Here’s a how a friend of mine describes the situation here in Denver:

“This week downtown Denver has been turned into a police state. We have mounted cossacks on horses with shields over their eyes. We have flying squads hanging off SUVs as they dash through the streets. Sirens wail as convoys race to their destinations. We have black uniformed storm troopers marching our sidewalks in patrols of ten. Coveys of bicycles carrying officers with utility belts full of deadly devices slowly circle around us. We have police on every corner and reinforcements with automatic weapons secreted in every possible location. Undoubtedly, there are more and more heavily armed troops in Denver this week than in Baghdad.”

And make no mistake of it, the convention is bad for business.

The local politicos talk up how the convention is great for tourism, and Denver will now just be swimming in cash until the end of time, but in reality, the people who would normally be downtown spending money or providing professional services are all staying at home, so the people coming in for the convention are actually just crowding out the people who would normally conduct business in town.

Many professional offices are holding no meetings with clients this week because they don’t want to subject people to the congestion and the police state brewing on the streets.

And, if you are unlucky enough to have a business in the “Red Zone” every one of your clients or customers who wishes to visit your establishment must be credentialed by the “security” forces. Needless to say, many businesses have just shut down entirely.