Friday, April 3, 2020

If This "Pandemic" Lasts Past June, It Will Drive Many Companies Out Of Business

Poll: Large Number of Small Businesses Are on the Brink of Permanent Closure as Coronavirus Shutdown Takes Its Toll

Poll Shows Scary Number of Small Businesses on the Brink of Permanent Closure
Volume 90%
 
By Jack Davis
Published April 3, 2020 at 8:15am
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A new survey shows that the restrictions imposed to slow the spread of the coronavirus are causing major damage to the ranks of the nation’s small businesses.
In many jurisdictions across the nation, businesses deemed “nonessential” by state or local authorities have been forced to shut down.
The MetLife & U.S. Chamber of Commerce Small Business Index issued a special report Friday on a survey that found 24 percent of small businesses said they were temporarily shut down and another 40 percent expect to close over the next two weeks.
More alarming, however, is the fact that 43 percent of the businesses responding to the survey “believe they have less than six months until a permanent shutdown is unavoidable,” the report said.
In the retail sector, which accounts for a large percentage of small businesses, 51 percent said they do not think they can last more than six months.
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President Donald Trump has called upon Congress to act to support small businesses.
The survey found that 11 percent do not think they can stay in business another month, while 13 percent give themselves two months or less. Of the businesses surveyed, 19 percent think they will hold out between three and six months, while 16 percent say they think they will endure between six months and a year.
Do you think coronavirus measures that shut down businesses have gone too far?
62% (8 Votes)
38% (5 Votes)
The businesses surveyed do not believe this is simply a blip on the economic screen. The poll found that 46 percent of them believe it will take the economy at least six months and perhaps up to a year to recover from the coronavirus-induced restrictions that have impacted their businesses.
The survey found that 58 percent of small businesses are very concerned about the impact of the virus on their business, with the greatest concerns coming from service-sector businesses in the Northeast with 20 or more employees.
Fifty-four percent of the small businesses surveyed rated the American economy’s health as poor. Only roughly one in four respondents said the national economy was doing well, and only 32 percent believed the same locally.
According to the Chamber of Commerce, those figures represent a major drop; confidence in the national economy was 35 points higher in the previous quarter, reflecting the strength of the pre-virus Trump economy.
The business survey found that the remedy for the nation’s economic ills selected by the president is also their top choice. Fifty-six percent of the businesses surveyed said the best thing to help them would be a direct infusion of cash to the American people, something that Trump ensured was included in the coronavirus relief package he signed last month.
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The survey found that 30 percent of businesses said loans and financial aid in the relief package will be the most helpful to them, while 21 percent said payroll tax relief was the best help they could have.
The survey was conducted March 25-28 by Ipsos among a sample of about 500 small business owners.
The plight of the nation’s small businesses was also outlined in a recent Harris poll that found 71 percent of the small businesses surveyed reported their revenue had fallen in recent weeks as virus-linked restrictions have been imposed. Twenty-eight percent of businesses said their revenue was down 50 percent or more.
The Harris poll found that 10 percent of businesses surveyed said they had already gone out of business permanently.
The survey found optimism in short supply looking forward. Seventy-five percent of businesses said they could endure another month, but then came the drop-off in hope: Only 58 percent said they could survive for another three months, and 46 percent said they were confident they could make it for six months.
The Chamber of Commerce survey did find some hope looking forward, with 57 percent feeling positive about the overall health of their businesses and 23 percent saying they expect to hire people in the coming year.
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China Not Out Of The Woods

China Can No Longer Hide Resurging Virus, Places County on Lockdown

News Escapes from China - Its Outbreak Is Far from Over
Volume 90%
 
By Jared Harris
Published April 2, 2020 at 7:48am
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Despite China’s suppression of true COVID-19 numbers, the story coming out of the country was a hopeful one.
The world’s most populous nation was seemingly able to defeat an outbreak that crippled it, proving the novel coronavirus could be controlled. Soon, life in China began to look similar to what it normally did, hinting that by the end of the year, much of the world would be back to normal.
But if there’s one thing China is good at, it’s lying.
It now appears that the communist regime’s draconian quarantine measures, which forced around 700 million people into a lockdown, did not eliminate the Chinese virus from the mainland.
An outbreak in Jia County now has the Chinese government instituting another strict quarantine, a tactic that many likely thought was in the rear-view mirror.
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According to Reuters, county officials announced the move over Chinese social media. While the county is small by Chinese standards — only around 600,000 people — the lockdown proves the situation in the mainland is far from under control.
Of the three confirmed cases discovered there, two were asymptomatic.
The lockdown order comes on the heels of other ominous moves by the government that hint the outbreak isn’t confined to a single county.
Riots, reportedly stemming from Chinese police control over COVID-19 checkpoints, rocked some areas of China days ago.
The shocking amount of civil disobedience, something completely alien to modern Chinese society, underscores the tensions between the rulers and the ruled.
All the while, China was celebrating every step away from the original outbreak. Hundreds of movie theaters, closed during the quarantine, were reopened to much fanfare from Chinese media.
What failed to receive as much airtime was the quiet order to lock down more than 600 of the facilities a short time later.
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Considering the virus can live in the air for hours and on some surfaces for over two weeks, it’s clear that at least one germ was missed during the country’s mass disinfection.
With China’s less-than-stellar record of telling the truth about COVID-19, this shouldn’t come as a surprise.
As far back as mid-January, experts calculated that the number of people infected with the novel coronavirus in China was around five times greater than the communist party’s official numbers.
Even now, the closing of theaters and a potential second round of quarantines hints that the country is far from ridding itself of COVID-19.
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