From George Riffle, 74-year-old owner of Northtown Motors LLC, an auto-body shop and used car lot in the Citywalk district of Ferguson, Missouri, whose business has suffered since the riots:
I don’t want to borrow money, because you have to pay it back. I want the City of Ferguson to do something to attract new business.
The Wall Street Journal, “In Ferguson, Business Faces Long Road Back,” 6/15/15
Not to be too hard on Mr. Riffle, but what does he suggest? The riots, arson, looting, and destruction in Ferguson filled the airwaves and Internet for days, not exactly good advertisements for Ferguson’s business climate. It will be luck bordering on miraculous if a significant percentage of the businesses destroyed reopen, and like Mr. Riffle their owners will discover that business is not what it used to be. Contrary to the blathering of idiot politicians, bureaucrats, and community activists, what was destroyed doesn’t come back, even if everybody “pitches in.” Urban riots in the 1960s scarred the affected cities for decades, and some cities, like Newark and Detroit, never really came back. And it’s just hypocritical nonsense to cast aspersions at any law-abiding resident, black or white, who decides to leave. Who can blame them?
