[Mick]

While I have thoughts about wealth inequality and taxes, I think it's far enough removed from COVID-19 that we should probably nip that discussion in the bud.

At least discussions about closing storefronts are directly linked to COVID-19.

FWIW, I saw a lot of "for lease" signs when I went to pick up some coffee on Burlingame Ave. today.  I feel awful for the store owners who had to close down, especially the smaller (non-chain) ones.  On the other hand, there have long been complaints by business owners about the rents being charged, and maybe seeing the fragility of these business and how easy property owners could see their stream of revenue evaporate might lead them to a new market equilibirum.  Those storefronts may take longer than usual to fill up, but they won't be empty forever.

BC

The entire small business dynamic is usually fragile, and the COVID-19 dynamic only made it more so.  More than half of SF businesses are boarded up, but Target, WalMart, Costco, etc. survives.  

Basically, it's two economies, one for the wealthy with a 30k DJI in reach, and one for the poor, with 30 million or so receiving a government check and brobdingnagian unemployment.  COVID-19 and the lockdown exacerbated that problem:
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/07...gap-409234

Recent economic data and surveys have laid bare the growing divide. Americans saved a stunning $3.2 trillion in July, the same month that more than 1 in 7 households with children told the U.S. Census Bureau they sometimes or often didn’t have enough food. More than a quarter of adults surveyed have reported paying down debt faster than usual, according to a new AP-NORC poll, while the same proportion said they have been unable to make rent or mortgage payments or pay a bill.

And while the employment rate for high-wage workers has almost entirely recovered — by mid-July it was down just 1 percent from January — it remains down 15.4 percent for low-wage workers, according to [url=https://tracktherecovery.org/][color=#007bc7]Harvard’s Opportunity Insights economic tracker.

Trump basically has two hopes to win in November: a miraculous economic "V" shaped turnaround (as I've said for months, it's a "K" shaped curve, with the upper 1/3 doing well and the lower 2/3 hurting) and/or a workable vaccine:
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Trum...545751.php

Trump taking credit for stock market success (highly debatable at best) and being absent for its corrections is one thing.  He'll try to take credit for urging the vaccine along when he has virtually nothing to do with other than demand it.  Which, you know, no other president would do, he might think.  Trump does nothing to calm violence, he's trying to fan the flames, thinking it will help him.  Biden is trying to be moderate:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/biden-trump...-protests/

And future President Kamala Harris walked back Biden's promise of a nationwide mask mandate to combat COVID-19:
https://news.yahoo.com/kamala-harris-wal...39746.html

[Mick]

While I have thoughts about wealth inequality and taxes, I think it's far enough removed from COVID-19 that we should probably nip that discussion in the bud.

At least discussions about closing storefronts are directly linked to COVID-19.

FWIW, I saw a lot of "for lease" signs when I went to pick up some coffee on Burlingame Ave. today.  I feel awful for the store owners who had to close down, especially the smaller (non-chain) ones.  On the other hand, there have long been complaints by business owners about the rents being charged, and maybe seeing the fragility of these business and how easy property owners could see their stream of revenue evaporate might lead them to a new market equilibirum.  Those storefronts may take longer than usual to fill up, but they won't be empty forever.

BC

The entire small business dynamic is usually fragile, and the COVID-19 dynamic only made it more so.  More than half of SF businesses are boarded up, but Target, WalMart, Costco, etc. survives.  

Basically, it's two economies, one for the wealthy with a 30k DJI in reach, and one for the poor, with 30 million or so receiving a government check and brobdingnagian unemployment.  COVID-19 and the lockdown exacerbated that problem:
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/07...gap-409234

Recent economic data and surveys have laid bare the growing divide. Americans saved a stunning $3.2 trillion in July, the same month that more than 1 in 7 households with children told the U.S. Census Bureau they sometimes or often didn’t have enough food. More than a quarter of adults surveyed have reported paying down debt faster than usual, according to a new AP-NORC poll, while the same proportion said they have been unable to make rent or mortgage payments or pay a bill.

And while the employment rate for high-wage workers has almost entirely recovered — by mid-July it was down just 1 percent from January — it remains down 15.4 percent for low-wage workers, according to [url=https://tracktherecovery.org/][color=#007bc7]Harvard’s Opportunity Insights economic tracker.

Trump basically has two hopes to win in November: a miraculous economic "V" shaped turnaround (as I've said for months, it's a "K" shaped curve, with the upper 1/3 doing well and the lower 2/3 hurting) and/or a workable vaccine:
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Trum...545751.php

Trump taking credit for stock market success (highly debatable at best) and being absent for its corrections is one thing.  He'll try to take credit for urging the vaccine along when he has virtually nothing to do with other than demand it.  Which, you know, no other president would do, he might think.  Trump does nothing to calm violence, he's trying to fan the flames, thinking it will help him.  Biden is trying to be moderate:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/biden-trump...-protests/

And future President Kamala Harris walked back Biden's promise of a nationwide mask mandate to combat COVID-19:
https://news.yahoo.com/kamala-harris-wal...39746.html