For the past two seasons I’ve been watching “Snowpiercer,” a TNT spinoff from the 2013 movie. Based on a French graphic novel, the film was Korean director Bong Joon-ho’s introduction to international audiences and was followed last year by his Oscar win for “Parasite.” The television series is nothing if not ambitious – perhaps too ambitious. “Snowpiercer” is a 1,001-car train endlessly hurtling around the globe in the aftermath of a failed climate engineering effort to reverse global warming. Instead, the geoengineering precipitated an Ice Age. For those who may not recall, this was the feared climate catastrophe that made it to the cover of National Geographic during the 1960s.

A return to “Snowball Earth” was overdue and climate scientists worried a rapid freeze could be triggered at any moment. (It turns out the Industrial Revolution successfully fended off that threat.) Outside temperatures have plummeted to minus 200 degrees and Snowpiercer serves as the dystopian equivalent of humanity’s Ark, with the constant danger that a halt of more than 15 minutes will freeze up the train and shortly thereafter its passengers. Within the cars, a class system separates those who enjoy the luxuries in first class from a proletariat in the rear who grow foodstuffs and suffer the assorted indignities of steerage accommodations. There are many unanswered questions about Snowpiercer, starting with where and how it acquires the energy required to propel itself and heat miles of passenger quarters.

The “downtrain” rabble have seized most of the cars this year while a small coterie of the privileged are confined to but still control the engine compartment. Contemplating Colorado’s pandemic economy exposes its similarity to “Snowpiercer.” Limiting access to and locking down non-essential businesses has jeopardized the entire enterprise which thrives on momentum.

Colorado has a lengthy and recurring history of booms and busts resulting from our reliance on commodity prices – mining, agriculture, ranching, oil and gas production coupled with tourism. The most recent market collapse arrived during the late ’80s and early ’90s. Since then we have better diversified the state’s economy to include software development, clean energy, high value manufacturing, craft beer and recreational marijuana. Through it all we have remained among the youngest states in the nation as well-educated transplants have streamed in to staff these start-ups It turns out, however, that we also benefit from the economic expansion these arrivals demand – more housing, more bars and restaurants, more schools, more highways and more parking lots.

Yet, suddenly we have found ourselves with one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation. Tourism has virtually evaporated, propped up only slightly by Front Range residents fleeing cabin fever in search of a long weekend. While residential construction has continued apace, we have to question whether commercial space is overshooting demand in a post-Zoom world. As Colorado’s small businesses continue to shutter, a sector lauded as the bedrock for 70% of our employment, we need to consider whether the economic juggernaut of 2019 may be careening wildly today. Those hanging on by their fingertips are approaching decisions about cutting their losses. Anecdotally, there is evidence more U-Haul trailers are now departing Colorado than arriving. On the other hand, home prices are accelerating irrationally.

For the next year or two, economic development dollars might be better spent attempting to save existing businesses rather than attempting to attract newcomers. Relying on the miracle of the marketplace to sort all this out would be foolish. Bankers may be our first responders, but they never were and are not today an economic salvage service. They were quick to assist their biggest customers with loans under the original CARES Act. Congressional approval of the latest COVID-19 rescue package is likely the last major effort to keep the American economic engine on the tracks before widespread turmoil erupts. Let’s focus on helping the little guys this time.

Contrary to Republican complaints in Washington that Democrats are offering too much to too many for too long I find myself agreeing with the humorist Charlamagne tha God, who quipped that congressional Republicans only seem to oppose federal funding when it is sent to those who actually need it. Ample federal dollars are also headed to state and local governments. Some adult supervision appears in order. The legislature would be well advised to establish fiscal guardrails, perhaps under supervision of the state auditor. If a proposed expenditure won’t save a job or pay for a new one, the spending should probably wait. The vitality of our communities will not be restored until our workforce returns to work at the businesses you patronized in your neighborhood. Time is not on their side.