I think it was Trump that (somewhat callously) said about restaurants "they'll reopen, but under new ownership." In some contexts, that's not the worst thing in

I think it was Trump that (somewhat callously) said about restaurants "they'll reopen, but under new ownership." In some contexts, that's not the worst thing in the world. In most contexts, these businesses owners will be carrying a whole lot of debt. The debtors, meanwhile, are pretty thoroughly insulated from financial harm. I'm rereading David Graeber's' "Debt." While I think the "history of" part got little weak as he described more modern systems, I have to admit that his definition of money has changed the way I think. The nonexistence of effective bankruptcy is a terrible thing, and we have a pretty shallow well of ideas to draw from unless we look beyond modern economic constructs. It may not be a bad idea (besides being radical and scary) to declare a jubilee of some sort, at least for small businesses. They're bearing the full brunt of this pandemic while their debtors are mostly doing well. Every airline in the world is essentially bankrupt without government intervention right now. Very few will go out of business, and those that do are at least protected by limited liability. It's only small businesses that are actually liable for losses. Ultimately, the 2008 financial crisis issues were pretty abstract. This time it's a lot more visceral, intuitive.