Monday, March 23, 2020

Part of the New Normal when this thing is finished:

Conventional Wisdom says to have enough in savings to survive with no income for 6 months. Looks like we're going to actually take that advice seriously from now on. It's a good policy anyway, but this shows us that it's real.  For any given person, we wouldn't be surprised if something put us out of commission for a few months (back injury, car accident, cancer, etc.), but when something inflicts that imposition on the entire globe, wow. It shows us how important that policy really is.

Not just the money, but the plan -- how do I go about creating a "dormancy plan?" And do the rent collectors have an obligation to put something like that into their agreements from now on: In the case of a global pandemic, city-inundating hurricane or earthquake: Should the business need to be dormant more than one month due to a natural disaster affecting the entire (city/state/country), rent collection will be reduced to 10% after the first month up to 6 months. And of course, living within our means takes on more nuance. In a limited natural disaster, FEMA and the kindness of others can go a long way toward helping the victims get through it. But with everyone in a similar boat, well, we need to think hard about the processes and infrastructure to sustain us while we're debilitated. Schools systems, banks, homeowners, renters, all businesses, hospitals and clinics, utilities, everything! Let's learn our damn lesson on this one.

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