He's finally done it, folks; Trump has finally wiped out all jobs gained since the Great Recession and then some.
An additional 5.2 million Americans filed for unemployment last week bringing the total number of jobs lost to 22 million. That's 1 million more jobs lost than the 21 million gained since 2009.
Another 5.2 million workers filed for their first week of unemployment benefits last week, according to the US Department of Labor, bringing the total number of Americans who have filed initial jobless claims to around 22 million, or roughly 13.5% of the labor force, since March 14.
Overall, the last four weeks have marked the largest and most dramatic rise in claims on record since the Labor Department started tracking the data in 1967. [...]
"April is bound to be truly shocking," Brian Coulton, chief economist at Fitch Ratings wrote in emailed comments. He estimates the unemployment rate could rise to about 15% in April — a new post-World War II high.
Now, some people are going to say the virus killed these jobs, not Trump.
But that's not the full picture, is it?
Things did not have to be this bad. The novel coronavirus pandemic would have hit the economy hard in any event as consumer demand plummets across the world, but we're in an infinitely worse situation that we should have been because of Trump; because rather than take early steps to stop or even prepare for the pandemic, Trump said the virus would disappear "like a miracle."
Moreover, the Trump regime's policy response has been a disaster. Trump could have invoked the Defense Production Act and mobilized idle factories to produce personal protective equipment (PPE), but he has only invoked the act in a small handful of cases to produce ventilators. A significant portion of the jobs the economy has lost can be attributed to the fact that we can't keep anyone safe without proper equipment. A growing number of cities and states are now telling everyone including average citizens to wear their own protective gear and garments when they venture outside to the grocery or other essential businesses, but it's very difficult if not impossible to find masks if you didn't already have some.
The federal government also isn't making any visible preparations to test the entire country and that's the scale of testing we're going to need if we want to resurrect any of the 22 million jobs we've lost.
Trump's incompetent fingertips are all over this.
We're finally Great Again.