Adapt or else: Downtown businesses cope with new reality

The unnecessary lockdowns have killed a lot of small businesses, many owned by minorities and people of color. Tragic.

And yet we hear the economy is booming. All an illusion based on the rich buying stocks. A crash is coming

In my Canadian hometown, most of my friends and family no longer go downtown anyway. On top of the economic changes, the streets have nearly been taken over by homeless junkies every since the various levels of government adopted accommodation policies about 15 years ago, and the street folks have adopted a swagger, knowing that nothing can touch them, regardless, for example, of how many bicycles they steal or pedestrians they harass.

The local downtown merchants society frequently appears in the media furious, railing against it. So different from Japan.