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A lot of people live paycheck to paycheck. To them, a single lost paycheck can mean not paying rent on time or not eating.

Acting like this is not causing real damage is highly disingenuous.

Our lab has been collecting an ecological time series every January for 35 years. Continuity is critical for monitoring change and the health of the population (under hunting, so there's an economic incentive). Now we have a permanent, unfillable gap. There are many such examples.

I think your hugely underestimating the impact of a single paycheck. Some huge percentage of American's live paycheck to paycheck (78% according to career builder http://press.careerbuilder.com/2017-08-24-Living-Paycheck-to...).

Missing that paycheck means potentially missing rent (which could get you evicted), having to decide between keeping the lights on or buying food. The more paychecks people miss the worse this is going to get for some people.