Our last boom, for all the downsides of gentrification and transience that it wrought, added another layer of cosmopolitan influences which has helped defuse old local tensions. While the local leadership isn't doing everything right(as we'd expect), they aren't actively moving in the wrong direction either - they are working reasonably quickly to address and attempt solutions for each crisis as it comes up, and indeed, the crises of 2020 have been hugely transformative for the city already, leading to a whole new set of traffic and transit policies, reforms in law enforcement policy, and more. It won't be long before the officials have to start choosing between making cuts to essentials and throwing out old pork constituents, and they have a riled up, locked down population watching every move.
The only thing I'm truly concerned about is the state and national situations falling into the kinds of scenarios Robert Evans depicts in "It Could Happen Here".
I mean that's true for anything, until it doesn't. Not saying that you're claim isn't true in this particular case, but the logic of "BUY THE DIP!" is entirely tautological and more or less just blind faith.
There's no natural law that stops a city from going into terminal decline, there's an exodus, and that's that.
For those wanting to start a business, it is also a good time to sign a deal on a good lease in an excellent location. Any entrepreneur will have to think ahead about when revenue will recover, depending on the business.
I say this because this is a boom and bust city. Earthquakes , gold, 9/11, fires, finance bubbles, tech bubblies -- each time San Francisco has recovered from the ashes stronger, and those that invested, richer.