Abstract:

As COVID-19 cases in the United States (U.S.) have skyrocketed, the virus seems to disproportionately affect Blacks, minorities, and the poor. In addition to inversely affecting public health, COVID-19 confronts Americans with an economic crisis. It has exasperated some pre-COVID-19 economic and health disparities—including wealth gap, housing disparity, lack of job security, and so forth among black Americans. The goal of this article is threefold: first by following an historical approach it explores why a significant wealth gap exists between Americans. Second, it explores how systemic economic inequality is magnified by the COVID-19 pandemic. Third, it recommends some policies to address economic inequality and close the existing wealth gap.

摘要：

随着美国 (US) 的 COVID-19 病例激增，该病毒似乎不成比例地影响了黑人、少数民族和穷人。除了对公共卫生产生不利影响之外，COVID-19 还使美国人面临经济危机。它加剧了 COVID-19 之前的一些经济和健康差距——包括美国黑人之间的贫富差距、住房差距、缺乏工作保障等等。本文的目标有三个：首先，通过遵循历史方法探讨美国人之间存在巨大贫富差距的原因。其次，它探讨了 COVID-19 大流行如何放大了系统性经济不平等。第三，它提出了一些解决经济不平等和缩小现有贫富差距的政策。