Are Bread Riots Coming to America?
- Are Bread Riots Coming to America?
by Ryan Cooper, https://theweek.com/
Over the last week, just under 1 million people filed for ordinary unemployment benefits, plus another half-million under the special pandemic unemployment program for people who don’t ordinarily qualify, a substantial decline from some of the numbers seen since the beginning of the pandemic. At this rate, by mid-September or so, new unemployment claims will be merely as bad as they were during the worst of the Great Recession.
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Those unemployment benefits, however, because this country has systematically stripped and sabotaged its safety net, are extremely meager and often nearly impossible to actually get. Hundreds of thousands of private citizens who have lost their jobs are flocking to Reddit for help and advice, as state unemployment bureaucracies are so janky and swamped they often can’t deal with the flood of applications.
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In the past week, the r/unemployment subreddit has taken a dark turn with the expiration of the CARES Act’s super-unemployment and the failure of Republicans to even come to an agreement about what they want in the next round of pandemic relief. It’s become a de facto support group for people whose lives are collapsing around them for simple lack of income or jobs, and talk of suicide is common.
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One wonders: Is America about to see bread protests, or even riots?
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