How can this be happening, unless we’re already in a recession?

Photo above - Elon Musk can build self-driving taxis, but not a restaurant robot?

Fish tacos! Who doesn’t hate these abominations? So I don’t actually mourn when a restaurant chain like Rubio’s Coastal Grill suddenly has plywood nailed to the front door. But they’re not the only ones, for sure. See link below.

During Covid 19 they tore down half a strip mall near my mom’s home. To put up affordable housing. That ended up renting for $3,000 a month for a two bedroom. Somebody lost the plot, eh? Anyway, they tore down half the mall because it was empty, and so many restaurants and dry cleaners and vitamin stores had closed. Now the other half of the mall has about a 50% vacancy rate too. WTH!!

The link below is a repost of a (paywall) Wall Street Journal article. It says – and I believe – that 2024 has seen the most restaurant bankruptcies in the past 2 decades – except for the peak of the pandemic in 2020. 11 national chains – with (D)Red Lobster in the vanguard. Unlike fish tacos, I actually do look forward to lobster. The real ones. The ones we have in Florida are okay, but most people are unaware actually some form of bottom dwelling marine lice.

If you’re like me, you don’t sit down to a restaurant meal as much as you did pre-pandemic. But Covid 19 isn’t the whole story. It seems that the cost of beef, chicken, fish, lobsters – and the humans who trundle food to your table has gone through the roof. Some restaurants are experimenting with robot servers. They don’t call in sick, and don’t sneak outside for a weed break while tables go unattended. These robots are made in Asia, of course. Hey Elon, you’re missing an opportunity. Instead of sending astronauts to mars and having people with joysticks pretending to be robots, how about waitstaff robots?

In any case, the media (supporting either candidate) is awash with claims that America has never had it so good. Except if you’re trying to buy a home, or keep your restaurant open, or find an apartment for less than $3,000 a month, or a new car for less than $45,000, or . . .

I’m just sayin’ . . .

Empty Tables and Rising Costs Push More Restaurants Into Bankruptcy

uikakarotuevegeta · 26-30

You can find an apartment for less than 3K a month if you know where to look, especially outside major cities. Cars are a depreciating asset, so better to just go for refurbished/used of recently released models, and you get a huge discount. If a family really needs a big ass home, then they should be looking to buy one in a subrural or rural area because house pricing is determined mainly by locatoon.

I think Musk isn't going for such robots because he realizes as much as I do, that there's too much competition for automating jobs in white and pink collar. Asian manufacturers can produce high quality goods, but only if it's with high quality control involved. Sadly that really only applies to Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan (China only some exceptions). Mexico has quite cheap manufacturing as well, while also being close by and beneficial due to NAFTA.

SusanInFlorida · 31-35, F

@uikakarotuevegeta generally if you live outside a major city, you DO need a car. Unless you want to hail an uber to the train station, ride the "local" for 35 minutes, then take a bus to teh block where your employer is. and reverse it on the way home. And hope your kid doesn't get sick in school and need to get picked up.

uikakarotuevegeta · 26-30

@SusanInFlorida i live within a suburb outside of Toronto, and I'm fine taking public transit, although if I really need to, taking Uber or Lyft is a good compromise