tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74000069263980746.post4409847411114327696..comments2015-02-21T11:54:02.036-05:00Comments on Observations: Magic Wands Ready: Fix the EconomyDawnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18419344655830579965noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74000069263980746.post-81943830353298399032009-02-24T20:43:00.000-05:002009-02-24T20:43:00.000-05:00Hi Dawn - lots of righteous anger and energy in wh...Hi Dawn - lots of righteous anger and energy in which I join you. <BR/><BR/>Yes, I have a suggestion - have the states/counties/municipalities put a moritorium on raising rents/leases for a year or even two. I live in a small town and several local merchants have had to close up shop - a restaurant, a neighborhood market, a gallery, a couple of fast food places - because their leases have come up for renegotiation and their landlords (corporations mostly, not individuals)are raising the rents and asking for various expensive concessions. The combination of the difficulty in getting business loans, downturn in business, and rising rents and costs of doing business is literally KILLING these small businesses. And with the demise of each little business, local suppliers lose a customer or two, and local people lose jobs. A local gas station, which had the best prices and was located out of the loop and very convenient to the townspeople, closed because it's landlord called in the lease. No one could understand it until we watched the station razed and the land paved over to increase the parking acreage for the supermarket next door. Guess who the gas station landlord was? The supermarket chain. <BR/><BR/>I could go on bitching forever, but I really do think that if we just froze rents and leases for at least a year it might be just what the economy needs. <BR/><BR/>And, Yes, I know that landlords need to make money too, but we'e all in this together and if we sink, we'll all sink together. <BR/><BR/>Thanks for the platform, Dawn. <BR/>Alice Folkart<BR/>your friend from IWWAlice Folkarthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06114004720371895150noreply@blogger.com