The roses are from our neighbor's beautiful rose garden. I usually take photos every time we walk by since everything looks so pretty! As far as the hubby and I, we are just hanging out at home, doing our daily walks, doing little clean up/home improvement projects, entertaining ourselves online, etc.
For us, this isn't such a terrible situation financially, but for many people and all governments (local, state, and federal), the discussion has turned from how to survive lockdown to when can we re-open because we need the money. Our mayor thinks our governor has lost his mind for keeping us on lockdown so long, our unemployment rate has increased an unheard of 2125%, and the small business stimulus program just ran out of money.
So while the hubby and I are fine, financially speaking, for now, our income is totally derived from tax payers (Social Security and military pension) which would be a concern if this goes on long enough. The longer the lockdown goes on, the more people will be negatively impacted, jobs could be lost and never come back, without workers governments won't be receiving any tax money, and individuals are now hitting up food banks in droves but what happens when the food banks run out of food and more and more people are going hungry? I totally see why everything should reopen because our entire economic system has been torpedoed, but on the other hand, cutting everyone loose to return to their regular lives with no way to mitigate the virus has it's down side as well (like death).
It will be interesting to see how we come out of the coronavrius quarantine, especially my city of Las Vegas which basically thrives on the opposite of social distancing. People coming together for conferences and conventions, going to nightclubs and packed restaurants, gambling in tightly packed spaces with people from all over the world, standing cheek-by-jowl with people at popular tourist attractions...I think it may be a long road to recovery for my city. Some of the hardest hit areas aren't even looking at reopening for another month or so but others are looking at reopening as soon as possible.
These are scary turbulent times, economically, politically, and financially!
"Scary" is certainly true.
ReplyDeleteThe world is looking at your mayor and shaking our heads fyi, it made Canadian TV. Perhaps a total lockdown is not the way to go. Here each Province has done their lockdown in different ways. Here only certain things are mandated closed, other things can open if safe to do so. Most greenhouses closed, now are opening up in safe ways for their staff and public. Most restaurants closed - as takeout is an option some are reopening. Hand crafted ice cream parlor is now doing booming business delivering (and a pint is $11 and minimum 2 per order so not cheap but absolutely fabulous, I have not ordered as we are on reduced pay but later might break down), our car wash shut but is now open again, landscaping and construction is still permitted as long as social distancing is permitted. This idea of total shutdown just doesn't work and makes everyone crazy. I am not quite sure how the casinos would reopen but so many other smaller businesses definitely could. Even nonessential stores are permitted to do delivery like our sewing store and office supply stores. It makes a tiny bit of the economy continue. We are self employed but our business will continue although likely we will make 25-50% of what we have in past years for this year and next - luckily everything is paid off and there is savings if we must access them (we are trying to live within our current means and currently have enough pay in the business account on reduced salaries until the end of the year, savings may be used after that). Every one is different..every city different...a total reopen based on how everything was before the pandemic was though is very unlikely to work without killing a large portion of the population
ReplyDeleteI agree. Many smaller businesses could open and would probably be better than the mobs that pack Target and Walmart each day. Casinos will definitely be a challenge. I am glad your business is surviving!
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