Is America On The Verge Of 'Bread' Riots?

Fair Park in Dallas held its fourth food drive since the pandemic was declared in March and the event on Tuesday and North Texas Food Bank fed 1,710 families

Ryan Cooper, The Week: Are bread riots coming to America?

Over the last week, just under 1 million people filed for ordinary unemployment benefits, plus another half-million under the special pandemic unemployment program for people who don't ordinarily qualify, a substantial decline from some of the numbers seen since the beginning of the pandemic. At this rate, by mid-September or so, new unemployment claims will be merely as bad as they were during the worst of the Great Recession.

Those unemployment benefits, however, because this country has systematically stripped and sabotaged its safety net, are extremely meager and often nearly impossible to actually get. Hundreds of thousands of private citizens who have lost their jobs are flocking to Reddit for help and advice, as state unemployment bureaucracies are so janky and swamped they often can't deal with the flood of applications.

In the past week, the r/unemployment subreddit has taken a dark turn with the expiration of the CARES Act's super-unemployment and the failure of Republicans to even come to an agreement about what they want in the next round of pandemic relief. It's become a de facto support group for people whose lives are collapsing around them for simple lack of income or jobs, and talk of suicide is common.

One wonders: Is America about to see bread protests, or even riots?

Read more ....

WNU Editor: Will starving Americans riot? I doubt it. But there is no question that a lot of people are suffering .... THOUSANDS of cars form mile-long line at Dallas food bank as families drive across Texas for box of noodles, spaghetti sauce, peanut butter, rice, and trail mix as unemployment cripples state (Daily Mail).