Do you think that when these businesses open that very few of that 27 million will be going back to work or that many of those business owners/entrepreneurs will just do nothing for the next 10 years?
I think sectors of the economy that involve discretionary activity is going to take years to recover. If I owned a hotel, for example, I’d be turning it into a Section 8 housing complex right now.
"What prudent merchant will hazard his fortunes in any new branch of commerce when he knows not that his plans may be rendered unlawful before they can be executed?" -- James Madison
The lockdowns have destroyed the potential for new business formation by declaring certain categories "non-essential" and thus illegal to operate. Most of our political class in both parties thinks that if they save Walmart and Amazon, they have saved the economy.
Having been so badly burned by a government that stabbed them in the back - many entrepreneurs will indeed do nothing over the next ten years. Some will, perhaps, focus on developing online businesses with offshore supply chains, using the smallest number of American employees and smallest square footage of American commercial real estate possible.
The virus made the mask slip, and the hatred of our political classes for the entrepreneur caste became fully visible. Knowing that such collectivist rage is always out there - and is so deeply embedded in our systems of government and education and media - will give pause to any potential business operator who lacks the budget to own and operate his or her own politician.