Lurking in the distance of hopeful news reports are predictions that the economic fallout from Covid-19 will be a downturn tantamount to the Great Depression.
The severity of the coming depression is unfathomable. But a subplot in the story might be a rise in emigration from North America and Europe if unemployment remains high.
The underlying conditions were already dire enough to compel many in the U.S. to emigrate, escaping student debt and unaffordable health care. Middle-class lives are essentially beyond reach for anyone not interested in working in tech or finance, fueling a rising interest in socialism and radical alternatives to the economic structures of the United States. It has dawned upon many that a better life awaits abroad.
