4 ms·

Brutal. Restaurants are already often hanging on by a thread. Over 400 closed in SF last year[1] due to the high cost of doing business there - some that had b

by Reedx 7y ago

Brutal. Restaurants are already often hanging on by a thread. Over 400 closed in SF last year[1] due to the high cost of doing business there - some that had been operating for over 20 years. And that was with normal demand! Imagine now that their traffic has dropped 51%? https://www.sfgate.com/food/article/411-restaurant-closures-San-Francisco-Jardiniere-14928007.php https://www.sfgate.com/food/article/411-restaurant-closures-...

ttul 7y ago
Canada rolled out $10B in business financing just today to give businesses like restaurants a lifeline through this challenging and unusual time. The money is being pushed out via BDC (which is like the US Small Business Administration) and EDC, an export development agency that provides guarantees so that banks can lend to risky borrowers to support exports. On a GDP-scaled basis, the Canadian financial package is the equivalent of a $90B package in the US -- nearly twice what Trump's administration is offering.
- config_yml 7y ago
  Switzerland did the same, they offered 10B in help. They also waived a lot of bureaucratic paperwork for companies wanting to apply “Kurzarbeit”. I hope people take advantage of it and not in a bad way.
- jariel 7y ago
  Even though $10B seems nice, it's a drop in the bucket - any sustained depression at this level will start to have severe consequences far, far beyond the 2008 recession. I hate to sound like Trump and make this about the economy, but if this keeps up, we're all in serious trouble - we need to spend. With all of the 'social isolation' talk, there needs to be a push to 'stay calm carry on' i.e. focus on the 'carry on' parts - we need to do our jobs, we need to finish our work, we need to keep buying stuff (obviously thoughtfully), and we should also be trying to find ways to enjoy ourselves or we're going to go crazy. I'm really worried about my two locally-owned cafes, I'm literally stepping out now to get 'take out coffee' as I would normally 'sit-in' so as to cause the least disruption to their business. Same with everything else frankly. 1/2 of my 'What I am going to do?' Coronavirus thoughts have revolved around how I can 'keep spending at my regular places' because if we don't do that, it's going to go down like dominos. I know most people probably don't think in those terms, but the moment you become responsible for a P&L, one's worldview shifts! It's possible that negative economic downturn could inadvertently cause more bad life outcomes than the pandemic itself. The economy is the circulatory system of our collective wealth (and therefore health), we need to chin up and keep at it.

by Reedx 7y ago

ttul 7y ago

Canada rolled out $10B in business financing just today to give businesses like restaurants a lifeline through this challenging and unusual time. The money is being pushed out via BDC (which is like the US Small Business Administration) and EDC, an export development agency that provides guarantees so that banks can lend to risky borrowers to support exports. On a GDP-scaled basis, the Canadian financial package is the equivalent of a $90B package in the US -- nearly twice what Trump's administration is offering.

config_yml 7y ago
Switzerland did the same, they offered 10B in help. They also waived a lot of bureaucratic paperwork for companies wanting to apply “Kurzarbeit”. I hope people take advantage of it and not in a bad way.
jariel 7y ago
Even though $10B seems nice, it's a drop in the bucket - any sustained depression at this level will start to have severe consequences far, far beyond the 2008 recession. I hate to sound like Trump and make this about the economy, but if this keeps up, we're all in serious trouble - we need to spend. With all of the 'social isolation' talk, there needs to be a push to 'stay calm carry on' i.e. focus on the 'carry on' parts - we need to do our jobs, we need to finish our work, we need to keep buying stuff (obviously thoughtfully), and we should also be trying to find ways to enjoy ourselves or we're going to go crazy. I'm really worried about my two locally-owned cafes, I'm literally stepping out now to get 'take out coffee' as I would normally 'sit-in' so as to cause the least disruption to their business. Same with everything else frankly. 1/2 of my 'What I am going to do?' Coronavirus thoughts have revolved around how I can 'keep spending at my regular places' because if we don't do that, it's going to go down like dominos. I know most people probably don't think in those terms, but the moment you become responsible for a P&L, one's worldview shifts! It's possible that negative economic downturn could inadvertently cause more bad life outcomes than the pandemic itself. The economy is the circulatory system of our collective wealth (and therefore health), we need to chin up and keep at it.