How in the world did the pushcart culture survive? Throughout the readings it became very clear that the pushcart culture was not a stable and safe lifestyle to live on. Poverty plagued people and peddlers alike in pushcart dense neighborhoods. The lack of regulations made the industry susceptible to inflation and rising costs. The problems that it caused in regards to bailing out the poor when the pushcart system failed on the citizens (i.e. in the riots), trying to regulate the carts for physical and economic safety/health, and the corruption that consumed the supervisors and regulators. For something with so many flaws that directly negatively impacted the lives of so many people, it is astonishing that the pushcart culture survived for so long.