A new age is upon us. For all of the major events of our nation’s history, the engines of our economy and functions of our…
A new age is upon us. For all of the major events of our nation’s history, the engines of our economy and functions of our government have been upended by an invisible foe. The toll of America’s 19-year conflict in Vietnam has already been eclipsed, and markets are reacting with more fear than in 2008. A germ has had more impact on the average American than the largest stories of the last 20 years, including wars in the Middle East, September 11th, and the real estate crash. Cutting across ethnic, income, and geographic lines, the coronavirus has disrupted American life well beyond any edict in a state capital or Washington.
Most of the changes to American life that have emerged over the last two months have been negative. Massive shifts caused by the virus have acted as a mirror for wider underlying trends.
Take the demise of local business. For years, the political mantra has been to support Main Street over Wall Street. But social distancing rules and the internet have impacted our small business’ ability to stay alive. The National Federation of Independent Business reported that their optimism index fell in March by its sharpest rate in the survey’s history. Meanwhile, consumer spending fell by an approximate 18 percent in the first quarter of 2020—despite the major pandemic restrictions happening in just the second half of March. The brick and mortar model is not only running independent stores into the risk of default, but could decimate many of America’s 1,100 malls.
In place of traditional shopping, online sales are the topic of the day. Amazon has seen an unprecedented boom thanks to the crisis. Online grocery sales have nearly doubled, and spending on video games has increased by 50 percent. Overall online sales increased 49 percent since the dawn of the corona crisis. Physical sales outside of foodstuffs have been heaviest among alcohol, increasing by a whopping 75 percent.
