I’m baffled how so many smart people bought into the “new normal” narrative and believed that our pandemic era weirdness would last forever.

It was across the board. People in my hometown set up restaurants, cafes, coworking spaces - businesses that don’t see an ROI for a few years at least - all because they thought the young people who had returned home during the pandemic would stay there forever.

Of course, now almost everyone has gone back and these businesses are dead or struggling.