61–70 of 278 posts
Man, with (currently) four comments mentioning that this is "what bankruptcy is for", I think the point of the article might have been missed. This isn't some sneaky "one weird trick", and that's not the reason Bloomberg is reporting on it. In fact, the tone of the article to me is, "yup, companies do it all the time, but..." And the "but" is: But the moves threaten to upend huge swaths of the real estate market and…
I would have assumed malls were already on the out prior to COVID - I assume this is just accelerating the timeline? I think every mall the knew of growing up and in college is no more except for the largest (Kind of Prussia). Did your Malls usage also include stripmalls?
I wonder how Apple will respond if malls start collapsing. (I’ve heard rumor that) they pay just pennies on the dollar for their store leases because they draw so much foot traffic to the malls. I can’t imagine them keeping stores open in the middle of a nearly empty mall, but I’ve only ever seen pictures of an Apple store that wasn’t in a mall or strip mall.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Everyone still wants to live in cities. Firms want to settle in cities. If shops close, it wont change much.
If the shops close, do people still want to live in cities? Isn't that part of the point of living in a city - that you have all these businesses easily within reach?
Man, with (currently) four comments mentioning that this is "what bankruptcy is for", I think the point of the article might have been missed. This isn't some sneaky "one weird trick", and that's not the reason Bloomberg is reporting on it. In fact, the tone of the article to me is, "yup, companies do it all the time, but..." And the "but" is: But the moves threaten to upend huge swaths of the real estate market and…
isn't that the point of capitalism, the fit live the poor die? Let the poor malls die, if their business model fails. We shouldn't force a failed business to last longer than society needs it to, otherwise that's something beyond capitalism.
In this situation though, when there is a threat to society as a whole either military or natural, there’s a legitimate role for society to pull together and coordinate our actions. That’s what government is for. All societies can benefit from consensus and leadership, especially in situations like this.
If their business model really fails, then fine, that’s because there’s enough value in alternative providers that these ones are no longer needed. However in temporary crises it’s possible that the process of dissolving businesses can leave a gap in the provision of valuable or even vital services that the market cannot fill fast enough. Markets are incredibly powerful, but they aren’t omniscient or omnipotent.
This is why although I’m a believing capitalist, I think there is a role for regulation and even bailouts in extraordinary circumstances. I’ll even extend that to individuals, a crisis can hit any of us just as it can hit a business. I don’t see that necessarily as socialism, just good management when done judiciously and proportionately. Ultimately it’s about fairness and good outcomes. I’ve no time for ideologies.
Man, with (currently) four comments mentioning that this is "what bankruptcy is for", I think the point of the article might have been missed. This isn't some sneaky "one weird trick", and that's not the reason Bloomberg is reporting on it. In fact, the tone of the article to me is, "yup, companies do it all the time, but..." And the "but" is: But the moves threaten to upend huge swaths of the real estate market and…
On the other hand: what would they go do about it then? It the business fails it fails. It's not like you can pretend it is not failing and have them pay rent with their non-existent money.
Man, with (currently) four comments mentioning that this is "what bankruptcy is for", I think the point of the article might have been missed. This isn't some sneaky "one weird trick", and that's not the reason Bloomberg is reporting on it. In fact, the tone of the article to me is, "yup, companies do it all the time, but..." And the "but" is: But the moves threaten to upend huge swaths of the real estate market and…
... even more.
Man, with (currently) four comments mentioning that this is "what bankruptcy is for", I think the point of the article might have been missed. This isn't some sneaky "one weird trick", and that's not the reason Bloomberg is reporting on it. In fact, the tone of the article to me is, "yup, companies do it all the time, but..." And the "but" is: But the moves threaten to upend huge swaths of the real estate market and…
Oh no, not the poor poor commercial real estate developers! Anyway all the malls died like decades ago. Have you been to a mall lately? As far as I can tell the only people who go are folks engaged in drug transactions and busloads of tourists from SE Asia.
The people who will be screwed are retail workers.
Man, with (currently) four comments mentioning that this is "what bankruptcy is for", I think the point of the article might have been missed. This isn't some sneaky "one weird trick", and that's not the reason Bloomberg is reporting on it. In fact, the tone of the article to me is, "yup, companies do it all the time, but..." And the "but" is: But the moves threaten to upend huge swaths of the real estate market and…
(That hasn't been in the news for a few months, so I had to look around for some perspectives. Cf. https://daily.jstor.org/the-commercial-real-estate-markets-i... and, perhaps more controversially, https://www.propublica.org/article/whistleblower-wall-street..., suggesting that some of the same practices that turned the residential market into a crash-in-waiting may have been applied in the commercial market as well.)
Man, with (currently) four comments mentioning that this is "what bankruptcy is for", I think the point of the article might have been missed. This isn't some sneaky "one weird trick", and that's not the reason Bloomberg is reporting on it. In fact, the tone of the article to me is, "yup, companies do it all the time, but..." And the "but" is: But the moves threaten to upend huge swaths of the real estate market and…
Oh no, not the poor poor commercial real estate developers! Anyway all the malls died like decades ago. Have you been to a mall lately? As far as I can tell the only people who go are folks engaged in drug transactions and busloads of tourists from SE Asia.
Behind this is a lot of overvalued debt, which is at risk. Large institutions essentially treat this debt like dollars and have a bunch of their holding spread across a bunch of mortgage-backed securities such as these. Effectively, debt needs to be written off, and as such, "dollars" will disappear. This could result in some serious deflation.