Pity the shopkeepers

Small businesses in America have been hit by a devastating double whammy. Stores that managed to survive the economic shutdown now face a severe outbreak of looting and vandalism that could close them for good. Rioters might justify their actions by arguing that property damage is nothing compared to the suffering of black Americans at the hands of police, but the destruction of small businesses has profound economic and cultural consequences.

As of mid-May, economists projected that more than 100,000 small businesses had been lost thanks to the COVID-19 quarantine....