By The Molesy Message on The Capital

Audio version:

I am having trouble comprehending what is happening in this world. There are no political leaders to follow and The Overton window gets smaller every day.

I re-posted this photo the other day which feels pretty accurate:

source - joerogan
I don’t know who made this but I laughed.
JUNE 10, 2020

The two-party political system makes me sick and the people using all their energy to win the battle benefits nobody. We have no clear direction to follow because of the voices of the extreme win the spotlight of reason.

There is extreme unrest in this country and yet the focus is on an election between two old men ( dumb and dumber) and a rising stock market. I smell the desperation all around, not hope.

I could sense this desperation and sadness recently when my girlfriend and I spent the night in Portland last week.

Before the coronavirus, we would try to go once a month, spend the night, leave our small town behind, and live the city life.

It has been a long time since we have immersed ourselves into the magic of a city so we decided to spend the night there once again. We booked a nice hotel room, grabbed our phone, wallet, keys, and of course, masks, and headed into the abyss.

What we found was that it was not the same city we were used to. We stopped at Whole Foods to grab some drinks and snacks. The usually packed parking lot and store felt like an up and coming ghost town.

Then we went to our favorite brewery at around 5 pm — happy hour time! This place is usually packed. Yet there we sat, no one at the bar, only a couple tables seated. To my biggest surprise, American Ninja Warrior was the most exciting game on NBCSN. Huh? I thought that show was reserved for ESPN 2. The world has gotten boring…

Then we went to the hotel. Wow. The once beautiful and lively 4+ star hotel, now quiet, eerie, dark, and uninviting.

We asked their occupancy levels and the woman at the front desk was too embarrassed to even give a number. Instead of feeling bouji, we felt we were in a scary movie about to get killed.

No one was in this hotel. Talk about market research. The stock market is totally not connected to reality.

We finally got to our room, peeled the drapes open to get a view of the city. Massive buildings interrupted our view.

Who is working in/on these things? Aren’t most people working remotely? Who is paying for these buildings? They just sit there now empty? Where is the value?

We then took a short walk and got a real ground-level view. Everything was boarded up because of all the recent protests, the streets were bare, and life was non-existent. We both couldn’t wait to get out of the city.

Our small town seems to be bustling with people and normalizing the current macro-economic situation we are in. However, cities tell a different story. Our small town is seeing an increase in tourism, mortgage & refinancing applications, homes are being fought over, yet cities look like they are preparing for incoming natural disasters. Board up the windows! Hide! Don’t come out!

A few months ago, I would have told you the real-estate market was going to crumble. It looks like I might be right, but not in the small towns. The big cities are the ones in trouble.

After our brief stay in Portland, my girlfriend and I both agreed we didn’t need to go back for a long, long time. I have a feeling a lot of other individuals and companies are saying the same thing.

We are living through crazy times. Take care of yourself. The world is changing and moving to a more decentralized landscape. Big cities are starting to look unappealing. There is an opportunity in this knowledge. Place your bets.

-molesy

As a reminder, this is not financial advice. Do your own research.

Thank you for reading or listening.

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The Cities Are In Trouble was originally published in The Capital on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.



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