Economic pain train's a coming (Boston, Springfield: middle-class, home, find a job)

[porterhouse]

No, I'm talking about the trillions of dollars in cash investors are sitting on.

[Boston Shudra]

In the long term (i.e. after the quarantine is loosened or after we have developed a vaccine/treatment) why would biotech and medicine be hit hard by a pandemic? I’d imagine the opposite would be true?

[GeoffD]

Shouldn’t an “economic pain train” thread be about South Coast Rail?

The real estate market took a much bigger hit the the 1990 S&L meltdown than dot.com or the Great Recession. There’s no telling with this one. Telecommuting may lessen the massive demand for living in the nice town close to the office. In the medium term, I don’t see the trend changing where the winners in the global economy create intellectual property and Boston ranks near the top for that.

[OutdoorLover]

March economic activity data has just been announced and was bad. April's is expected to be significantly worse. There's no denying that the collateral damage to the economy has been big.

• Consumer and manufacturing reports for March showed the hit to the economy from the coronavirus was deeper in the early weeks of the shutdown than expected.
• March retail sales fell 8.7%, the most ever in government data, and New York regional manufacturing activity hit an all-time low, declining to a shocking negative 78.2%.
• “The economy is clearly in ruins here,” said Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at MUFG Union Bank.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/15/the-...oO_lL2i418yjl0

[Bridge781]

I certainly don’t think Boston will crumble but there’s going to be changes not for the better for sure. Anyone who thinks Boston is going to continue to thrive is kidding themselves.

[OutdoorLover]

Originally Posted by Bridge781

I certainly don’t think Boston will crumble but there’s going to be changes not for the better for sure. Anyone who thinks Boston is going to continue to thrive is kidding themselves.

Yes, I don't think this is 1929, but the world economy can't absorb a shock of this magnitude and just roar right back. I think we can't accurately predict the magnitude while this is still developing as it is, but I don't think it's going out on a limb to say that this is a significant setback and will take a good deal of time to recover from.

[brightdoglover]

It could be all the roar ("thriving") was artificial, built on tax cuts, too much credit, extremely low interest rates, and overpriced real estate. While I think this current collapse is certainly a disaster, I don't think there will be "recovery" to the former way of being. I do hope for some kind of reasonable steadying out. I fear for charitable and non-profit groups who are doing such needed work.

[OutdoorLover]

Originally Posted by brightdoglover

It could be all the roar ("thriving") was artificial, built on tax cuts, too much credit, extremely low interest rates, and overpriced real estate. While I think this current collapse is certainly a disaster, I don't think there will be "recovery" to the former way of being. I do hope for some kind of reasonable steadying out. I fear for charitable and non-profit groups who are doing such needed work.

Yeah, I have heard that food pantries in Mass are experiencing difficulty operating and at the same time facing surging demand due to the unemployment spike. I was just thinking that I should should make a supermarket run and head by the Salvation Army up the street.

[brightdoglover]

Originally Posted by OutdoorLover

Yeah, I have heard that food pantries in Mass are experiencing difficulty operating and at the same time facing surging demand due to the unemployment spike. I was just thinking that I should should make a supermarket run and head by the Salvation Army up the street.

Absolutely. There's a world o' hurt and it way outside of the work-from-home people.

[mdovell]

Nymex is down 40% today. This could be another slick to Texas. Anyone in the oil industry is in for a shock.

Rents will drop. I've already heard of owners that rent to college students looking for new short term tenants. Five months without cash flow is a long time for any business.