'Is it just me or has the whole covid mandate and vaccine narrative suddenly disappeared from the news cycle?"
This massive transition to a war narrative is equally puzzling as it is suspicious but it has nevertheless started to effect real world prices starting with oil. The most basic materials needed for food production were already under pressure and now with the Ukraine/Russia war those conditions have been made extremely worse. The outlook for the cost of feeding a family is bleak; that fact will put pressure on all other expenses all the way down the supply chain.
"Inflation is driving every single restaurant absolutely crazy, portion sizes are shrinking and prices are going up" - Ed Rensi, former CEO of McDonald's
Small businesses are dealing with a lot of new challenges in all the states I fund in including but not limited to staffing shortages, increased costs & shortages of basic supplies. Restaurants here in Florida many of which are family run are having to close one or more days a week due to staff shortages. A family owned company I spoke with this week which runs medical imaging clinics is having to pay his employees more increasing his costs because they keep getting poached for higher pay and benefits by local hospitals.
These stories are everywhere and like thousands of small cuts they're slowly - soon to be suddenly - hollowing out the small business-owner middle class in America.
The Imaging clinic owner is one of many war-weary business owners who after decades in some cases of building successful businesses and providing jobs and prosperity are thinking about selling to larger, more "efficient" operations. This is where the state would like things to go based on all the policies they have implemented. That is, for the government it seems they prefer to support larger business because they can be managed. Small operators are more independent and less likely to implement mandates or police their patrons for compliance to government rules.
This is the "state of small business" right now: Everyone's scrambling to adjust 12 month planning to weekly disruptions.
So this is where we talk a little bit about money; taking new capital isn't always the best policy however right now the conditions are such that it's actually profitable. The rates have remained stable (for now) while the prices are exploding higher. Using unsecured capital gives those businesses who qualify an immediate advantage to be able to pay key employees, purchase supplies or buy materials at discounts. Call me for a quote - I return calls!