“If Congress doesn’t act immediately, countless small businesses will not survive.” (Close, 2020). The fact of life for many small business owners is every dime and penny they own is tied up in their business. Most can not be closed even for the weekend without the risk of having to close the doors for good. Every small business owner in the past several months has had to consider closing the doors for good or seeking aid as loans that they may not be able to repay. Even as our economy reopens with the current restrictions, small business owners can not profit from operating at twenty-five percent capacity.
“50% of our members have also told us they can’t survive more than a month or two without support — and for many, it has already been nearly a month.” (Close, 2020). Using what I have learned in ECON 101 taught by my instructor Nicholas Bergan, I have considered the thought process. The decision to push on and fight to keep the doors open or to close and wait until the economy to recover to come back to try again is not an easy one. For those who run fast-food restaurants, they can continue to operate making profits by cutting staff to the bare minimum and only going throughout the entire ordeal. For those who only offer dine-in, they have suffered as many have had to consider if the implicit and explicit costs are too great to gain a profit from continuing to stay open at minimum capacity. For a small mom and pop shops around our nations who live week by week, this global crisis has devastated them.
“Small businesses are half of America’s economy and account for nearly half of America’s jobs. This crucial part of the economy is most in danger of failing. The vast majority of small businesses have fewer than 20 employees.” (Close, 2020). For larger businesses that have the liberty to consider the long-term implications of closing some of their stores in areas where they can no longer make a profit or are suffering catastrophic losses, small businesses can not do the same. For owners who can only afford to see the short-term implications and can not survive to close their doors for any length of time or operating at such low production rates without the aid, they will fall as many have already done.
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Without aid from the government, the small business we count on in our country will continue to struggle to keep their doors open and a large part of our economy will suffer. “In the past week, one small business owner told us she has less than $4,000 in the bank, after paying her workers and suppliers. Another told us his company has run out of money to pay employees. Every day, hundreds of small businesses contact us, telling us they can’t last much longer. For their sake, Congress needs to provide more funding for the Paycheck Protection Program — without delay. The new funding the Senate is trying to provide is a good start.”(Close, 2020). Even if aid comes for some, it will be too late. For some, the fixed inputs such as rent, mortgage, utility bills, and insurance which does not stop even though they can no longer operate have forced them to close their door permanently.
My conclusion is as we all have suffered during this pandemic the backbone of our economy has taken a ruthless blow. They have had to look at the price of continuing to do business under current mandates that restrict the number of people in one building, curfews, and requirements for social distancing. Many have found that they cannot survive in current economic times. In our uncertain times, our fixed variables are just that fixed. Regardless of whether the county reopens now, the rent is still due and there are many small companies out there we simple not pay it.
