Consumerism - business as usual?

[GrumpiestOldWoman]

I've seen lots of posts here and social media comments from those who are publicly committing to continuing to support businesses by buying goods and services that aren't really essential.

I know that there's an immediate instinct for those who are comfortably off and still salaried to help keep the wheels of the economy turning. However given what this pandemic is costing, it's unlikely you'll be comfortably off in the future. We're not seeing the impacts immediately because the government are throwing cash around keeping most/many people in jobs but that will stop at some point, presumably not too far into the future.

It's not conceivable that we'll be able to afford a society where millions have been made unemployed and others rely on the patronage of the comfortably-off. The comfortably-off will be taxed harder and in many many sectors will see wage freezes and redundancies.

It's good to support businesses but it feels really naive to think that the finances of the comfortably-off middle classes couldn't change significantly, and quickly.

Any economists here - am I being overly pessimistic?

It is a vicious cycle.... If we dont support businesses now, the economy will deteriorate even more...

The thought of saving money sounds smart, but when the value of the pound drops, those digits are 0s on the left

I’m not quite at the point of abandoning empathy for others and pulling up the drawbridge. I’m better off than I’ve ever been as a result of this pandemic; my salary is the same, I can fully work from home, and I don’t have travel costs / lunch costs / socialising costs, and I’m not shopping for myself when out and about. I saved hundreds last month. The least I can do is buy things from local businesses I want to survive to give them the best possible chance of surviving. I think it would be selfish to hoard my privilege instead of using it to try and help others.