In the last economic boom everyone who makes something or fixes something or cleans up something have been forced out of the best of neighborhoods and replaced by people who sell something we don't need.
I work in Soho. I cannot get a watch battery, a heel put on, or a $12 haircut. I can easily buy a $400 pair of shoes, a $16 martini, or a $2300 handbag.
Does that strike anyone as perverse?
What old movie was it, was it the 1935 version of "A Tale of Two Cities," starring the great Ronald Colman where the barons and counts and dukes were forever galloping at full-speed in their carriages over limping peasants, stooped washer-women, and crippled orphans? Isn't that who we have become? A city of Bentleys and Benzes and BMWs run amok?
...and it's a city where firemen and police officers and others necessary for the safety and welfare of its inhabitants and visitors can't afford to live. They have hours of commute. They arrive tired at work. Even more tired at home.
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