America is creating millions of new poor people who have no idea how to live on nothing.  Society and the government pretty much want them to go die, preferably somewhere out of sight.  You can't be hardly anywhere  in America these days without paying for the right just to exist.  You pay for a place to stay, or you don't get one.  Towns are getting psychotic about that.  So here are all these people, most of them educated and reliable workers, suddenly rammed into the cracks and considered a drain on society.  

Those people represent ordinary work not being done, families not being made or being made and shattered, books not written, classes not taught, things not learned, scientific discoveries not made, songs not composed.  All of that is stuff we lose collectively.  Every person comes into this world with stuff to do, and some of that stuff is really important.  When it doesn't get done, we all pay the price.

That does damage.  It will continue doing damage for decades, because many of those people will never get back their personal stability even if the economy does somehow recover.  This is bad.