Some years back one of my literary heroes, Robert Heinlein, wrote one of the more astute observations of human history I’ve ever seen.
“Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.
This is known as “bad luck.”
He was right, and we’re seeing it happen, right here, right now. Our major cities are seeing a run of bad luck lately, as my esteemed colleague Streiff pointed out. Businesses are closing down as well, not only in California but in all of our major cities.
Major metropolises like Los…
