Comment by iLoveOncall

>Except when it was for 2 years and the economy boomed, you know?

It wasn't a boom, it was a bust.

During the pandemic most governments paid through the nose to keep the economy going. The US even paid every American hundreds of dollars directly. Other countries subsidized everything from restaurants to car manufacturers.

Now that this money has to be recovered, inflation has eliminated a decade of salary increases for most workers and governments are borrowing left and right. We can't do many more years like that.

I'm not saying it's right that we force people to commute when they don't have to, but removing this part of the economy is a real problem that has to be handled.

It's like when a coal mine closes, just saying "the coal mine is no longer needed" is no comfort to the unemployed coal workers and the nearby town.