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Comment by edot | Hacker News Reader

You assume that a novel virus is as bad as it can get. We might be wishing for 2020 if war in Europe, banking crises, inflation, or layoffs get any worse. I think for a lot of people, COVID was an eye opener that the world can indeed go off the rails really quickly.

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No, we wouldn't. This is politically motivated reasoning at best, Biden derangement syndrome at worst. None of those things aren't terribly bad right now, though if you lived in Ukraine I'd at least understand the sentiment.

Nobody should be "wishing for 2020". Everyone in this country is better off than they were in 2020 at this point.

Do the 50% of all small businesses that had to permanently close fit into your definition of "everyone"?

Uh, what do you think happened to small businesses in 2020? If anything we're seeing a boom in small business dynamism today - more applications for small businesses to be formed in 2022 than anytime in recorded history, except for 2021 [0]

[0] https://www.inc.com/melissa-angell/small-business-applicants...

I'm not sure where you live, but I've been down main street over the weekend, and every storefront on it seems to be open for business, just like they were in 2019.

Some of the players changed, but they've also changed since 2015 and 2011, yet I don't hear anyone complaining about either of those years.

If I live to 2073, I fully expect to still keep hearing the meme that half of the small businesses in this country permanently closed in 2020. It'll be as nonsensical then as it is today.

They very likely did close! And then they re-opened, some under new auspices. It happens and it's a signal that American dynamism is alive and well!

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