It is looking more and more like a return to normalcy, economic and social, will likely take a year or more and will probably coincide with the availability of a safe and effective vaccine for the coronavirus. Despite calls from members of the GOP that we "put on our big boy and girl pants" and get back to work, it remains to be seen if the jobs many people lost are still there for the taking.
Many companies are closing for good as the pandemic forces changes in the way they will have to do business in the future. As a participant in the business of getting food to Americans' tables, I have heard that several businesses my company has traded with over many years have closed. These are small, family owned companies which employ from 10-100 or more. Some are owned by older folks whose family is not involved in the business. With no successor and dwindling capital the temptation is to close the doors and retire. At the opposite end of the food service spectrum are many small restaurants which offer first time employment to the youth of the country. owned for the most part by youthful entrepeneurs, these establishments survive like the average family, living week to week. The extended shutdown will kill many of these places, along with the jobs they provide.
I think we will find the economy far less resilient than pundits opine. The culprit in a lot of cases is the systemic income inequality symbolized by the statistic that shows Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates and Warren Buffet control as much wealth as 150,000,000 workers at the bottom of the economy. Unfortunately, neither dems or repubs seem able or willing to do anything about it, unless fixing that situation is the only thing that will bring back economic activity.
So, we hunker down in our family bunkers and hope the leaders we elected are able to figure a way out of this mess. After watching Cheetolini at another one of his marathon blame everyone but himself press conferences, I am not very sanguine about the situation.
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