CENTRAL TEXAS — Affecting hundreds of cities across the nation, economists say the many recent protests which have turned volatile will affect the economy.
"It’s taking people who have been out of work for 90 days, that we’re barely having a chance to be in business, again, or had just recently opened up, or about to open up, and perhaps destroying your life savings and work, which means those jobs go away for the people who live there and those opportunities to shop go away,” said Dr. Robert Tennant—Texas A&M Central Texas.
Tennant explaining businesses that are affected or damaged, even with insurance are not guaranteed to return to the area, which means communities may lose the jobs those businesses provided, along with the goods they sold.
“Economic impact is greater than just the cost of the buildings,” said Tennant.
Economist Ray Perrymen explained, “ the influx of insurance money actually brings a little bit of a boost to the economy at some point down the road."Perrymen explaining historically the injection of insurance funding after similar protests historically have proven to boost the economy.
The consensus both local economists agreed on was the fact that both the pandemic and the protesting having come in conjunction will prove to be difficult for many.
“So it’s taking people who have been out of work for 90 days, that we’re barely having a chance to be in business, again, or had just recently opened up, or about to open up, and perhaps destroying your life savings and work,” said Tennant.
Both agreeing, the current economy reflects a larger problem within the country.
“Now obviously this is indicative of some bigger problems in the country that we need to deal with, poverty is probably the single biggest day today threats that this economy faces,” said Perrymen
“If you think about all the communities it’s happening in, they tend to be inner cities and communities that are not the most affluent,” said Tennant.
“Hopefully this becomes an awakening to people that a combination of this combined with the way disadvantaged people suffer so much more during the pandemic. Hopefully, those two things combined will help society as a whole to begin to realize that we really need to invest in these neighborhoods," said Perrymen. Concluding that any unpeaceful protests not only affect the cities they're in but all the lives within the community.
Fortunately, most if not all protests in the Central Texas region have been peaceful, though the same can't be said for neighboring cities.
