By Robert Hughes
Initial claims for unemployment insurance totaled 6.61 million for the week ending April 4, marking the third consecutive week of massive, record-shattering layoffs, and dwarfing the previous high of 695,000 in October 1982 (see top chart). During the Great Recession in 2008-09, total job losses were 8.8 million over 25 months, versus the current 3-week total of 16.8 million initial claims. The unprecedented flood in claims is likely just the first wave in a tsunami of negative economic statistics that will reflect the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak and drastic policy reactions