The Little Guy

As years go by but probably not too far down the road it will become increasingly obvious that multiple major mistakes were made in the handling of this coronavirus outbreak. Many months ago I said that I disagreed with how President Trump handled the virus, and of course my  anti-Trump readers jumped all over that. At that time perhaps I should have been more specific as I thought that he put too much credence in what the esteemed Dr. Fauci was saying and did not pay enough attention to the little guy. By this I mean that there was not enough of a balance between the medical aspects of the virus infection and the economic catastrophe that could (and did) result because of the multiple things that have occurred because of the “flattening of the curve” mentality of those “who know best.”

Certainly it is always easy to look through a retrospectoscope, but shouldn’t some of these economic consequences have been predictable? Not to belabor the point but the soaring unemployment was predictable, as were the myriad of predicable consequences for these millions of people being out of work. These were not unforeseen consequences, but predictable consequences, which have had the most dramatic effects on the little guy. By the little guy here I am referring to the working poor and the others who were trying their best but still barely getting by before everything was shut down.

Think about it various aspects for a second.
School closures . . . without question have effected the little guy the most. (Internet access, ability to send kids to private schools, parents who could not work from home, etc, etc all hit  the little guy the hardest.) The shutting down of small businesses certainly wreaked havoc on the finances of the owners, but just as much on their employees, who for the most part are little guys. However, perhaps the most consequential and far reaching effects on the little guy over the long term involves those who could not pay their rent. 

The following is from an article in the LA Times:

Renters across the nation are dipping into 401(k)s, taking on higher-interest debt, and scrambling for risky, essential-worker jobs to pay the rent. Research from Moody’s Analytics and the Urban Institute estimates 9.4 million U.S. renter households owed an average of $5,586 in back rent, utilities and related late fees as of January, for a total burden of $52.6 billion.

“[Bad] debt affects your credit score, and credit scores affect everything in your life,” said Yuval Yossefy, a manager at the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, a nonprofit law firm.

“A family that makes less than $30,000 a year, they are going to be on the verge of homelessness for the next 10 to 15 years because of this huge debt,” said Ana Grande, associate executive director of the nonprofit Bresee Foundation in Los Angeles, which provides assistance to low-income families.

Making matters worse: Studies show those with debt are least likely to afford it — even if they regain their old incomes. Compared with all L.A. County renters, households that earned less than $25,000 in 2019 were more than twice as likely as all renters to not pay their rent during the pandemic, according to a joint USC-UCLA survey. Households that earned between $25,000 and $50,000 were the second most common group to report not paying.

For emphasis here we are talking again about the little guy – the working  guy making less than $50,000 per year, the working poor little guy.

At this point unfortunately the harm that has been down is a fait accompli (done and irreversible), however the virus is not finished. Most likely with these new variants, an inevitable post Super Bowl surge, or a post Valentine’s Day surge, cases will again spike upwards. 

Hopefully, those “who know best” will have learned something over the past year. If not, perhaps every little guy can imitate  Howard Beale from the 1976 movie, Network, and shout, “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore.”

A translation for “those who know best:”

This means open all schools and businesses completely – Now . . . and keep them open.