The Failed Dream Of The American Small Business

COVID-19 has shined a spotlight on the economic importance of small businesses and their physical impact on communities across the country, from large cities to remote destinations like Pie Town. It has also highlighted their precariousness. Across the nation, restaurants, startups, retail stores, art studios, and other storefronts are facing a fate not unlike Pie-o-Neer’s. Defined by the Small Business Administration as companies with fewer than 250 to 1,500 employees, depending on the industry, there are about 31 million small businesses in the US. Last year, they employed nearly half of the private workforce and created 1.6 million jobs. But heading into the pandemic, nearly half of small businesses had two weeks or less of cash liquidity on hand, according to a report from JPMorgan Chase, turning forced shutdowns and lost revenues into an immediate fight for survival. Read more at Vox.