Recently the entire executive staff at Lord & Taylor was laid off. The venerable Neiman Marcus is on the verge of declaring bankruptcy. According to the Times, "It is not likely to be the last."

At the same time, however, the coronavirus crisis is exposing an important adverse consequence of having converted the United States to a welfare state some 90 years ago. That  adverse consequences was impoverishing the American people.

According to another article in the Times,

Even before Covid-19, many Americans were living check to check, because of the costs of housing and child care, student debt payments, medical bills and the rest. Despite the cheery insistence of people like President Trump and personal finance gurus, the economic growth of the last decade had not brought wealth or security to most Americans.