No, We Can’t Extend the Lockdowns
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Because there haven’t been any lock-downs. Not for the working-class.
The U.S. has been divided into three new groups by the coronavirus:
The New Haves
The first group is comprised of the well-educated, white-collared professional-class. Most of them have been able to work remotely or are still earning some type of income. This elite class hasn’t suffered much on an immediate financial level during the coronavirus shutdowns.
Investments that aren’t doing particularly well at the moment but are expected to recover do not count as immediate personal financial hardships.
Members of this fortunate caste are mostly people who have been able to afford the luxury of staying home for the past six-weeks. They have been ordering takeout like the people preparing it couldn’t possibly be sick and don’t take public transportation everyday to get to work.
They have been defending a New Yorker’s God-given right to go out for coffee- even in a pandemic- while insulting country rubes missing their own creature comforts.
Incidentally, eating or drinking anything prepared or handled by another person puts you at risk of exposure to whatever germs they might be carrying. If they had the virus, they might have shed it into your food or drink.
People on lock-down complaining on social media that others in some parts of the country want to re-open the economy- that “It’s too dangerous!”- shouldn’t be trusting strangers to make coffee, let alone requiring those strangers to risk themselves making it.
Members of this first, very elite group have been accused, not without reason, of exhibiting very little sympathy towards people from any demographic group who are suffering financially during this outbreak.
The New Have-Nots
The second group of people who have emerged during the coronavirus crisis are the newly unemployed working-class.
These are the people who are lining up for hours in food pantry lines because they don’t know where their next meal is coming from.
This group includes people from every walk of life who have spent years building a small business. These…
