United States | The doom loop

Downtown San Francisco is at a tipping-point

The city faces several crises, but one stands out

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - SEPTEMBER 6: A bicyclist is seen on California Street as the Bay Bridge behind during sunrise in San Francisco, United States on September 6, 2022. (Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Image: Getty Images
|San Francisco

MANY IMAGES have symbolised San Francisco over the years. Fog enveloping the Golden Gate Bridge. Hippies tuning in and dropping out on Haight Street. Tents lining the pavement. These days, a “Retail for lease” sign in a vacant storefront seems appropriate. San Francisco itself has become a symbol, too, though what it represents depends on your politics. It is a hub of technological innovation or a bastion of inequality; a laboratory for the country’s most progressive policies or a fief of the radical left. No mid-size American city—San Francisco has fewer people than Indianapolis—has had a bigger effect on global culture or financial markets.

This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “Deciphering the “doom loop””

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