>>21708825
This will never happen until the public accepts that mass retail vacancy rates are the fault of landlords and a perverse set of incentives where the property is a speculative investment and not a source of rental income. The owner will not accept even a temporary reduction in rent, they would prefer $0 rent rather than 25% less than the last guy, because it affects their equity and the paper loss is seen as worse than accepting a lower rent until the market improves.
This could be solved by changing local laws and tax codes but that would be a financial death penalty for the investors who speculate in commercial real estate, or at least, the current ones with a certain business model where they profit whether or not the property actually gets used (obviously, they could easily be replaced by landlords who actually want to rent out their spaces to shops or restaurants, but why would we want that???).
So they push this narrative that actually that $20,000 a month storefront is empty because of "crime", because of "migrants", whatever. Not because the landlord is taking a tax writeoff instead of lowering the rent to $15,000 or whatever the market will actually bear. And the gullible public laps it up, because the average retard has already been programed to obsess over the Venezuela MS-13 darkie boogyman, these people have never traveled to a high crime country otherwise they would realize that even if the crime rate was as bad as the media wants you to think (which it isn't but let's assume it was), commerce and trade STILL HAPPENS. Because in an actual free market, if shop owners aren't willing or able to pay what you're asking, you lower the rent until there's someone who does.
But this is not a free market it's some fucked up, rich-take-all, fuck-everyone-else monstrosity masquerading as such.
Thanks for reading my blog. See you guys in 3 days.
