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Comment by just-juan-post | Hacker News Reader

I would suggest you pay attention to the economic stories and not the human interest stories when it comes to this virus.

Did you know that 50% of San Fransisco's stores have closed? Half. HALF. https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Half-of-all-San-Fran...

Did you know 250,000 evictions are looming in Las Vegas alone? https://www.ktnv.com/news/coronavirus/las-vegas-could-face-e...

These are very real threats - not some fun internet discussion about inflation or gold or bitcoin. Your poo-poo'ing of economists is very out of context in this case.

The evidence is right in front of your face and you can find it on Google News.

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Sure, 'some' of the stores closed, but store rent didnt even budge. Then we have this https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/21/july-home-sales-spike-a-reco... home prices _and_ sales up.

Wow...

Las Vegas, a town where the majority people are employed in the hospitality/leisure industry (casinos, restaurants, convention prep, etc.)

SF where a huge amount of the residents have left the city since a majority of the white collar employees are WFH for the foreseeable future.

Not sure how you can take these places and extrapolate for the economic health of the entire country...

You can special case any city or town. I don't think WFH is endemic to SF, for example. And economic effects cascade down.

> I don't think WFH is endemic to SF, for example

Certainly not. I don't think it's bad either, but some people (owners of expensive offices) do.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-53925917 -- Warnings of 'ghost towns' if staff do not return to the office

As to shareholders of chain coffee/lunch stores -- https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-53939526

> I don't think it's bad either,

Of course, but it has a significant, fundamental impact on huge aspects of "the economy" as we know it. Large segments of commerce - particularly in the U.S. - pivot heavily on people spending time and money commuting, spending time in an office, eating and drinking at nearby establishments, etc.

The effects will take some time to shake out.

It will be interesting to see if they invest that extra money, and add to the boom of the economy.

Big losers in UK would be

Overpriced coffee shops (not Central Perk style ones in neighbourhoods - takeaway chain ones)

Daily Mail (the metro readership will vanish)

The trains will be interesting - especially in London. UK rail infrastructure is built to cope with large numbers of peak time commuters travelling with large discounts. That infrastructure won't vanish, but the income will (a £3k a year discount for a season ticket still means you're paying £4k a year - if that goes, times a million, it's a lot of operating revenue with little drop in costs)

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