COVID-19 has been brutal for small businesses. Back in September, data from Yelp showed that nearly 100,000 businesses had closed for good. That was two-and-a-half months ago...and many experts believe the next few months will be even worse for small businesses.
A global pandemic was going to be destructive no matter what, but it’s clear now that small businesses were on a weak footing to start with. Why? That’s the topic on this episode of the Strong Towns podcast...and there’s no guest better able to help us make sense of it than Stacy Mitchell.
Mitchell is the co-director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance and the director of its Independent Business Initiative. She’s the author of Big-Box Swindle: The True Cost of Mega-Retailers and the Fight for America’s Independent Businesses, and coauthor of “Amazon’s Stranglehold: How the Company’s Tightening Grip on the Economy Is Stifling Competition, Eroding Jobs, and Threatening Communities.” Her writing has also appeared in The Atlantic, Wall Street Journal, The Nation, Bloomberg, and other major outlets. Mitchell has testified before Congress on the monopoly power of dominant tech platforms. In April, she was the subject of a New York Times profile, “As Amazon Rises, So Does the Opposition.”
In this episode, Strong Towns president Chuck Marohn welcomes Stacy Mitchell back to the podcast to talk about the concerns she had before the pandemic — corporate consolidation, tech monopolies, how corporate giants were using their size and political clout to muscle out small businesses — and why those concerns are even more acute now. They discuss how small businesses have adapted in extraordinary ways to the challenges of coronavirus, yet still face huge obstacles, including a federal policy response that is printing money for big businesses but has done comparatively little for small businesses. They talk about how Amazon is “fundamentally anti-competitive,” the damage done by Amazon to startups and small businesses, and what it might look like if Congress breaks up the tech behemoth.
Marohn and Mitchell also discuss why it is distorting to think about Americans primarily as “consumers.” Before we are consumers, we are members of a community, citizens in a democracy, and people trying to build a good life for ourselves and our families.
Additional Show Notes:
The Strong Towns Tension With YIMBYism
Alex Alsup: How Much of the U.S.'s Housing Stock Is Locally Owned?
Where Strong Towns Stands As We Enter Another Election Year
Why We Need To Show Empathy Toward Drivers in Conversations About Street Safety
Benjamin Herold: The Unraveling of America’s Suburbs
What Is the Role of Philanthropy in Building Stronger Towns?
Sam Quinones: Recovering Addicts Are Having a Bottom-Up Revolution in This Small Kentucky Town
Tony Jordan and Chris Meyer: Pushing for People Over Parking
Eric Goldwyn: Why U.S. Transit Is So Expensive (and How To Fix It)
Meet the Freeway Fighters Who Are Suing the Texas Department of Transportation
Shima Hamidi: Narrow Lanes Save Lives
Minnesota Introduces First-in-the-Nation Bill To Eliminate Minimum Parking Mandates Statewide
Where Is Sprawl Good? (Featuring Joe Minicozzi)
Reading Member Comments—Live From Buc-ee’s!
We’re Seeing a Groundswell of People Doing Amazing Things in Their Communities
We Must Become More Sensitive to the Stress Our Cities Are Under
Seth Kaplan: Repairing American Society, One Zip Code at a Time
Conor Semler: A New Decision-Making Framework for Street Design
Strong Towns Is Jane Jacobs in Action
The Arguments for Speed Cameras…and Why They Don’t Hold Up
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