This discussion about the economy is more relevant than ever. With the corona virus outbreak, people are losing so much money, and not just in their stocks, but why? I asked a couple of my friends in my dorm and it seemed to make a lot of sense to them.

 First, I went to my roommate, who is  a pre-vet major, so she knows a lot about science. “The media blows everything out of proportion and then the public reacts to it tenfold, and i don’t blame them because they don’t know any better. People are very gullible and I would believe everything I heard, too, if I didn’t know any better. Also, people focus on the bad, not the good. The coronavirus rarely affects young people, and only happens if you have an underlying condition.” Sam read my mind. My parents are currently dealing with losing over 200,000 dollars because of this stock market crash. 

I asked another one of my good friends on my floor what he thought and he added “it’s also positive for supermarkets and other stores. Everyone is panicking about stocking their shelves with all the necessary toiletries, preparing to spend their time in the safety of their own houses. Buying in bulk and wiping out  the stores is letting them raise the prices of their goods and the people have no choice but to buy them”. The fact that everyone is panicking is letting small businesses raise the prices of normally cheap items because they can’t be found anywhere else. Johncarlo’s friends Sydney chimed in by saying “these small businesses have now have the right to raise these prices, and they  are really benefiting from it.”

At first, I didn’t  understand how the corona virus could have affected the economy so greatly, but after hearing my friends and family talk about it, I understood it more. The panic that  people feel about widespread epidemics has a great effect on the stock market and businesses around the world.