Hitting the Financial Precipice
ARE WE THERE YET?
Seems like a good bulk of the US population is approaching the financial precipice. Been reading how health insurance (for people lucky enough to enjoy) have increased 3-5 fold with employers in 2024. The cost of everything becoming prohibitive. Massive layoffs. The media adds salt to the wound by touting strong metrics.
Painful awakening for many.
Completely anecdotal observations, my $.02:
I go to a lot of local restaurants and breweries, generally everyone seems increasingly squeezed, & noticeably less willing to take risks than even a couple of years ago. I’m noticing unusual partnerships between businesses forming with the obvious goal of sharing risks, huge expansion plans for some that haven’t quite panned out or been put on hold, breweries cutting marketing people to make the operation leaner, etc. And I can’t help but notice when a nice new restaurant opens, it’s almost inevitably met with a chorus of “it’s good, but too expensive”.
I own a small brewery in the U.S. We've seen people holding back for the last 6 months at least. We've also had increases in costs. Finally had to raise prices, but nowhere near enough to offset the cost increases. It's getting tough, very tough for small biz out there. I'm hopeful we can make it, but fear that we'll lose many many small businesses. Each one will take 5-50 jobs with it, and will destroy families. I ride the daily rollercoaster of "soon and we'll make it" to "Holy shit, <insert craziness here>". I don't know what else to add without going full retard, but... FUCK!!!!!!!