by Barry Weisleder
The sh*t has hit the fan. COVID-19 now afflicts multitudes. World War C. It has triggered the shutdown of all but ‘essential’ production, leaving millions without jobs and income. In Canada, the ‘value’ of stocks plunged more than $1 trillion in a month, severely undermining pensions and retirement funds. A record nearly 1,000,000 workers applied for employment insurance benefits just in the third week of March, compared to the usual 35,000 for that time of year. This is just the tip of a deadly iceberg. Economists predict up to 35 per cent unemployment, far above the peak joblessness rate of 27 per cent in 1933 during the Great Depression. It seems the term Recession just doesn’t cut it anymore.
And let’s be clear: the current economic downturn preceded the virus. It was already underway in December. GDP growth, capital profitability, capacity utilization, volume of working hours, etc., indicated the onset of a recession. In 2019, countries like Germany saw the lowest growth rates since 2009, the peak of the global financial crisis. In addition, mass layoffs in the global automobile industry were no longer simply the result of computerization or the transition to e-mobility, but reflected a slump in economic activity. Capitalism and crisis are inseparable.
