The Price of a Virus Lockdown: Economic ‘Free Fall’ in California

“Economic free fall,” is how Tom Steyer, the former presidential candidate, described it. He is heading the state’s economic recovery task force, a group of business leaders, labor activists, economists and former governors who have begun meeting to plot a way out.

California faces a daunting budget deficit of $54 billion, which could force painful cuts to schools, social programs, health care and road building. And the state was the first to borrow from the federal government to finance its $13 billion in unemployment claims…

All of these factors will make recovery difficult for the state, but the big question that will determine how long the recession lasts is whether employers quickly hire back workers once the virus recedes. Across California there is a growing sense that the pandemic will reshape the state’s economy, with long-lasting pain.

ConservativeChick