IS YOUR JOB THREATENED? Consequences of coronavirus in more way than you actually think. LET ME TELL YOU WHY ....
 | I've read quite a few publications about the Novel Corona Virus here on Steemit and I've noticed that most people share similar concerns. However, nobody seems to be wondering, if the current outbreak will impact our own businesses or our full-time jobs. |
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INTRODUCTION
So today, I would like to look at the current situation from a bit of a different angle; to change our perspective. And hopefully you, dear readers, can help me with that.
So, I would like to ask each one of you, to think if whatever-you-do for a living can be affected? Will this outbreak be a threat to your business ? Can you lose your job? Even if you're thousands of miles away from China?
Those questions have been bugging me for some time already. And the answer I have so far is not at all in my favor.
BLACK SWAN and economical "aftermatch" consequences
According to Moody's Analytics "Chinese Virus Could Be a ‘Black Swan Like No Other’". And it's hard not to agree.
Reading about Starbucks shutting down all their branches and also Apple Is Closing All of Its Stores and Corporate Offices in China Because of the Coronavirus Outbreak made me wonder, what could be the potential consequences for those of us, who rely on Chinese products and are collaborating with Chinese businesses.
And I only see dark clouds ahead
It has been very obvious that the world's second-largest economy has been under extreme pressure lately. Its economy has been slowing down and the tariff war with US isn't helping either. Many consider the current outbreak as a 'Straw that broke the camel's back'. And the pain we will all endure maybe a "once for our current generation" experience.
And trust me. I wish so badly to be wrong.
HOW WILL I BE AFFECTED?
Only some of you are aware, that I'm co-managing a small company - an online shop that sells laptop and phone accessories. All products are imported from China.
And there are millions of other small businesses across the globe, which are similar to ours. And since the Lunar New Year was coming - many of those businesses stocked up with products. Just enough to "go through" those few weeks.
However, right now local suppliers seem to share a similar concern: will chinese employees go back to work once their new year is over? Will factories be re-opened and running? Will shipping companies be operating as usual? So many questions - and received replies are not very optimistic.
All businesses relying on products MADE IN CHINA will most likely soon struggle with lack of supplies. Everyday of this virus is damaging our world supply chain more than we can imagine. And Im afraid that this is the time to ask myself a few questions:
*is my job threatened? may I become jobless soon? Will my business fail? How can I prevent that from happening? *
CHINA CENTRAL BANK TO THE RESCUE?
China's central bank has announced that it will inject 1.2 trillion yuan ($173bn) into the economy to help deal with the outbreak of coronavirus.
Link: https://www.france24.com/en/20200202-chinese-central-bank-to-pump-173-bln-into-economy-in-virus-fight
And there you go! Would you, dear reader, consider it a sensible solution? Print more money and pump them into the system? I personally am failing to see how that could that make things better. How could that help to solve the current problem? It seems that Central Banks in the current age are trying to solve every problem doing always the same: printing more money.
Where is it going to take us?
SHARE YOUR OPINION
Please resteem, drop valuable comment (I read them all) and let me know what do you think about this particular issue.
Yours, Piotr
How badly can the worldwide chain of supply be affected? Especially if the current situation will last another month or more?
Will prices of all items MADE IN CHINA go up in upcoming weeks? Will warehouses all over the world become empty soon?
Is your job depending in any way on Chinese economy and supplies coming from this country? Would you consider your job being threatened?
Yes, I think that this is the biggest threat. It seems that the Chinese economy basically halted, and done so in a very rapid and unplanned fashion. Both China's internal steps to limit the spread and the international reaction of closing borders has shut down most economic activity.
Most air freight travel on passenger flights, so with all the airlines cancelling flights direct consumer order goods won't be able to leave China.
Chinese factories have shut down and its not clear when they will reopen, so bulk commercial purchases will not be available once current stocks are exhausted.
Thanks for dropping by and sharing your view on discussed topic @apshamilton
Stay safe buddy. Difficult times are coming.
ps.
Is there any way to reach out to you via DM? Do you perhaps use telegram or discord? Maybe you could drop me a message?
I would like to discuss one particular topic with you, and I don't want to do it all via blockchain.
My discord: crypto.piotr#3426
Telegram: crypto_piotr
Cheers, Piotr :)
It's me again @apshamilton
I just realized that I never actually thanked you for your comment. Big thx.
ps.
I would need to ask you for little favour. Recently I've decided to join small contest called "Community of the week" and I desribed our project.hope hive/community. Would you mind helping me out and RESTEEM this post - just to get some extra exposure? Your valuable comment would be also appreciated.
Link to my post: on steemit or on steempeak
Thanks :)
Yours, Piotr
Hi,
You asked me in my wallet notes to come and share with you about my experience with the new "hives" feature or "community" aspect of Steemit. I couldn't figure out how to join a hive, or create one, so I gave up. I would participate more on Steemit, if I could figure out a way to draw together a community with similar interests. But so far, the interface has not made it easy to use Steemit as easily as it is to use Twitter or Facebook for social gathering.
It's me again @somena
I just realized that I never actually thanked you for your comment. Big thx.
ps.
I would need to ask you for little favour. Recently I've decided to join small contest called "Community of the week" and I desribed our project.hope hive/community. Would you mind helping me out and RESTEEM this post - just to get some extra exposure? Your valuable comment would be also appreciated.
Link to my post: on steemit or on steempeak
Thanks :)
Yours, Piotr
One of my friends work in the energy sector. He was telling me how they could not receive equipment that was supposed to be shipped from China due to the outbreak.
As for me, I work in the health sector, so it doesn't matter as much unless hospitals are overwhelmed.
Thanks for dropping by and sharing your view on discussed topic @enforcer48
You surely may end up being heavily overworked. Stay safe buddy.
Yours, Piotr
Very good topic for current situation .
Posted using Partiko Android
thanks for dropping by @alauddinsee
I've noticed that you're delegating some SP to steembasicincome and sbi5. Would you mind sharing with me how much do you receive (average weekly) in return for those delegations ? Just curious
Yours
Piotr
Hi again @alauddinsee
Can I ask you for little favour? I joined contest called "Community of the week" with project I manage and I would be grateful if you could RESTEEM it and help me get some exposure and drop some encouraging comment :)
Link to my post: on steemit or on steempeak
Thanks :)
Yours, Piotr
The viral outbreak is certainly going to be a setback for the China economy. Analysts are already anticipating the next quarter GDP to take a hit. However, China being China might be able to sugar-coat it somehow.
China is the factory of the world. Hence, any slowdown in productivity and business activities will certainly have impact on other countries. Just take Apple for example. Much of their phone parts are mafe in China. Thus, the supply chain is going to take a hit if China is unable to keep up with the demand.
At the individual level, we not only have to fear contracting the virus, we also have to worry about the economic slowdown which may affect our company's business and as a result our pay/bonuses.
I think there are many things that can happen. The real impact can only be estimated when this whole outbreak is over. Hope that day comes sooner rather than later.
Thank you @culgin for such a brilliant comment
You nailed it buddy! And I must tell you - I'm bloody scared.
Difficult times ahead of all of us,
Yours, Piotr
My "job" will not e affected. I simply work from my laptop. But the economic impact will be massive. Add inflation to the mix, we will be planting the seeds to an economic catastrophy that had already planted enough seeds to go bust bigger than 2008 crash. I'm not completely pessimistic about Corona virus. Humanity will get over it. We have made it through may diseases as a civilization. The media and increased globalization makes it seem like much bigger issue.
My real concern is the unseen effects of what people and governments do to "fix" the issue.
Thank you for your kind comment @vimukthi
I'm glad to hear that your job won't be directly affected.
Difficult times ahead of all of us,
ps. I've noticed that you're delegating 6k to dlike. Would you mind sharing with me how much do you receive from them for your delegation? what's their average weekly payout?
Yours, Piotr
This is probably the time when retail running businesses that have been sabotaged by online retails actually start to benefit with their pre-stocked up goods.
And that also got me thinking, supporting local and also having outsource manufacturing like China simultaneously could be the only way to keep us afloat during hard times.
Thank you for your kind comment @littlenewthings
Difficult times ahead of all of us,
ps. check out your discord whenever you have a moment :)
Yours, Piotr
Hello dear @crypto.piotr.
I think that in our case it is very difficult to know that, I can only think that China is Venezuela's main business ally, however, as these alliances have had no repercussions in Venezuela, or they are minimal, I have no idea what would happen With the people in Venezuela.
In my personal case my biggest source of income at the moment is steem.
The heavy problem in China is the dictatorship: local authorities were trying to hide the truth from the Central Committee. The censorship slowed the information flows.
But in the US, there is another problem: Many people don't have health insurance, or can't afford to be ill. So many people never go to the doctor. I have heard that authorities in New York have to convince people now they have to visit the doctor if they are sick. They promise them free treatment now.
The average life expectancy in the very rich country, USA is surprisingly low - for two main reasons. Lack of health care, and drugs abuse.
Thanks for dropping by and sharing your view on discussed topic @deathcross
I wonder if democaracy wouldn't be a problem if such a virus would spread within europe. I can see politicians playing "blame game" instead of actually taking care of real issues.
Stay safe buddy. Difficult times are coming.
Yours, Piotr
Personally I have been trying very consciously not to buy Chinese made goods if I can help it. If there's no other comparable item then I am left with no choice, otherwise if a comparable items made elsewhere is available even for a few bucks more I bite the bullet and buy that item.
I made that decision about three years ago after reading an article about how many Chinese workers live on company property stacked fifteen high in bunk beds, they are made to work sixteen hour days, they charge them rent, utilities and for food if they provide a dining area.
I had gone to the store one day to buy my first ever air conditioner. I never really liked air conditioners because they make more noise than a fan. Usually if you run a fan during the night when it's cooler out and turn it off during the day your house doesn't really heat up that much till more towards evening when it starts to cool down and you can switch your fan back on. We had gone through about two weeks of straight high in the nineties without much of a night time breeze so tiring of it I thought I'd get an air conditioner and just use it in times like this. I come home with it and while opening it up I notice it said made in China. I sat there for a few minutes thinking about all those people crammed up living together forced to work sixteen hour days and I was about to relax in my cooled down room at their expense. It was a thought that I didn't want to find myself having to keep reflecting upon so I choose that moving forward I'd make a conscious effort not to buy goods from China. It's really hard at times to find goods that are not made there, one reason I gave up many, many years ago. Back when the US was losing jobs to China I fought until I spent more time in the stores looking for stuff not made in China than I really preferred to be spending as it was nearly impossible. Even back when I'd buy a car I'd tell the salesman I wanted an American made car, finally that response came back I can find you a car mostly made in America but not totally. That's what I'd have to settle for. Cars and clothes are nearly impossible to find being made here.
I am not going to say I feel bad for those who've chosen over the years to engage in slave labor if they lose business or revenue over this crisis, the saying often is what comes around goes around so those who will lose money over this will now feel what it was like when they jerked all those jobs out of the US and left people scrambling from the loss of their jobs and livelihoods.
Wow. Thank you @sunlit7 for such a brilliant comment
ps. I've noticed that your latest post is over 1 month old. did you give up on steemit? :(
Difficult times ahead of all of us,
Yours, Piotr
No not completely.
Hi again @sunlit7
Can I ask you for little favour? I joined contest called "Community of the week" with project I manage and I would be grateful if you could RESTEEM it and help me get some exposure and drop some encouraging comment :)
Link to my post: on steemit or on steempeak
Thanks :)
Yours, Piotr
Sure though I don't think a lot of the people who follow me are much active anymore but I resteemed it for you.