Looks like The Onion was right on with their reporting: "Study Finds Most Restaurants Fail Within First Year Of It Becoming Illegal To Go To Them"
The onion was always ahead of their time. Also reflects what kind of world we live in
Almost 90 percent of NYC bars and restaurants couldn’t pay August rent
111–120 of 328 posts
Re: Almost 90 percent of NYC bars and restaurants couldn’t pay August rent
#112Earlier quoted context omitted.
I answered that already. Because they paid taxes and employed people. It's like an insurance company that drops you as soon as you file a claim... you pay into a pool, expecting it to be there when you need it. This is an unheard of situation, don't forget. The government (rightfully so, in my opinion) is forcing these restaurants to shut down dining. It's not like they're shutting down because they're "lazy".
Businesses don't pay taxes or employ people in the expectation of being bailed out, they pay taxes (like everyone else) in the expectation of goods and services from the Government. You may expect bailouts for restaurants as a Government service, but the vast majority of people do not. As a business owner in a 1st world country, for paying taxes I expect infrastructure, security and a functioning legal system.
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Re: Almost 90 percent of NYC bars and restaurants couldn’t pay August rent
#113Earlier quoted context omitted.
I answered that already. Because they paid taxes and employed people. It's like an insurance company that drops you as soon as you file a claim... you pay into a pool, expecting it to be there when you need it. This is an unheard of situation, don't forget. The government (rightfully so, in my opinion) is forcing these restaurants to shut down dining. It's not like they're shutting down because they're "lazy".
Businesses don't pay taxes or employ people in the expectation of being bailed out, they pay taxes (like everyone else) in the expectation of goods and services from the Government. You may expect bailouts for restaurants as a Government service, but the vast majority of people do not. As a business owner in a 1st world country, for paying taxes I expect infrastructure, security and a functioning legal system.
Security is much more than safety from invasions from other nations. It is a guaranteed safety net for when things go wrong; this covers everything from health care, to unemployment, to services for the homeless, and yes it includes helping businesses that collectively employ tens of thousands of people in times of crisis.
Re: Almost 90 percent of NYC bars and restaurants couldn’t pay August rent
#114Earlier quoted context omitted.
Perhaps the "something" is simply antibodies and herd immunity? 1. In April (!!), 1 in 5 NYCers tested positive for antibodies: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/23/nyregion/coronavirus-anti... 2. Given asymmetric social contact patterns, experts estimate that ~20% may be the threshold for herd immunity of COVID: https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-could-it-be-burning-... I support looking at the science, and this…
That seems plausible. Both New York and New Jersey have lots of high density areas, yet their numbers are very flat now. There's also some speculation that some people might have a natural immunity.
It likely happened in Florida and Texas too. Their profile basically matches New York.
Re: Almost 90 percent of NYC bars and restaurants couldn’t pay August rent
#115It's ridiculous that we couldn't coordinate a rent/mortgage forgiveness plan alongside all the customer bans put in place across the country. If a restaurant can't stay open, they shouldn't pay rent. If the property owner isn't getting rent, they shouldn't have to pay mortgage. And so on, up the entire chain.
PPP funds were designed for that (60% to payroll, 40% to rent/utils). However, they only provided ~2.5 months of coverage, and we're well beyond that.
Also, they were very difficult to get. Especially for smaller businesses without bank relationships.
Re: Almost 90 percent of NYC bars and restaurants couldn’t pay August rent
#116Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes there's something going on we don't understand, because some places that were hit very hard first time round are not seeing a second wave.
Getting hit hard is probably why they don't see a second wave. They got the whole thing over with in one wave.
I think spring was "the wave".
In Nashville they closed bars and restaurants for 6 months because .004% of the cases came from bars and restaurants.
We need to give people choice.
If we wait until we get a vaccine it will be Fall 2022 and many Americans won't get it. What then? No bar and gym re-openenings until X percent of the population is verified to be vaccinated? Mandatory vaccination checks on entrance? Punt again and find reasons not to re-open until 2022?
Let people and businesses make their own choices.
Allow all re-openings and let people choose.
Re: Almost 90 percent of NYC bars and restaurants couldn’t pay August rent
#117Looks like The Onion was right on with their reporting: "Study Finds Most Restaurants Fail Within First Year Of It Becoming Illegal To Go To Them"
> "Study Finds Most Restaurants Fail Within First Year Of It Becoming Illegal To Go To Them Even without these laws, personal decisions would have decimated the business regardless. Even in places didn't shut down, patronage plummeted.
Don't eat the onion.
Re: Almost 90 percent of NYC bars and restaurants couldn’t pay August rent
#118Looks like The Onion was right on with their reporting: "Study Finds Most Restaurants Fail Within First Year Of It Becoming Illegal To Go To Them"
nyc and other municipalities really bungled the categorization of risk. restaurants and bars shouldn't have been lumped together in the first place.
most restaurants could have employed some modest measures and stayed open at 80-90% capacity (which may be below break-even for some, but probably enough to ride out the pandemic with price hikes and/or modest gov loans), as risk is isolated between tables (no, that one hypothesized case of down-blower transmission is not proof of significant risk) and you shouldn't be sharing breathing space with people you don't trust. people who would eat at a restaurant together likely ate together in private anyway when restaurants were shuttered.
bars, on the other hand, by their very nature make it very difficult to contain transmission risk, because the whole point of a bar is to lower your guard to promote mixed socialization. distancing, talking gently, limiting respiratory ejections, and/or wearing a mask just don't go together with drinking and carousing. (private parties then likely became a primary transmission vector, but there's no way to stop private parties without truly draconian measures.)
we could have let restaurants save themselves by remaining open, and tackled the remaining, more manageable issue of closed bars with supplemental programs.
Re: Almost 90 percent of NYC bars and restaurants couldn’t pay August rent
#119Earlier quoted context omitted.
PPP funds were designed for that (60% to payroll, 40% to rent/utils). However, they only provided ~2.5 months of coverage, and we're well beyond that.
Also, they were very difficult to get. Especially for smaller businesses without bank relationships.
How do you have a business of any size without a banking relationship?
Re: Almost 90 percent of NYC bars and restaurants couldn’t pay August rent
#120Earlier quoted context omitted.
The Federal Reserve? It seems like it could have all sort of just been put on 'pause' for the duration of the pandemic.
The Federal Reserve seems primarily focused on keeping asset prices high. Their policies seem to react directly to downward pressure in the equity markets. When you consider that the appreciation of these markets only serves to widen the wealth gap, it becomes clear that the Fed's mandate is to preserve the wealth of the rich. They're pursuing "trickle down" economics at full speed, despite the overwhelming evidence…
> The Federal Reserve seems primarily focused on keeping asset prices high
Pshh - the Fed is focused on hitting unemployment and inflation targets. Low yields in the credit market shifts investment demand towards equity.
The "downward pressure in the equity market" is also deflationary pressure and accompanied by a rise in unemployment. Just because the two coincide doesn't mean the Feds principal goal is high asset prices.