A lot of misinformation here with no sources. > I know programmers on HN could just work remote and code their way through the whole pandemic without an issue

A lot of misinformation here with no sources. > I know programmers on HN could just work remote and code their way through the whole pandemic without an issue -- but for the majority of regular folks, COVID represented an overall wealth cut of some amount (even despite some folks getting some minor extra unemployment). From WSJ [0]: >> The coronavirus pandemic plunged Americans into recession. Instead of emerging poorer, many came out ahead. U.S. households added $13.5 trillion in wealth last year, according to the Federal Reserve, the biggest increase in records going back three decades. Many Americans of all stripes paid off credit-card debt, saved more and refinanced into cheaper mortgages. That challenged the conventions of previous economic downturns. In 2008, for example, U.S. households lost $8 trillion. > Because there's an approximately 0% chance it's the cause. This "everyone is lazy now because the government helped them slightly once" excuse is a conservative talking point, not a real thing that actually happens. Really? 0%? I never made a case that anyone was lazy. You're throwing politics into it for no reason. > Well, there's also almost a million extra dead people from COVID, not all of whom are retired seniors, some of whom presumably held some kind of job. There's also a lot of people who were forced to live for the past two years on severely reduced or unpredictable income, now realizing they don't have to take a shit deal from their employers. Median incomes were down from 2020, but above 2019 levels [1] > The vast, vast majority of that money went straight into wealthy peoples hands (via things like PPP giveaways for businesses only). Actual regular humans got only a tiny portion of that cash. That's also why asset prices are sky high, workers generally can't afford to buy assets at all, wealthy people buy assets, to hoard their money. Assets are high because wealthy people got a huge injection of cash they've never needed, and are trying to retain it ASAP. Take a look at where the money really went [2]. I agree a lot (too much) went to businesses, but a large portion went directly to workers. This includes 835bn paycheck protection program, 717bn for unemployment, and 869bn for direct payments (3 stimulus checks). [0] https://www.wsj.com/articles/during-covid-19-most-americans-got-richerespecially-the-rich-11624791602 https://www.wsj.com/articles/during-covid-19-most-americans-... [1] https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEHOINUSA672N/ https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEHOINUSA672N/ [2] https://www.covidmoneytracker.org/ https://www.covidmoneytracker.org/