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by matwood 2267 days ago
Correct. Todays number isn't even much of a surprise, although it's still shocking to see. I thought the consensus estimate was way too low. Some analysts have been kicking around 20%-30% unemployment before this is all over.
1 comments
jiofih 2267 days ago
The US economy looks more like a pyramid scheme than ever.
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malandrew 2267 days ago
The virtuous cycle provided by a functioning market is not a pyramid scheme. Not even close.

Pyramid schemes transfer wealth from the bottom to the top while creating no new additional wealth. America is creating tons of additional wealth and how much each gets from that wealth is proportional to one's leverage and one's leverage is generally proportional to how much one is able to contribute to wealth generation (in either talent or useful capital)

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buzzkillington 2267 days ago
The US has destroyed nearly one trillion dollars in wealth for the bottom 50% since 1989:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wealth_inequality_in_the_Unite...

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malandrew 2267 days ago
You're going to have to elaborate on what you mean by "destroyed".

Also, the US isn't a single entity. It's an agglomeration of 330 million people interacting with one another and it's various levels of governance at the local, state and federal level.

Natural disasters can destroy wealth by destroying assets. Individuals can squander their wealth through bad investments. A government can steal wealth through taxes. Wealth can be forfeited through civil or criminal proceedings. Wealth can dwindle in real terms due to inflation. So on and so forth.

But to say that the "US destroyed wealth" makes no sense and isn't either a supportable or falsifiable statement.

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jiofih 2267 days ago
“Virtuous”. It is fueled by artificial growth. It demands growth and makes sustainable, stable businesses a liability. It is absurd to see companies folding barely two weeks into hardship.
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matwood 2267 days ago
> It is absurd to see companies folding barely two weeks into hardship.

Why? Companies sitting on tons of cash is a bad thing. That cash either needs to be invested through hiring, buying equipment, etc...or paid out to the shareholders (who then spend, invest, etc...). Sitting on cash traps capital that could be doing something else to create value.

And before you say companies need to plan better, companies do plan for downturns. But, no company plans for their revenues to go to near zero overnight.

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