Originally Posted by jgw
There are many who figure that it all going back to the way it was. Just not true. Retail is taking a beating right now and that too is going to get a lot worse as people who have been buying on the net are not going to change their ways real quick.

I remember that I liked to go to a local bookstore to leisurely browse books, and to a records store to look up CDs and listen to tracks with their headphones, talk to the store clerk who was knowledgeable, and all.

But one day I started buying books and CDs from Amazon... and was amazed at the ability to sample tracks, "look inside" books, and with the inventory that had literally thousands of options above and beyond the local brick stores... with better prices. Sorry, Mom and Pop brick stores, I never went back. I've been buying all my books (now, Kindle e-books) from Amazon and all my music from Amazon for several years.

Yes, this pandemic will enhance e-commerce and finish destroying the local stores.

And it's not only that. It's that with one in 5 American losing employment, it's already 20% of the market that went away. Plus, the new restrictions, social distancing, store capacity, and simply people afraid of going into stores even if the governors say it's allowed, will mean that stores will be doing slow business and won't be selling that much.

Restaurants... sure, there are the intrepid and irresponsible people who can't wait for orders to be lift, to flock the restaurants and bars... but there are many others saying, "no way, I won't be in an enclosed space, who knows who has the virus there, who knows if the cook is sneezing coronovirus onto my dish..."

People will continue to be afraid, disposable income is lower, and even those who remain employed had their consumer confidence shattered, because they don't know if their employers will remain in business or will downsize, etc.

No, the economy will take a looooooong time to recover. It will recover better when/if we get safe and effective vaccines, but especially if we don't, the economic effects may become long-term.

And all these stimulus packages? That's like printing money. It will result in bigger inflation, and with business being slow, people won't be getting raises so their income will be effectively shrinking.

Last edited by GreatNewsTonight; 05/14/20 08:40 PM.
Please take COVID-19 seriously; don't panic but don't deny it; practice social distancing (stay 6ft from people); wash your hands a lot, don't touch your face, don't gather with too many people, so that you help us contain it.