Are you seriously suprised that companies with lobbying power to influence the laws of a country are in close relations with governors who run the country?!

It's not a conspiracy, it's business as usual. It's super normal for the CEOs of big companies to be in panels or roundtables with municipal entities and government employment cabinets. And it's actually kind of cool when public offices take business prespectives into account instead of just existing in their own bubble. The alternative would be public officials only being aproached by lobbyists behind the scenes.

I can easily imagine a city hall oficial saying that there's lots of restaurants closing and that they need people back at the business areas.

No, it’s absolutely true.

CEOs and executives are in contact with local, state, and federal government.

The push is aimed at getting everyone back into the gauntlet of bullshit. That is: paying for cars, gas, maintenance, meals, coffee, clothes, and all of the other crap that businesses scalp you for as part of your work day.

Trouble is, inflation has sucked away all of the extra money we had for those things. We can’t afford it now, and frankly we don’t have the mental health capacity to deal with the extra stress. We’ve also had that inflated over the last few years.