GOING IN REVERSE

The last several days has been akin to living in a nightmare. For one thing, Trump is making good on his promise to go out with a bang. We saw him tap into and rile up his White nationalist base to mount an assault on the nation’s capital. Nothing should be surprising here. He has long complained about alleged voter fraud and has consistently singled out cities and localities with large numbers of Black voters as being responsible for "robbing" him of the presidency and thwarting his project of making America great again. Mounting the horse of White rage, he promised his death cult devotees a "wild" experience, an opportunity to demonstrate their deadly obsequiousness to the One sent to "drain the swamp" of the presence of all traces of the Other. Again, none of this is surprising. His love of White nationalism and his anti-blackness predates the years of his presidency. Dude has been racist and rancid for years.

A few days after the White nationalist insurrection, Trump publicly throws his goons under the bus. Sounding like a hostage being forced to read from a script crafted by his captors, he "denounced" the white nationalist violence the nation had just witnessed and promised a "smooth, orderly, and seamless transition to power." All the while, of course, he continued to push the argument that Blacks--in cahoots with the Dems-- had crucified him but that he would rise again.

And in the background of all is this is the rising numbers of Corona-related deaths. During the same time that these White nationalists launched their assault, the number of Americans clocked by COVID raced pass the 350,000 threshold, with the number as of 01/10/2021 coming in at about 375,000.

As observed in previous posts, Black, Latin, and Indigenous bodies are disproportionately stacked amongst these COVID related deaths. The same one who promised his supporters a "wild time" in DC is the very one who continues to preside over this growing body count.

There's something else, also, that's part of the hellish week that washed across the nation. During the White nationalist uprising and the growing number of lives crushed by COVID, there was another data drop--a number that officially confirmed what many of us already knew. The economy had gone off the cliff.

GOING IN REVERSE

Released on January 8th, just a few days after White nationalists pulled up on the state, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), noted something that many of us already knew: An economy that had been stalling out was not actually going in reverse.

During the four-month period of August-November, the economy added 1.37 million, 661,000, 638,000 and 245,000, respectively. Increasing but at a decreasing rate. Stalling out. And then comes news that in December there was a net loss of 140,000 gigs. The "car," in other words, starts to go in reverse. It's sort of like traveling, say, from New York to Cali. You start out with your foot pressed on gas but, over subsequent days, you ease up on the pedal. Barring an accident, you're still going to make to California but it's going to take a longer than you initially planned. And then, the car does this weird thing: It starts going backwards. You're going in reverse. Before you know it, you'll end up right where you started from. That's if you're lucky. If it keeps going in reverse, who knows, maybe you'll end up in Connecticut or even Vermont.

Well, that's like what the December jobs report reveals: The economy is no longer adding jobs, even though the increase had become increasingly anemic. It's now going in reverse. Instead of adding jobs, it's shedding jobs. You're headed back to New York!

And that's not the end of the story.

WOMEN BEARING THE BRUNT

A few things to note. First, that 140,000 figure was driven by job losses in leisure and hospitality, private education, and government. The overall job loss was partially offset by gains in professional and business services, retail trade, construction and, finally, transportation and warehousing. These gains, however, were not nearly large enough to completely offset the losses. That negative 140,000 is what you get when you tally up all the gains and losses. Second, the net loss is concentrated amongst the lowest paid members of the work force. Almost half a million workers in the leisure and hospitality lost their jobs in December, with almost 75% of that occurring amongst the lowly paid occupations of food services and drinking places.

Third, and this needs to be emphasized, the data suggest that all the net job loss-- that 140,000-- was borne by women. 100%. It’s even worse than that. Women lost 156,000 jobs during the month of December, while men experienced a net gain of 16,000. By the way, there's your 140,000: 156 minus 16. For the moment, though, hold onto this: Women--and low earning Black and Brown women, in particular- are being crushed by COVID's recent resurgence and the impact that it's having on the job market.

GOING FORWARD

So, in the closing days of Trump's presidency that's what we see: A White nationalist insurgence, an intensification of the pandemic, an economy that's going in reverse, and a job loss that's falling with a pronounced thud on the shoulders of Black and poor women.

But, again, none of this is surprising. Or at least it shouldn't be. He's been done told folk who he is, and he has a record of utter disdain for civil, political, and economic rights. He lacks a moral compass, and, for Trump, everything is transaction. The art of the deal.

Going forward is not going to be easy. Trump's departure does not mean the disappearance of Trumpism, White Nationalism, or the Christian nationalists marching under that putrid banner of "God and Goons."

But this much I'm convinced of: There is no going forward at all without holding Trump and his ilk accountable for all the harm they've inflicted. They must be brought before the bar of justice. Millions have suffered at his hand, and hundreds of thousands have died because of his disdain for all life. Apart from his own, of course.

Justice demands that he and crew get the chance to stew in the consequences of their choices.

Catch you on the flip side,

Doc Greene