In the same way that each person is supposedly connected to every other by no more than six degrees of separation, each business is connected to every other in exactly the same way. We cannot declare one business “unnecessary” without, by extension, declaring unnecessary every other business that relies on it, and every business that relies on those businesses. Food is necessary, and because of that delivery trucks are necessary, and because of that engine fuses and wiper blades are necessary, and because of that plastic packaging in which fuses and blades are sold is necessary, and on and on. Our economy is not a series of individual supply chains. It is a single, unified supply web. Cut the web in any place and the whole structure weakens.
And politicians have been cutting the web in myriad ways since this began. And what has happened? Food is not being delivered, and now politicians wonder why. What they really need is a mirror and an introductory economics text.
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