For Millions Of Americans, No Money = No Christmas In 2020
In modern times, there has never been a Christmas like this in America. Millions are freshly unemployed, another wave of lockdowns is forcing countless businesses to close their doors, and people are waiting in line for hours at food banks all over the nation just to get a little bit of food for their families. Of course those at the bottom end of the economic food chain are being hit the hardest. It is being reported that employment among those that make $27,000 a year or less is down 20 percent from pre-pandemic levels. That is an extremely shocking number, and it helps to explain why the number of Americans living in poverty rose to 52 million during the month of November.
But it isn’t just the unemployed that are suffering. Many of those that are still working have had their hours cut or they aren’t able to make as much in tips, commissions or bonuses as they did prior to the pandemic.
Tens of millions of households are bringing home less income these days, and this has become a major national crisis. In fact, one brand new survey discovered that a whopping 42 percent of U.S. households are currently making less money than they did prior to the pandemic…
Nine months into the pandemic, 42% of Americans say their household income is still below what it was before the coronavirus outbreak began, according to a new survey from Bankrate.com.
And that same survey found that 85 percent of Americans are concerned about how their incomes will be affected by this pandemic moving forward…
As the financial fallout from the pandemic continues and with expanded unemployment benefits and eviction moratoriums set to expire at the end of the year, 85% of adults are worried about a lasting negative impact to their income. That’s an increase from the percentage of people who reported that same concern in June.
With less money to go around, this is not a “normal Christmas” for millions of U.S. families.
And in some cases, there simply will not be any presents at all. For example, an unemployed nurse in Kansas named Sierra Schauvilegee says that her children “will not open a single gift” on Christmas morning this year…