![How millions of jobless Americans can afford to ditch work](https://cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/211214144506-us-labor-force-retirement-super-tease.jpg)
How millions of jobless Americans can afford to ditch work
CNN
One of the more insidious myths this year was that young people didn't want to work because they were getting by just fine on government aid. People had too much money, went the narrative.
Only trouble is, the numbers don't back it up.
Instead, early retirement — whether forced by the pandemic or made possible otherwise — is playing a big role in America's evolving labor market.
![](/newspic/picid-6252001-20250216092711.jpg)
Amid Democrats’ shock and bickering over how much to respond to President Donald Trump is a deeper question rippling through leaders across the Capitol and across the country: How much should they rely on the same institutional and procedural maneuvers they used during the first Trump term, and how much are they willing to wield their own wrecking balls?
![](/newspic/picid-6252001-20250215102651.jpg)
In less than a month in office the Trump administration has simultaneously dismantled foreign aid programs that support fragile democracies abroad and put on leave federal workers who protect US elections at home in a move that current and former officials say abandons decades of American commitments to democracy.
![](/newspic/picid-6252001-20250215092938.jpg)
Sen. Mitch McConnell was a generational force for the Republican Party — using procedural tactics and political will to stymie much of former President Barack Obama’s agenda, hand President Donald Trump key first-term political victories and deliver a 6-3 conservative Supreme Court majority. Now he’s the odd man out.