4 ms·

Remember, this has only lasted a few months. I want us all to be prepared for it to last much longer. Even if we were to reopen fully today, things have changed

Remember, this has only lasted a few months. I want us all to be prepared for it to last much longer. Even if we were to reopen fully today, things have changed in ways that they won't change back. Take care of yourself and your family. Have a backup plan in case of financial hardship. Entertain scenarios, such as social unrest and food supply chain issues, and come up with a plan for you and your family (with hopes that it never comes to that). If you don't feel safe in your city, prepare yourself to leave. I'm not trying to doom-say or anything like that. You don't have to become a prepper, just think critically for yourself and be flexible in an environment that's unprecedented and fluid.

650REDHAIR 6y ago
I feel like a crazy prepper because I am thinking the same way. I just want to have a plan!
MattGaiser 6y ago
Sign up for all those gig economy platforms before the rush of people starts to them. You never know when you might really want to have that option.
- troughway 6y ago
  The gig economy will be the first to go.
  - MattGaiser 6y ago
    Depends on who gets laid off. If the upper middle class people remain fine, then food delivery will remain strong as will Amazon delivery.
    - troughway 6y ago
      You know that the upper middle class is the one that loses the most in these recessions, their risks of slipping into poverty rise drastically. Recessions cause the movement of money to slow down, that's why getting out of a recession is so hard. Nobody wants to spend money, especially those on the brink. The entire thing is one big spiral, whether or not it's caused by an actual economic downturn or an external actor (in our case, this whole COVID-19 tragedy), the result is the same.
      - pmiller2 6y ago
        > You know that the upper middle class is the one that loses the most in these recessions, their risks of slipping into poverty rise drastically. This is an interesting, and certainly plausible assertion, but do you have data backing it up?
        troughway 6y ago
        https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2018/12/04/how-the-great-recession-hurt-the-middle-class-twice/ https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2018/12/04/how-the-g... https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/7892788/Middle-class-had-biggest-losses-from-financial-crisis.html https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/7892788/Middle-cla... Most recessions/economic downturns have the same story - Great Recession, 1980s, 2008, recent ones.
        pmiller2 6y ago
        I didn't see anything about middle class people slipping into poverty in those links.
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
  - willlff 6y ago
    I am not so sure about that. I could see a scenario where smaller organizations rely more on individual freelancers than large consulting firms for tasks like managing websites and reporting.
  - AznHisoka 6y ago
    If Upwork is considered a gig economy, then I disagree. Upwork (or Odesk as it was known back then) really flourished and grew substantially during the last recession in 2008-2009.
  - orky56 6y ago
    The gig economy is part of the larger sharing economy where assets that were traditionally viewed as fixed (e.g. cars, residences, labor) are now seen as variable based on the predictable and limited nature of consumption. Companies appreciate the flexibility of pairing ephemeral labor with ephemeral needs. We're quickly seeing serverless in cloud computing and the equivalent in human capital is inevitable with unemployed and underemployed as well as a high minimum wage with an ever increasing inflation and cost of living. The unpredictable COVID-19 pandemic along with predictable spikes in demand (Black Friday) just accelerate this need.
    - rXoX 6y ago
      "sharing economy" Found the dissonance. Tell us more about magic elves and lizard people.
- sdenton4 6y ago
  In the race to the bottom, it's good to have a head start! Join GrubHub today!
  - MattGaiser 6y ago
    > it's good to have a head start! If that is where the world is going, then, yeah I would prefer to have a head start.
- Animats 6y ago
  We're way past that. The home-delivery services in the SF Bay Area were hugely overloaded a month ago. Now I can get a grocery delivery from Safeway or Smart and Final the next day. Doordash works fine.
giancarlostoro 6y ago
Personally cashed out some of my shares when they rose back up enough to pay off my car. I coulda held on and made a bit more profit but I can't predict the market so I played it safe, from 2 more years of payments to 1 more payment. It's at least one less thing to worry about paying for. I work for one of the big fortune type companies, but you really never know what can happen.
ericmcer 6y ago
I am expecting people to become financially conservative over the next few months, so I am going to inverse that and start spending money (new used car, house?). That's just me though, maybe I will be homeless soon haha.
- aaronblohowiak 6y ago
  People are already saving more: https://www.businessinsider.com/silver-linings-positives-from-coronavirus-pandemic-cleaner-air-more-savings-2020-5 https://www.businessinsider.com/silver-linings-positives-fro...
uxp100 6y ago
What has only lasted one month? My late acting town has been "safer at home" since late march. Bay area was earlier, and the things were not normal for many weeks before government orders came out.
- ed25519FUUU 6y ago
  Changed comment to “a few months”
grecy 6y ago
> If you don't feel safe in your city, prepare yourself to leave. Where do you expect people to go? If there is social unrest how will they buy gas to get there? What will they eat? How about shelter? For reference, I grew up in remote Australia, I spent 2 years driving from Alaska to Argentina, I lived in the Yukon for 4 years (hunting, fishing, winter, etc.), and I spent 3 years driving around Africa. I've seen my fair share of "it hit the fan" and survival type scenarios (people falling through ice into water at -35C, car crashes, etc.)

650REDHAIR 6y ago

I feel like a crazy prepper because I am thinking the same way. I just want to have a plan!

MattGaiser 6y ago

Sign up for all those gig economy platforms before the rush of people starts to them. You never know when you might really want to have that option.

troughway 6y ago
The gig economy will be the first to go.
- MattGaiser 6y ago
  Depends on who gets laid off. If the upper middle class people remain fine, then food delivery will remain strong as will Amazon delivery.
  - troughway 6y ago
    You know that the upper middle class is the one that loses the most in these recessions, their risks of slipping into poverty rise drastically. Recessions cause the movement of money to slow down, that's why getting out of a recession is so hard. Nobody wants to spend money, especially those on the brink. The entire thing is one big spiral, whether or not it's caused by an actual economic downturn or an external actor (in our case, this whole COVID-19 tragedy), the result is the same.
    - pmiller2 6y ago
      > You know that the upper middle class is the one that loses the most in these recessions, their risks of slipping into poverty rise drastically. This is an interesting, and certainly plausible assertion, but do you have data backing it up?
      - troughway 6y ago
        https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2018/12/04/how-the-great-recession-hurt-the-middle-class-twice/ https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2018/12/04/how-the-g... https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/7892788/Middle-class-had-biggest-losses-from-financial-crisis.html https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/7892788/Middle-cla... Most recessions/economic downturns have the same story - Great Recession, 1980s, 2008, recent ones.
        pmiller2 6y ago
        I didn't see anything about middle class people slipping into poverty in those links.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
- willlff 6y ago
  I am not so sure about that. I could see a scenario where smaller organizations rely more on individual freelancers than large consulting firms for tasks like managing websites and reporting.
- AznHisoka 6y ago
  If Upwork is considered a gig economy, then I disagree. Upwork (or Odesk as it was known back then) really flourished and grew substantially during the last recession in 2008-2009.
- orky56 6y ago
  The gig economy is part of the larger sharing economy where assets that were traditionally viewed as fixed (e.g. cars, residences, labor) are now seen as variable based on the predictable and limited nature of consumption. Companies appreciate the flexibility of pairing ephemeral labor with ephemeral needs. We're quickly seeing serverless in cloud computing and the equivalent in human capital is inevitable with unemployed and underemployed as well as a high minimum wage with an ever increasing inflation and cost of living. The unpredictable COVID-19 pandemic along with predictable spikes in demand (Black Friday) just accelerate this need.
  - rXoX 6y ago
    "sharing economy" Found the dissonance. Tell us more about magic elves and lizard people.
sdenton4 6y ago
In the race to the bottom, it's good to have a head start! Join GrubHub today!
- MattGaiser 6y ago
  > it's good to have a head start! If that is where the world is going, then, yeah I would prefer to have a head start.
Animats 6y ago
We're way past that. The home-delivery services in the SF Bay Area were hugely overloaded a month ago. Now I can get a grocery delivery from Safeway or Smart and Final the next day. Doordash works fine.

giancarlostoro 6y ago

Personally cashed out some of my shares when they rose back up enough to pay off my car. I coulda held on and made a bit more profit but I can't predict the market so I played it safe, from 2 more years of payments to 1 more payment. It's at least one less thing to worry about paying for. I work for one of the big fortune type companies, but you really never know what can happen.

ericmcer 6y ago

I am expecting people to become financially conservative over the next few months, so I am going to inverse that and start spending money (new used car, house?). That's just me though, maybe I will be homeless soon haha.

aaronblohowiak 6y ago
People are already saving more: https://www.businessinsider.com/silver-linings-positives-from-coronavirus-pandemic-cleaner-air-more-savings-2020-5 https://www.businessinsider.com/silver-linings-positives-fro...

uxp100 6y ago

What has only lasted one month? My late acting town has been "safer at home" since late march. Bay area was earlier, and the things were not normal for many weeks before government orders came out.

ed25519FUUU 6y ago
Changed comment to “a few months”

grecy 6y ago

> If you don't feel safe in your city, prepare yourself to leave. Where do you expect people to go? If there is social unrest how will they buy gas to get there? What will they eat? How about shelter? For reference, I grew up in remote Australia, I spent 2 years driving from Alaska to Argentina, I lived in the Yukon for 4 years (hunting, fishing, winter, etc.), and I spent 3 years driving around Africa. I've seen my fair share of "it hit the fan" and survival type scenarios (people falling through ice into water at -35C, car crashes, etc.)