We’re Not Saving Lives. We’re Saving Livelihoods

In today’s bonus podcast episode, two business leaders in Asheville, N.C., talk about the lessons we should be learning about disaster recovery.

Good Morning!

Here are today’s highlights:

• Lou Mosca points out three realities confronting independent businesses in 2025.

• A Meta character bot designed to drive social media engagement offers another cautionary tale about artificial intelligence.

• Owners respond to Ami Kassar’s latest column on the 21 Hats Sounding Board.

• The Boston area’s last typewriter shop fails to find a buyer.

THE 21 HATS PODCAST

In today’s bonus episode, David Billstrom and Matt Raker, two business leaders who have played important roles in Western North Carolina’s attempt to recover from Hurricane Helene, talk about what we’re still figuring out about disaster recovery. The world tends to move on pretty quickly after an event, but the economic recovery can drag on for years. And it can be especially devastating for smaller businesses. The data from other catastrophic storms, David tells us, suggest that more than half of the small businesses in the area could be gone for good within a year. And of course those odds are not improved when insurance companies find ways not to pay claims and when government takes too long to respond. As you’ll hear, at the time we recorded the conversation in mid-December, the U.S. Congress still had not appropriated funds to help. That did finally happen at the end of December, but it’s still tempting to ask: Shouldn’t we be getting better at this? As the current situation in Los Angeles makes clear, there are more disasters on the way.

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