The New Republic Discussed a Post-Pandemic Monoculture in America

Summary

Our elected officials are failing small businesses and workers, and it will transform our neighborhoods for the worse.

Before the economy officially collapsed, it was easy enough to imagine that the world would resume without much of a hitch after the pandemic had dissipated: Restaurants and bars would open in time for the start of the summer, shoppers would wander into stores once more, movie theaters would start screening again. Now it’s clear that little in the post-pandemic economy will be the same as it was, except, perhaps, for the ultrarich, who tend to be exempt from most upheaval. (David Geffen will no doubt find some way to resume his usual land-based standard of living when he disembarks the $400 million superyacht where he’s quarantining; Martha Stewart’s life will probably be fine even after her staff, workers she’s come to call her “detainees,” are free to leave her compound once again.)