Will Covid cause huge transfer of wealth out of hands of middle class?

[Emergent]

I foresee a bleak future for the middle and working classes in America. The government relief efforts I've already proven inadequate. Opportunists will swoop down to buy up foreclosed on real estate, and other assets people will be losing in 2020. Even the upper-middle-class will be affected.

I predict increased power in the hands of the already powerful. There are influential billionaires who will continue to increase their wealth.

There may be unrest, as various factions feel the pinch. I don't think we've even seen a small part of what could be possible in the near future.

Our infrastructure is definitely starting to unravel a bit. Here in Washington State, the largest potato producer in the nation, there have been huge free giveaways of potatoes by farmers who cannot get their product to market. This is because the food distribution has been disrupted with this crisis. I had trouble finding potatoes in the store. There are problems in the warehouses that are distributing our food and other necessities. The shortages we are seeing in the stores are not because people are hoarding.

Unless the authorities start releasing the economy, I don't think things are going to be well by the end of the year. The deaths from the coronavirus might pale in comparison.

[InTheLongRun]

52 minutes ago, Daisy4RN said:

Unfortunately I agree with you because that is always the way the cookie crumbles, like it or not. I read a article earlier that was talking about how the billionaires got even more billions just in the last few months Bezos, Zuckerberg, Musk) . The poor will still get the gov assisstance that, yes, the middle class will pay for. The rich protect each other and find tax loopholes all the while keeping us "all the people" fighting over things (everything!) so we are preoccupied. I already see large cracks and you know it is just the beginning. I think with all the protests they will start to reopen, some already are, hopefully all very soon.

I don't think there's even anything left in the tax code for the middle class and working poor to remove. Most likely it will be paid for by their Medicare and SS of people in their 40's and 50's.. Really sad because we are likely going to live to see elderly poverty back up at 70 pct again.

[StrwbryblndRN]

Same here Emergent. I have wonderful tenants. They are worth it. I would rather go without a month or two of rent then see them move.

[Kitiger, RN]

18 hours ago, A Hit With The Ladies said:

I actually upped my contributions on my 403b and 457 because if the economy tanks I do want to buy equities at rock-bottom prices. By virtue of being an employed nurse in America you already have it better than most of our fellow working adults. You might as well capitalize it on to your advantage. Sure, you might not get up to billionaire plutocrat status, but you'll definitely be higher up in the pecking order when the dust settles.

Good point on buying low. Just be sure you have a good emergency fund first.

[hppygr8ful, ASN, RN, EMT-I]

….............And Congress just proposed a 27% cut in Social Security to help fund the stimulus and of course their pay raise of $4600.00 a month on top of the $174,000 per year. that they already get. We live a thrifty life and have our money where the government can't find it or take it. But I worry for members of the middle class who may never recover from the financial disaster this pandemic has cost. 74% of working Americans currently live paycheck to paycheck. So if there is no paycheck one can foresee the consequences

Hppy

[InTheLongRun]

20 hours ago, Daisy4RN said:

Unfortunately I agree with you because that is always the way the cookie crumbles, like it or not. I read a article earlier that was talking about how the billionaires got even more billions just in the last few months Bezos, Zuckerberg, Musk) . The poor will still get the gov assisstance that, yes, the middle class will pay for. The rich protect each other and find tax loopholes all the while keeping us "all the people" fighting over things (everything!) so we are preoccupied. I already see large cracks and you know it is just the beginning. I think with all the protests they will start to reopen, some already are, hopefully all very soon.

If you hadn't noticed Medicaid had been all but gutted even before Corvid 19. Hope you lined up really good long-term care insurance or have a lot of kids and grandkids willing to take care of you when it gets to that.

[Daisy4RN]

2 hours ago, Kitiger said:

Good point on buying low. Just be sure you have a good emergency fund first.

and make sure where the money in those funds (403b etc) are going also, you can lose money in those also!

[Daisy4RN]

42 minutes ago, InTheLongRun said:

If you hadn't noticed Medicaid had been all but gutted even before Corvid 19. Hope you lined up really good long-term care insurance or have a lot of kids and grandkids willing to take care of you when it gets to that.

Not sure how this relates to my post but...just because there were cuts to Medicaid that doesn't mean that the middle class is not paying for at, and financially is the most affected.

[InTheLongRun]

7 minutes ago, Daisy4RN said:

Not sure how this relates to my post but...just because there were cuts to Medicaid that doesn't mean that the middle class is not paying for at, and financially is the most affected.

in reference to your comment about the poor getting govt assistance. They really don't; Medicaid was the biggest expenditure for the poor and was most widely used for the elderly poor needing SNF's.

Agree with you 100 percent on the middle class. What's left of it.

[happygal56]

On 5/3/2020 at 6:30 PM, A Hit With The Ladies said:

I've given up on politics altogether. I observe it, and voted in the primaries for Bernie, but will not be participating in November or any future elections. America is a democracy in form, but a plutocracy in function. Everything is meant to legitimize class divisions.

America is a constitutional federal republic. And we have an electoral college precisely so that the popular vote does not determine our President. Educate yourself, Bernie voter.

https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitutional_republic

https://www.archives.gov/electoral-college/history#whyec

[InTheLongRun]

12 minutes ago, happygal56 said:

What does this have to do with the thread? And why do the same three or four people always have to turn everything into their partisan political stuff?

[happygal56]

1 hour ago, InTheLongRun said:

What does this have to do with the thread? And why do the same three or four people always have to turn everything into their partisan political stuff?

Since I rarely post, I hardly think I am a political poster. I think I've made just one other comment where I stated the political divide was quite evident on that particular thread. I made no further comments even when mine was responded to.

As far as this thread goes, it is my intention to educate the person whose comment was first political in nature to this thread. When someone makes such an egregious error about the type of government he lives under, that cannot pass and must be rectified. Which is what I did.

Now carry on with whatever you feel to be the true nature of this thread. I have said what I intended to and feel no more need to comment, political or otherwise.

Adios, muchachos! ?

[CCU BSN RN]

I think the fiscally responsible upper middle class who have 6-12 months of emergency savings, little to no debt...will do alright.

Unfortunately 'fiscally responsible' is a rare breed in our country, given how few people have a thousand dollars in the bank, have carried balances on credit cards for years, and live paycheck to paycheck, even when they earn a decent living...

We're all seeing just how fragile our current infrastructure is, and how quickly things get derailed because of a few weeks of lost productivity. I think that's where everyone is making the flip to politics, because it's hard to talk about our economic infrastructure or any part of our country's infrastructure without being well-informed about the government who is largely responsible for making policy.

Financially...we're not going to have total mayhem, banks collapsed. We're going to have a fat tax bill, bailouts of rich companies and industries, the stock market will bounce back and then exceed all previous records. I'd hate to be retiring in a year, but the economy on the whole is not going to collapse from this in any permanent way.