THE CHANGING PICTURE FOR "NON-ESSENTIAL" BUSINESSES

by Cort Wrotnowski

Wednesday, June 3, 2020

The Council for "Non-Essential" Businesses, LLC (CNEB) had no sooner formed a couple weeks ago, than we, along with the rest of the nation, were blind-sided by the tragedy of George Floyd and the ensuing riots.  It was a bitter reminder of both the problems this nation continues to confront, and how any set of plans inevitably need to be re-thought.

The situation is also a warning of future problems ahead.  The pandemic can start up again, there can be yet another event that triggers other reactions by the public.  Somehow, small businesses end up being victimized in their own right, without any regard as to the identities of the business owners.

It is fully expected by June and July business owners will see a growing string of bankruptcies and closures.  Customers are expected to come back very slowly, if at all.  This will force small businesses to adapt in yet other ways.  However, if the total number of buyers is low, then what can owners really expect?  So many "non-essential" businesses are thinly capitalized.  That was tolerable when the economy was relatively steady and growing.  But now....

Commentators keep commenting:  We will never be the same, everything has changed, the future will be very different.  They keep intoning these points.  Business owners get it.  The issue is what to do about it.  Despite, the current problems with riots around the country, it is the threat of a second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic that has most people worried.

The phrase we keep repeating is "Never Pick Winners and Losers Again".  The decision to shut down "non-essential" business has caused untold and unnecessary suffering.  Connecticut alone, where we are based, it is estimated that a minimum of $30 billion will have been lost in income, money to the state, income to businesses, and indirect costs.  Any notion of lives saved, or time and money saved by not traveling is more than offset by future health costs from delayed medical procedures, the intangible costs of families subjected to domestic violence and child abuse which will last for years to come.  None of this had to happen.  This self-imposed suffering was the product of bad judgment, bad data, and bad policies.

The CNEB is determined to never let this happen again.  We are counting on the businesses and individuals who undestand this and also want to prevent it to join us in what promises to be a long-term fight.