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I don't want your salient comment to fall to the bottom in a discussion about food trucks and mall food. Your point is far more important than that stuff. I really do think that America is turning into Russia (oligarch control of mass media , hopelessness, alcoholism/drug abuse, propaganda everywhere, instability and un- and under-employment), and that Russia is turning into America (inheriting the worst aspects: mass consumer culture, little public participation in civil society, obsessed with social media, media conglomerates complicit with the government, money over everything else. The only other person I've seen make that argument is Max Keiser, whose show, ironically, is broadcast on RT.

I agree with your hypothesis is that lack of dynamism in society is caused by economic insecurity. And I, too, have many friends who do nothing but work, play games, and drink (not that I don't do these things myself). I don't know where this is all going, but I don't like it.

Part of the reason I seize on malls and food is it seems like the place where people should be going out to, rather than sitting at home with a bag of fast food every day. Past other activities, everyone has to eat, and eating is a huge part of thriving cultures.

> you're probably not going to know or have much in common with your neighbors.

Almost all people have a surprising amount in common. The human experience is pretty predictable.

It's just that we perceive that our neighbors are different from us.

One of the best ways around that is to put yourself in a situation where you actually bump into your neighbors. Basically that just means being out in public at "third places".

I do agree, but there’s a giant shade of mistrust to get over. There does need to be more third places - suburbs are specifically lacking in those. The cultural identity most of the time is “independent” rather than “community focused”.

>incumbents make it too difficult to succeed

Or people like the familiar? Restaurants are constantly opening and closing.

People don't like the familiar that much. See the popularity of food trucks. Part of that is our restaurant culture (and food regulations) has made for very few "small" operations, and it raises the risk to try things (because well, once you're in a restaurant you can only have that food). If you go to asia there will be food courts in malls with 20, 30 stalls each with a different person cooking different food, all with big photos. PLUS all the big restaurants. We get... panda express and taco bell. On every corner. Its almost dystopian.

The success of chain restaurants clearly shows people like the familiar. Food trucks are popular in a few cities in areas with young people, and maybe they will grow in popularity, but I don't see them outside of areas with high density of young people.

Restaurants don't have a high barrier to entry, but they are low margin businesses with high risk and low quality of life. You need a certain population density of restaurant-going population (younger people usually) to sustain a variety of restaurants.

Population density of Asia isn't comparable to most of the US, plus the US has stricter food regulations, plus people in the US have better options than working at a restaurant, so the labor is costlier, hence the food is costlier, hence eating out as often as Asia might not be possible.

My original point, however, was to dispute the claim that chain restaurants make it harder for others to compete. I can't think of a single thing chain restaurants do or can do to prevent competition, except maybe with liquor licenses, but there's no one stopping small Asian style shops from opening up other than higher costs of doing business in the US and insufficient demand.

Are food trucks not "the familiar"? In my experience, if there's a food truck, I can find it in the same place at the same time, either daily or weekly, all year round (unless it's seasonal, i.e. catering to college students or not something people want much of in winter).

I currently go to a food truck once a week or so because it provides a hot lunch, of reliably decent quality, both faster and cheaper than nearby sandwich places. Other food trucks I've seen at other places and other times of my life have followed similar patterns, and if I've gone to them it's for similar reasons.