. . .
We have been hit with the economic devastation caused by the pandemic. The median household income in the state is $45,726; for the county it’s $34,428, so there are many people who live paycheck to paycheck. While a large majority of Americans — 74 percent — support continued efforts to slow the virus’s spread, and there are plenty of well-off Americans and business owners eager to get back to work, the divide over whether lockdowns should continue is a strongly partisan one. Many Republicans, including low- and middle-income whites think businesses should reopen now. For the most part, the people I’ve spoken to and seen commenting online here accept as a given that the only way to be able to pay their rent or to feed their kids is to return to work: They don’t think it’s possible to protect our health and our economic well-being at the same time.
Many people I spoke with here were happy with the $1,200 economic-impact payments, but it wasn’t enough to replace incomes. And yet, many were eager, as the Senate debated, to include a $500 billion pot of money for the biggest corporations in the country. They thought sending a lifeline to gigantic, publicly traded corporations would be the key to holding on to their jobs. I asked a woman who lives in my county whether she thought that was the only way to ensure her well-being. “Yes, ma’am,” she said, before bowing out because the discussion became too political. “It’s the trickle effect.”
