How Much Damage Has Been Caused By the Protests?

It’s a straightforward question. Soon, we will have an answer in U.S. dollars. Are we ready to face it?

Downtown La Mesa, California. June 1, 2020. to see the destruction. “Here are some photos of the ruins of the Chase Bank and Union Bank Branches. Also, the ruins of the Randall Lamb office building. This building was constructed in 1942 and was originally the First National Bank. Later it was a Piggly Wiggly supermarket.” (photo: slworking2)

Though the full costs have yet to be determined, the protests which erupted after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May have already been the most expensive in U.S. history.

Axios reports that the protests which took place across 20 U.S. states from May 26- June 8, 2020, alone, cost between between $1 billion and $2 billion dollars, possibly more.

Of particular note in the above statistic is the date sample- a mere two-weeks- and the vast difference between one billion and two billion dollars U.S.

Before 2020, the most expensive period of civil unrest in U.S. history was April 29, 1992, through May 4, 1992, during the Rodney King riots in Los Angeles. This event is estimated to have cost $775 million dollars in damages, which would be closer to $1.42 billion in today’s dollars.

Before the riots in 1992, the most expensive period of civil unrest in history was August 11 — August 17, 1965 in Los Angeles which cost $44 million, or $357 million adjusted to 2020 standards for comparison.

The civil unrest of the past four months has been quite different from other periods in the past, and not just in terms of economic damage and…