As Economies Crumble, Debt Soars

But the reality is slightly more complicated. The trauma suffered to the international marketplace will accompany us for years to come. Many people have been thrown out of the job market, and it’s unclear if they’ll manage to make it back in. And not to sound portentous, but more and more employers are now using robots for tasks formerly performed by humans.

These rapid changes are forcing governments across the world, from Jerusalem to Washington, to infuse a measure of security into their economies. Israel and the United States chose the method of direct payments to citizens, as well as a series of grants that encourage employers to retain workers whom they’ve been forced to temporarily lay off. All of this is meant to stabilize the system and prevent a massive wave of layoffs that could crush consumer buying power.

But this contains its own challenge. The trillions being handed out to the citizens directly and indirectly, whether in the form of grants or unemployment benefits, only made worse the loss of tax revenue due to the millions of unemployed. That, in turn, is pushing the American economy even deeper into the quicksand of public debt, which now stands at $26.6 trillion.

In May, USA Today reported that the Trump administration’s aid packages, which then stood at $2.4 trillion, were larger than the entire economies of Italy, which is valued at $2.1 trillion; of Brazil, which comes to $1.9 trillion; and of Canada, which is estimated at $1.7 trillion.