Progressive Cities Return to the Dark Ages

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Progressive Cities Return to the Dark Ages

By Joe Jarvis – March 28, 2023

In the 15th century, tensions began to rise between the Hanseatic League’s merchants and a major center of international trade at the time, the city of Bruges.

In 1477, the League decided to impose a full-scale boycott on Bruges over trade regulations and taxes, forbidding its members from trading with the city or even entering its walls.

The boycott lasted for several years and had a significant impact on Bruges’ economy, as the League was one of its largest trading partners. The city eventually capitulated to the League’s demands and agreed to a number of concessions, including the right to appoint its own officials to oversee trade and the abolition of certain taxes.

The Bruges boycott was just one example of the Hanseatic League’s willingness to use economic pressure to protect its members’ interests and ensure fair treatment in the cities where they traded.

Today: Walmart has pulled out of Portland because rampant theft has made it unprofitable to operate there

• Walmart is a sign of civilization (only half joking) and the vast potential of capitalism, infinitely scalable processes
• Plenty to criticize it over, but super important to economy, poor, even parking lots where people can sleep, municipalities hold their vaccine drives…

Same thing happens in inner-cities where people have long complained about grocery store dead zones and everything costing more… yes, regular shoplifting and stickups cost money. Why bother running a business there?

Same thing with CVS/ Walgreens closing stores in San Francisco. Grocery stores closing in California due to state demands to pay more during COVID. Amazon closing stores in high crime cities— NYC, San Francisco, Seattle.

This is what happens. Wealth migrates.

• Henley and Partners, which deals in global wealth migration, says the US is on track to lose a record 125,000 millionaires this year— compared to, for example, 64,000 in 2015.
• Net inflows of wealthy people into the US fell to 1,500 in 2022, down from a peak 10,800 pre-pandemic.

Henley’s report actually noted that:

“An often-uninformed media like to play that off as an attempt to avoid taxes. To a small degree, maybe. But far more prevalent are investors and entrepreneurs seeking greener pastures for investment and business growth, safer destinations to raise their families, or second passport and alternate residence opportunities that afford everything from entrepreneurial advantages to wealth preservation strategies to better healthcare options.”

But it won’t be New Dark Ages everywhere…

It matters where you live, what relationships you have developed, and if you have a strong network of people…

I’m trying to build this type of resilient self sufficient community.

Learn more on my Locals page by clicking here.