Bharat Bhise Talks about the Impact of the Coronavirus Pandemic to Small Businesses

During the coronavirus pandemic, small business owners take on many economic challenges and face an uncertain future. Bharat Bhise emphasizes that preserving this community is essential to a speedy recovery for the U.S. economy. What the government could do to help hiring bounce back in the following months is to help maintain the small businesses that employ approximately 40 million people nationwide. Bharat Bhise believes that the faster these local shops and restaurants can reopen, the quicker everyone can go back to work, which would lessen the jobless claims that have been soaring since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Although there is no standardized national response to the coronavirus, most state governments have implemented social distancing as the primary response, which is recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). Aggressive measures have involved the shutdown of the local business community, with many governors pushing through bans on areas of social gatherings.

For small businesses without cash reserves or easy lending of a wealthy corporation, rent, service contracts, taxes, utilities, and more will only continue to be a problem despite the nationwide health crisis. When a small business with cash that would only last for a week or two is asked by the government to close for an entire month, there is little to no chance of reopening. Obviously, temporary shutdown has already taken a heavy toll on most small and local businesses. Bharat Bhise believes that as a result, financial pressures would force 20% to 50% of all small businesses to completely close within three months.

Recently, the Congress passed the stimulus bill, known as the CARES Act, which will put $2.2 trillion into economic rescue package aimed at all sectors of the economy. However, Bharat Bhise believes that although the aid passed by the Congress will still be of help, it is both insufficient and difficult to get. Some small business owners have reported that their attempts to file for the rescue package failed against a confusing and error-riddles system. Some experts advocate solutions such as restructuring leases and other payments to make it more manageable and helping small business owners to pool shared resources. Without a massive intervention, the risk of the entire small business community being pushed out altogether will continue to soar, which can only result in more devastating results for the U.S. economy.