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By Pete Bowen and Bailey Bowen
I learned a few important lessons last week that some might find helpful.
On March 17, government-ordered Covid-19 shutdowns reduced my consulting business income to $0 overnight.
The same week, two of my three daughters were laid off from their jobs.
At the time, we were told that the shutdown would be a couple weeks. It would be tough and painful, but we would get through it.
Though I had no income, we had enough savings to go 6 months on a bare-bones budget.
Besides, the government promised help for businesses like mine to get through it all.
I applied for unemployment and tried to apply for the PPP loans the government promised.
We weren’t too concerned. We felt comfortable that our savings could carry us past the crisis.
Then the shutdown kept getting extended. First to a month. Then 8-12 weeks.
At the same time, the government promises started falling flat.
As a sole-owner LLC, I had to wait until Friday, April 10, to apply for a PPP loan. I didn’t get access to an online application until Tuesday night, April 15th.
By then, however, the PPP money was already gone.
Unemployment? I got denied for several reasons including that I had “excessive earnings” of $145 one week when I took a 35-minute client phone call.
We are genuinely grateful for the $2,400 federal money we did receive. Here in Orange County, California, that’s about 10 days of living expenses for a family of four at the low-income level.
Then the shutdown kept getting longer. Three months, then six months and now maybe 12-18 months.
Last week, we realized that our savings are going to run out long before our political leaders tell us the economy will reopen.
Government ordered shutdowns took away all our income.
There is no PPP money for us. No EIDL money. No unemployment money. No business income for as long as a year.
We’re in trouble. We have to compete with 25 million other Americans to find jobs that generate a combined $50 an hour for us to make the low-income level.
My family is not alone in this.
A school-teacher/hairdresser friend of mine is already part of a rising black market economy. She’s a long-term substitute teacher who is only getting $800/month in unemployment because her UI base rate was too low as a substitute teacher.
How is she going to make her $2,000 rent on May 1? How is she going to buy food?
If you were in her situation, would you cut people’s hair in their homes despite the government guidelines?
A good friend owns an OC tourism business. It looks like they are approved for PPP money and they are grateful. It will help them get by through the end of June.
The problem is that Disneyland may not re-open until August or September.
There is no apparent mechanism by which they can last through August—much less September or October—which is how long it will take for them to get their business back up. If they go out of business, it will be very difficult for them to restart it.
The wife of another friend beat stage 4 cancer two years ago. With a compromised immune system, she is high risk for Covid-19. Nevertheless, she is working in a grocery store because their fear of Covid-19 is outweighed by their need for the income.
These are all educated, upper-middle class people running successful businesses until the government shutdowns ended their work.
All of us have been willing to make big personal and professional sacrifices to help address this terrible pandemic.
But when politicians blithely talk about shutdowns lasting 6 or 12 or 18 months, and government help lasts 2.5 months or doesn’t come at all, you are hit in the face with a new reality.
Our six months of savings went from more-than-covering-the-shutdown to it’s-going-to-fall-way-short.
How am I going to feed and house my family when our savings run out?
My friends whose companies received millions in PPP loans explain to me, with some condescension, that they are sorry I’m in this spot, but this is all necessary to keep the pandemic down.
The message comes across as, “If you just understood how important all of this is, you wouldn’t feel this way.” You know, you just need to get more informed. You need to adjust your thinking.
Then they spend most of their energy and time fighting over whose fault this is.
In the beginning of April, I thought largely the same way. I had a path to get through this.
With six months of savings and promises of government help, I was socially-distanced from the impact of shutting down our economy.
Now that the government promises have fallen flat and my path appears to come up short, my Marine Corps response to them is “Are you shitting me?”
Lesson One: I was reminded that as much as I think I understand the pain of others, there is a big difference when I’m actually in it.
That leads to…
Lesson Two: The top 10% of this nation—that’s you and me—are over-confident, self-absorbed and smug. We are highly educated, but lack wisdom.
We’ve got degrees from prestigious universities, where we benefited less from what we learned and more from the resulting social status and connections.
We value pure intellectual knowledge over wisdom, and we are the worse for it.
We are over-confident and smug. We don’t listen to people who disagree with us to see if we can learn something. Instead, we attack them because disagreement means they are either stupid or evil.
We are self-absorbed. Bad things happen to other people, not us.
None of these traits are wise or helpful when we need to come together to tackle this crisis.
I didn’t understand the impact of shutting down the economy until I felt the impact on me. I got an important lesson in humility.
My CEO-friends who got millions in PPP money are blind to the possibility that they are just a few months behind me. Even when that possibility is put explicitly before them.
When you feel safe financially, it’s easy to be insensitive to what’s happening to tens of millions of our brothers and sisters throughout America. It’s easy to lecture them about how the shutdown is so much more important than the economy.
Nationally, we’ve got at least 68 million families with 100 million people who live paycheck to paycheck.
We have 25 million unemployed in America.
In Los Angeles County, only 45% of the residents have jobs.
Now, instead of thinking about try to emotionally feel the following: The PPP money your law firm or business received just ran out.
All your clients called in the last few days and said they can’t pay their bills. You have zero receivables.
You have just 3 weeks of personal money for your family’s expenses.
You need $7,000/month in Southern California to survive at the low-income level. You’re receiving $800/month in unemployment.
Political leaders nonchalantly mention that the shutdown will go for 6-12 months, so you have little hope of work until October. Maybe.
May 1 is coming. Are you going to spend your $800 on food or to offset your $2,000 rent? We haven’t even talked about your electricity or heat or water or phone or insurance bills.
Now that you have a few weeks of food—you’ll always spend your money on food before rent—how are you going to do this again on June 1 and again on July 1?
Even if you got your job back tomorrow, you won’t get a full paycheck for at least 3 weeks.
If you really faced the problem of not having enough money to feed or house your family, how would you feel and what would you do?
I learned last week that the gap between where you are right now and the scenario above is much smaller than I knew.
Our leaders—that’s you and me—have little sense of what tens of millions of people are going through as you read this.
With government paychecks and contracts and PPP money, we blithely lecture 100 million people that they must risk homelessness and hunger to stay safe from a virus that has a 2% mortality rate.
To those without jobs, it looks a lot like burning down the village to save it.
That brings us to Lesson Three: Wisdom demands honest, good-faith discussion and decision-making about the whole problem, not just one part of the problem.
Every day, we have detailed briefings by hundreds of government leaders on the intricacies of the pandemic and our medical response and models and…
That is all 10-out-of-10, 110%, very important.
Comparatively, we get almost no discussion about the daily struggles of 100 million of our American brothers and sisters as they try to avoid hunger and homelessness.
Where are the daily briefings with charts and statistics and models on how the shutdown is impacting our brothers and sisters? Where is the detailed planning to get them back to work?
We—the politicians and top 10%–are in a relatively comfortable position. We’re not facing hunger or homelessness, so their struggles are just not that important.
We focus on what we do feel: fear that if the hospitals are swamped with Covid19 patients, we might not get the treatment we want for a heart attack.
That’s what’s real to us.
Besides, we threw money at the unemployed. We checked that box. Now it’s time to lecture them about how important it is to us for them to stay isolated.
About how disappointed we are if they do raise their voice and complain.
We’ve never invited them into our discussion. We’ve never asked what they think. We’ve never actively listened to them or tried to feel what they’re going through.
Why would we listen? We’re more educated than they are. We know more.
A wise and honest approach would actively listen to everyone. It would pay as much attention to what our 100 million are going through as it does on what our hospitals are going through.
It would focus on balancing the real trade-offs between health risks, hunger and homelessness.
It would end the incessant demonizing and fighting between politicians who seem to care far less about what’s happening to us and far more about using this crisis as an opportunity to attack political opponents.
We might be smart, but we lack wisdom, respect and compassion.
Lesson One: I was reminded that as much as I think I understand the pain of others, there is a big difference when I’m actually in it.
We must remind ourselves that there is a big difference between the abstract pain of others, and feeling it yourself.
Lesson Two: The top 10% of this nation—that’s you and me—are over-confident, self-absorbed and smug. We are highly educated, but lack wisdom.
We must beware of egotism, learn humility and engage each other in respectful, good-faith conversations actively listening to all our brothers and sisters.
Lesson Three: Wisdom demands honest, good-faith discussion and decision-making about the whole problem, not just the part of the problem that directly impacts us.
A week ago, I would have reflexively said, “Let’s take our time to open the economy as it becomes safe.” I felt comfortable, confident and educated saying it.
Today, I’ll tell you that as bad as the health risks are—and they are really bad—we need to give the same attention to our brothers and sisters getting really hurt by this shutdown.
Those are the lessons I’ve learned the hard way. Maybe they are lessons we can all think about.
Bailey Bowen is Pete’s youngest daughter who studied sociology at Spring Hill College. Recently furloughed, she has more time to correct her father’s writing and challenge his ideas.
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CHRIS S HODGE On April 26, 2020 at 11:24 am
Thanks Pete for the perspective, and I look forward to hear how this plays out. Excellent read.
Scott On April 21, 2020 at 4:04 pm
A very interesting article and I think your lessons are all well taken. But a few comments, firstly not to defend the CEO, but majority – 75% + of those loans are going to keep people on payroll. So the social protection has come via corporations and not government. The CEO and their companies have relationships with banks put them first in line, but it makes you consider who you bank with and how you are treated. But I believe that the bigger issue is that the US system has been broken for some time and this crisis is highlighting where those cracks are. I’m sure you and many many others would have never thought of applying for unemployment or any form of government benefits. Now that you are, you can see that technology, process and scale are 20-30 years and cannot cope. The bottom 5-15% have dealt with this for generations. We are all seeing the dysfunction between Federal, State, County and city government, there are no clear rules or leadership, who do we listen too? As a former Marine Officer you know the value clear and concise communication and value of chain of command.
Other nations have largely come together as one to resolve the virus and the growing economic and social crisis. But we have different rules between states, even LA and Orange County have different rules and reactions. Healthcare is really the weak point, if we thought our medical system could cope, it would give us more comfort, but again we have the social safety net coming from private industry, as the government cannot cope.
Smaller tight net communities will get through this disaster, but it is disaster that will last years, not weeks or months. How and where we all work, live and love to no longer obvious.
Pete Bowen On April 21, 2020 at 5:36 pm
Scott, thanks for sharing some really good points!
I have no problem with the PPP act or distributing money to companies to keep payrolls and jobs going. I get it. I applied for it myself. I am hopeful that my family will receive the same PPP funding that others have.
The deeper point the article tries to make is that the top 10% in America is really out of touch with the lives of most everyone else in America. That’s not a new message, I know. By income and education, I am part of that 10%. What did surprise me was how deep the arrogance runs and how the 10% are deeply unconscious of it, even when its explicitly shown with people you’ve known for 30 years.
The “we know better” arrogance is profoundly anti-American. Through human history, tribes, nations, city-states have all been run by “leaders” who treated the people like “subjects”. In the citizen-subject model, the people who know more organize society and then everyone else gets in line underneath. It always drives to centralize power at the national level. That consolidation of power is always susceptible to becoming tyrrany.
In America, “we the people” are supposed to be the leaders. We are a nation of citizen-leaders not citizen-subjects. It works best on the local level where your vote means more and you have more invested. It’s why most of the power in America is supposed to be at the state level. It’s why there is the 10th Amendment limiting federal power.
That said, the challenges we’ve faced from war and recessions and increasingly complexity and technology have tended to move us toward the citizen-subject model where the “smart people” (note I didn’t say “wise) slowly consolidate power because they are better educated and smarter and know what’s best for you.
There is an emphasis on coddling the populace instead of challenging them to individual wisdom and leadership. It makes the real leaders of our nation–“we the people”, you and me, soft, un-wise and dependent.
A lot of people don’t like government–especially the federal government. We complain about “them”. In reality, the government is a reflection of us. If we don’t like the government, its because we aren’t wise enough to elect a good one.
Wise people don’t elect arrogant, lying knuckleheads. The fact that they we put them in power says a lot more about us than it does about them.
The solution to this isn’t to fight each other to “throw the bums out.” The ONLY solution to this is to become good, wise and compassionate people ourselves who can recognize and never elect the bums. That means each of us, as individuals, has to get our shit together and become wise, good and compassionate leaders ourselves.
The fact that we fight based on narrative instead of fact and we demonize each other is a strong indicator that we (individuals) aren’t that wise. We’ve digressed.
How do we fix America? By challenging each other to Seek Wisdom–that’s knowledge of the truth + good character–and by challenging each other to Practice Love–you become more loving and compassionate by practicing it.
Carlos Cendejas On May 11, 2020 at 6:11 pm
How do we fix America? By challenging each other to Seek Wisdom. Sorry but the top 10% has thrown away “wisdom” as a value. We seek to win first before any value. The judicial system does not seek the truth, it only seeks to win a case or financially burden the system so the truth is buried. It starts with our children’s education, we don’t seek for our children to learn as much as we seek for our children to get grades that will place them in a prestigious colleges. I agree wisdom, right and wrong, is the key to making America Great. Not being smarter than the system and manipulating everything to win. It takes great Godly leaders to influence those running this country who are willing to give of themselves.
Yolanda Ryan On April 21, 2020 at 12:52 pm
Our problem is deeper and wider than we fear. I keep asking “who are the citizens (hopefully legal) that vote in such irresponsible, inept, and dishonest elected servants? I am concerned that our problem is deep and wide. Those that see it need to fully engage in whatever way they are able.
Pete Bowen On April 21, 2020 at 2:38 pm
Yolanda, thanks for sharing that! You might want to check out an earlier blog/podcast “If We Want A Better America, We Must Become Better Leaders Ourselves” on that subject. In other nations, there is a group of experts–whether its the aristocracy or a technocracy–who are the leaders of the nation and the people are the subjects of their leadership. It’s a “citizen as subject” model that dominates world history. In contrast, in America “we the people” are the leaders–we have a “citizen-leader” model. And that goes to the great point you make. Our leaders are a direct reflection of us–of “we the people” who selected them. They can be no better or wiser than us. They are trying to talk us into a citizen-subject model based in the federal government. We need to become good and wise citizen leaders to select the right government leaders to have a great nation. Let me know what you think about that podcast/blog! Thanks again for sharing your thoughts!
Jeffrey Szakonyi On April 21, 2020 at 12:34 pm
Thoughtful and well said.
Pete Bowen On April 21, 2020 at 2:39 pm
Jeffrey, thanks for the compliment! What about the essay resonated the most with you? I’d love to learn by hearing what you think.
john weatherell On April 20, 2020 at 9:43 pm
CDC Flu predictions are 30 to 60 thousand in USA Not million This virus has not reached that level unless many regular flu victims are included , as they most likely are.
john weatherell On April 20, 2020 at 9:38 pm
America Government always seem to late to react and then over react ! Anyone with an open mind who studies past pandemics will see this is just another flu. It is not the Spanish flu that killed 50 plus million The common seasonal Flu is reported by the CDC to kill 30 to 60 million. This is the worst case of our government leaders showmanship ever. And we the tax payers will pay for it. Stimulus money ? How about $25 million to the Kennedy Center as they laid off 100 member orchestra . More pork as well. Do they really care about the average people? The WOH and CDC can’t agree on preventive protocol other than distancing , wash hands, a simple mask ( does nothing for anyone not sick) What do we do in flu season? every year! If we let this sham go unchecked ,we lose more of our American freedom.
Mark On April 21, 2020 at 2:36 pm
Pete, RE your reference to “2.00% mortality rate”. I have tried to calculate the actual death rate for covid19 using WHO figures. Roughly as follows:
World pop. 7,660,000,000. World deaths (reported 4/20/20) 169,000. 1 percent would be 76,600,000 people. Actual percentage is .0022%.
US pop 330,200,000. US deaths (reported 4/20/20) 43,000. 1 percent would be 3,330,200. Actual percentage would be .01302%. NOWHERE NEAR 2.00%
Annual death rate for flu (CDC info) past 5 years roughly 58,000. We have not reached the NORMAL death rate for flu yet.
IN THE WINTER OF 2017 THE CDC REPORTED OVER 80,000 DEATHS FROM FLU.
https://www.statnews.com/2018/09/26/cdc-us-flu-deaths-winter/
Death is always trajic and unavoidable
Pete Bowen On April 21, 2020 at 2:49 pm
Mark, thanks for the insights into the mortality rate for covid-19. The mortality rates are likely to be a bit different by region in the world (differences in medical care, diagnosis, etc.) and we won’t know with much accuracy until we get much better testing. I had encountered a number of people who are not threatened by the financial aspects of the shutdown telling me very confidently that people just won’t want to go to work or a restaurant until they knew things were “safe”. That was the opposite of my experience in which I definitely knew people who were in financial challenges would were actually taking on that kind of threat (2%) because they had to have money. The point of it all is to wake the 10% up to what 100 million of our brothers and sisters are actually experiencing instead of simply (and so often condescendingly) dismissing or just ignoring them.
m austin On April 20, 2020 at 8:48 pm
Do you think Ms Pelosi and Mr Trump will ever read this? Would they understand?
The Pandemic is tragic medically for far less than 2% and financially tragic for far more than 40%. This is a financial crisis that many may NEVER recover from. Long term debt can be demoralizing and can destroy social structure in many ways.
Our world has stubbed its’ toe and decide to amputate both legs!
I am 71 years old. PLEASE let those that want to go back to work!
Mary P On April 20, 2020 at 6:31 pm
Pete this perspective is so important. Thank you so very much!
Rich Kleinbauer On April 20, 2020 at 5:05 pm
Appreciate your candid personal observations and experiences with this pandemic, Pete. I live in Switzerland. We and some others in Europe, namely Austria and Sweden, employ more of a “common sense” approach to the distancing and protection measures. It seems to be providing a better balance between protecting lives and protecting livelihoods. We’re now emerging out the otherside of this mess (at least wave #1), and without an economic wasteland. We’re all in this together, no sense not watching and learning from others’ experiences.
Brooke in OC On April 20, 2020 at 2:30 pm
Love this. There’s a lot of not only wisdom here but honesty. Will be sharing this!
Peter Ganahl On April 20, 2020 at 2:23 pm
Bailey and Pete – Thank you for this very engaging piece. So far lesson one has not yet landed on me because our business has been designated as “essential”. I am thankful for this even though I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that whoever wrote this definition of “Essential” might have been highly educated and probably IQ smart, they were not wise. Every legitimate business in America is essential. Some might think that the product or service they sell is not essential, but the business sure as hell is essential to the owners and employees working there. It’s their source of income that enables them to buy food, clothing and shelter, etc. What could be more essential than that?
I can see my rendezvous with lesson one looming on the horizon. Our business in in the construction supply chain and when the current jobsites are completed, we will have to reduce our workforce.
Thanks again for your observations from ground zero.
Tom Stewart On April 20, 2020 at 12:54 pm
Beautifully written (and spelled – thanks Bailey). Right on so many points. Your honesty and openness is so important. Without it, we have potential fermenting discord because we have “no idea” how others are making it… and know way of knowing they’re not
I read this post once and will read and share it over and over.
We are in this together and we can get through it as long as those in power (that we gave to them) understand the impact of each decision and each day.
Did you know that right now, Chase bank has funded $14bil in loans and still has $24bil sitting, unfunded? This is not ok and those CEO friends and EVERYONE needs to write, tweet and call them and these politicians and demand that the process is streamlined. Protection against fraud looks much different than this
It must be done now and we need a rolling recovery and reopening because this is the first and only government assistance I’ve ever asked for and I don’t plan on ever needing it, again
Stay strong. We’re with you.
Mike Fletcher On April 20, 2020 at 11:48 am
This is a perfect description of how wrong this shut down is. By the grace of God the lesson will be learned.
Michell Touart On April 20, 2020 at 10:54 am
Thx k you for taking time to explain the tragic consequences of our government’s decisions that continue to decimate our country’s citizens. Our political divisions are looking to be the ruination of our country. As sad as the loss of life has been its far more disheartening to see the lack of understanding and compassion for everyday Americans by elitist politicians and billionaires. I will share your article with everyone possible today.