[Mick]

FWIW, OpenTable reservations are still down year-over-year by close to 100% in most of the states that are reopening. As of yesterday, 5/10, Florida was at -89% of 2019, Georgia at -92%, and Texas at -83%. What's not clear to me is how any restaurant that's operating at 10-15% of normal stays afloat. Maybe it's all PPP money that's covering payroll and expenses right now, but this article suggests that a lot of small businesses plan additional rounds of layoffs as soon as their mandatory two months of employee payroll are up. This article really hammered home how depressing the middle-term economic future is, and how little anyone seems to realize it:

[tweet]https://twitter.com/washingtonpost/status/1258821229529743363?s=20[/tweet]

Yes, this is what I've been trying to say for months.  I just did my second round of layoffs Friday and today.  The future for most people is horribly bleak.  Has nothing to do with the Dow and everything to do with the fact that the vast majority of people who will lose their livelihoods have meager means to begin with.  And most well-off people can't really comprehend it, certainly not at the same level as those to whom economic disaster happens.  The standard response from well-off people is not sympathy for those experiencing economic disaster but irritation and frustration with those who dare to bring it up.

[Mick]

FWIW, OpenTable reservations are still down year-over-year by close to 100% in most of the states that are reopening. As of yesterday, 5/10, Florida was at -89% of 2019, Georgia at -92%, and Texas at -83%. What's not clear to me is how any restaurant that's operating at 10-15% of normal stays afloat. Maybe it's all PPP money that's covering payroll and expenses right now, but this article suggests that a lot of small businesses plan additional rounds of layoffs as soon as their mandatory two months of employee payroll are up. This article really hammered home how depressing the middle-term economic future is, and how little anyone seems to realize it:

[tweet]https://twitter.com/washingtonpost/status/1258821229529743363?s=20[/tweet]

Yes, this is what I've been trying to say for months.  I just did my second round of layoffs Friday and today.  The future for most people is horribly bleak.  Has nothing to do with the Dow and everything to do with the fact that the vast majority of people who will lose their livelihoods have meager means to begin with.  And most well-off people can't really comprehend it, certainly not at the same level as those to whom economic disaster happens.  The standard response from well-off people is not sympathy for those experiencing economic disaster but irritation and frustration with those who dare to bring it up.