July 4th #244 - Outlook Bleak: Covid Cases & Evictions Set to Rise

In addition to the potential CLO Toxicity Crisis that I mentioned a couple days ago here on HIVE, after the July 4th holiday a lot of families are gonna have to face the music when it comes to their largest expense: RENT.

Though the 1st of the month marks when rent is due, most property managers have a grace period of 5 to 10 days. Rent payment is not considered late if delivered within this window. So, in an America where 35% of the population does not own their own homes, this upcoming post-holiday week (that just happens to be occurring at a point in time where the US is seeing the most new cases of COVID per day of any country ever in the history of this crisis) is going to be critical.

A recent article by Emily Benfer, from which this picture is taken, paints a pretty bleak picture for the potential upcoming wave of evictions set to roll across the United States if not this month then the next.

This problem was also recently highlighted by This Week Tonight, which is still filming off-set without an audience in a shed in John Oliver's backyard or something. But the points are salient as ever.

In the United States, there are 43 million rented housing units and that number has been steadily increasing SINCE 1975. It's not a coincidence that increased renters correlates with the yawning wealth disparity in the US. The facts on this matter can't be written more clearly than this Pew chart.

Here's the takeaway. America's outright failure to deal with the coronavirus, which has somehow led to a long overdue reckoning with its heritage of racism, seems like it is now set to reveal the rampant economic inequality of what was once the undisputed leader of the world.

Those in the lower and middle classes in the US have no savings. Their health care is contingent upon jobs that most people now can't even go to for fear of their health. Unemployment subsidies and rent freezes are running out. In fact, #evictions litigation is queued up waiting for the courts to reopen.

And there's no CARES 2 Act in sight. The Congress, as usual, just can't agree on anything! #politics

Happy July Fourth, America! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸😥