Great piece in @thecurrentlaf - only thing I'd want to add to Geoff's analysis is that, while Lafayette is wealthier today than it was in the 80s, and this recession may not feel as bad for some as a result, wealth is likely much less evenly distributed https://thecurrentla.com/2020/lafayette-residents-have-lost-more-income-than-they-did-in-the-1980s/

Hard to quickly track down data that's local enough and going back far enough but according to @EconomicPolicy, from 1985-2015, top 10% of earners in Louisiana increased share of total income from a little over 38% to a little under 43%

That might seem like a small increase, but when you take a look at income tax collection data, that means $4 out of every $10 in income made in Louisiana is going to about 200,000 or so people in the state (about 4% of total population)

All this despite the fact that average wages and salaries have been basically flat. Once you adjust for inflation, Lafayette residents only made about $6k more than they did in 1985. This means top 10% of earners have seen raises, but not so much for anyone else

Additional wrinkle to consider - over this same time period, the poverty rate and number of people living in poverty in Lafayette has increased (other than between 1990 and 2000); so overall increases in income are not making it to people further down the income scale

Long way of saying, pre-pandemic, Geoff is right - Lafayette's economy has changed in some positive ways, allowing many to endure recessions more easily. But for poor and working class people in Lafayette, our economy was stagnant. Now it's worse, and we need to do more to help