US economy still at 80% of pre-pandemic levels

Ramin Mazaheri
Press TV, Chicago

Two different "recovery indexes" have concluded that economic activity in the US is only at 80% of pre-pandemic levels. What is worse is that this number has not improved since June, reflecting how long the US has been stifling the everyday economy.

Since the coronavirus hit, the unemployment rate has doubled; while poverty, inequality and malnutrition have soared as well.

Since spring, the total number of daily deaths and the death rate from coronavirus has plummeted in the US, but major cities like Chicago are still implementing limited curfews which will further delay climbing out of the already-unmistakable economic stagnation.

Despite their immense wealth, the United States’ hardline version of capitalism means they have an extremely weak social safety net. That seems to make exceptional government assistance even more necessary doing something like a pandemic and a Great Lockdown which has just started its 8th month.

The most serious blow to the economy is from a divided Congress, which still has not passed a second stimulus bill, sparking widespread anger and indignation from the lower classes. The first stimulus bill primarily bought mountains of private debt, which inflated the asset classes of the rich and the stock market.

The economic downturn has already had historic geopolitical consequences; last week the International Monetary Fund admitted that China has officially supplanted the US as the world’s largest economy.

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