Dear Friend,

The very first thing I wrote when I became a staff writer at The New Republic—about two weeks before New York declared a state of emergency due to
Covid-19 and the city locked down—was a piece on how economic inequality in the United States would dictate who would become a casualty of pandemic and who would come out on the other side just fine. Since then, the ways that those disparities have unfolded have exceeded what I could have ever suspected: Over the same period that food insecurity doubled in the U.S. and nearly 40 million people lost jobs, Jeff Bezos sold over $3 billion in Amazon shares and congressional Republicans stonewalled additional unemployment aid for laid-off workers. And though the stock market has more or less rallied since the start of the pandemic, it’s clear that the vast majority of American workers are going to be in for a much longer stretch of hardship. In an economic and public health crisis, it’s especially crucial to investigate the often brutal contradictions that define our society today, and I’m proud to be part of The New Republic’s ongoing efforts to document and make sense of this unprecedented moment.

—Jennifer Pan, staff writer, Sold Short

Jennifer Pan is a staff writer for The New Republic’s Sold Short section and has contributed to Jacobin, Dissent, the Nation, and other publications.

Commentary like Jennifer’s is what makes TNR more necessary than ever, and we depend on you to ensure progressive voices like hers—and other independent journalists at TNR—have an outlet.