagine-a-malicious-elite/↩
  31. [31]Molly Kinder and Laura Stateler, “Amazon and Walmart have raked in billions in additional profits during the pandemic, and shared almost none of it with their workers,” Brookings, December 22, 2020, https://www.brookings.edu/blog/the-avenue/2020/12/22/amazon-and-walmart-have-raked-in-billions-in-additional-profits-during-the-pandemic-and-shared-almost-none-of-it-with-their-workers/; Molly Kinder, Laura Stateler, and Julia Du, “Windfall profits and deadly risks: How the biggest retail companies are compensating essential workers during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Brookings, November 2020, https://www.brookings.edu/essay/windfall-profits-and-deadly-risks/; Leila Miller, “Low-wage workers face retaliation for demanding COVID-19 safety measures at work,” Los Angeles Times, August 15, 2020, https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-08-15/coronavirus-workers-retaliation-claims↩
  32. [32]Kriston Capps, “Landlords Challenge U.S. Eviction Ban and Continue to Oust Renters,” CityLab, October 22, 2020, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-10-22/landlords-launch-legal-attack-on-cdc-eviction-ban; Heather Long, “Millions of Americans are heading into the holidays unemployed and over $5,000 behind on rent,” Washington Post, December 7, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/12/07/unemployed-debt-rent-utilities/; Gretchen Morgenson, “Large corporate landlords have filed 10,000 eviction actions in five states since September,” NBC News, October 26, 2020, https://www.nbcnews.com/business/personal-finance/large-corporate-landlords-have-filed-10-000-eviction-actions-five-n1244711; Kyle Swenson, “Renters thought a CDC order protected them from eviction. Then landlords found loopholes,” Washington Post, October 27, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/10/27/trump-cdc-eviction-moratorium-loopholes/↩
  33. [33]Abha Bhattarai and Hannah Denham, “Stealing to survive: More Americans are shoplifting food as aid runs out during the pandemic,” Washington Post, December 10, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/12/10/pandemic-shoplifting-hunger/; Heather Long, “Nearly 8 million Americans have fallen into poverty since the summer,” Washington Post, December 16, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/12/16/poverty-rising/; Kyle Swenson, “Ten bucks left, no place to go: How the pandemic and a broken unemployment system are upending people’s lives,” Washington Post, August 1, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/coronavirus-unemployment-delays-dc/2020/08/01/50016264-c522-11ea-8ffe-372be8d82298_story.html↩
  34. [34]David Benfell, “The capitalist death cult,” Not Housebroken, March 27, 2020, https://disunitedstates.org/2020/03/27/the-capitalist-death-cult/; David Benfell, “An impatient capitalist god demands human sacrifice. Now.” Not Housebroken, April 17, 2020, https://disunitedstates.org/2020/04/15/an-impatient-capitalist-god-demands-human-sacrifice-now/↩
  35. [35]David Benfell, “Imagine a malicious elite,” Not Housebroken, December 20, 2020, https://disunitedstates.org/2020/12/18/imagine-a-malicious-elite/↩
  36. [36]Suzanne Malveaux, Phil Mattingly, and Clare Foran, “House fails to pass measure to increase stimulus checks to $2,000,” CNN, December 24, 2020, https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/24/politics/house-vote-stimulus-checks-government/index.html↩
  37. [37]Rebecca Ballhaus, “Trump Asks Congress to Amend Covid-19 Package, Boost Direct Payments,” Wall Street Journal, December 22, 2020, https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-asks-congress-to-amend-covid-19-package-boost-direct-payments-11608684702↩
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