In the Wealthiest Country in History, Americans Are Desperately Struggling With Hunger

For a few short weeks last spring, it seemed like the tectonic plates of America’s political consensus could be about to shift. Amid talk of massive public spending, enhanced support for the unemployed, and even the conscription of private industry under the Defense Production Act, it momentarily appeared that the pandemic might at least put a dent in decades of bipartisan aversion to social democracy and activist government.

Following an initial burst of activity, of course, Washington’s chronic addiction to markets and hostility to social welfare provisions soon returned, with...