It's hard to blame Panama City's mayor, Juan Carlos Navarro, for cancelling the liquor licenses of more than 2000 establishments in the capital for non-payment of city taxes. He had to do what he had to do.

On the other hand, coming from The Panama News or from a wide swathe of the city's other small businesses, it would be rank hypocrisy to fault many of the businesses that are affected by the measure. The economy is desperately bad, and most of those who have fallen behind on their city taxes have done so not because their proprietors are greedy but because they simply don't have the money. Our hearts go out to the people who are about to be run out of business, and even more so to their thousands of employees.

Searching through the archives of our dining section, you will find many a review of a worthy restaurant that's no longer in business. On the bright side, the talented cooks who have been driven onto the streets are mostly still around. Some have found work at other places, some will start new establishments as the economy gets better, and at the moment it's possible to hire some amazingly good caterers from among their ranks.

Let us hope that the economy picks up sooner rather than later, and that we recover our diminished status as a culinary capital, and then some.

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