Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

The American City Is Dying-And why the country will inevitable follow
FrontPage Magazine ^ | January 30, 2013 | Daniel Greenfield

Posted on 01/30/2013 4:54:05 AM PST by SJackson

- FrontPage Magazine - http://frontpagemag.com -

The American City Is Dying

Posted By Daniel Greenfield On January 30, 2013 @ 12:55 am In Daily Mailer,FrontPage | 5 Comments

In an interview with the New Republic, Obama finally admitted that gun control was an urban problem. “The reality of guns in urban areas are very different from the realities of guns in rural areas,” he said. That admission might have been welcome if it had been packaged along with a serious conversation about what is wrong with cities like Chicago. Instead all the big problems are covered over with more claptrap about doing it for the children.

Speaking of the children, Mayor Emanuel and Mayor Bloomberg, Obama’s favorite big city mayors who can be reliably counted on to push his agenda, found themselves kneecapped by education unions who aren’t there for the children, but are there for themselves.

The New York City bus driver strike is underway along with the usual tire slashings and union leaders insisting that they’re only slashing the tires for the children. These tactics usually work, they did in Chicago, as harried parents can be counted on to tell the city to shut up and give the nice teachers what they want so that the behemoth of the educational system can roll on. But what they want is quickly becoming impossible.

Chicago teachers have the highest average salary of any city, $75,000 a year, while administrators make $120,000, even though only 20 percent of their 8th grade students are grade-proficient in math. Chicago schools have an annual budget of $5.11 billion for a student body that is 87% low-income and likely to stay that way for the foreseeable future.

In 1985, the budget for all of Chicago was $2.1 billion or less than half of the current school budget. But that doesn’t work too well now when Chicago teacher pensions alone account for $1 billion a year. Arne Duncan tried and failed to reform the system, and as a reward got kicked upstairs to become Obama’s Secretary of Education. Rahm Emanuel tried to buy off the teachers with a pay hike in exchange for evaluations and had his teeth handed to him.

In New York City, Mayor Bloomberg was too busy pushing big issues like gun control and global warming to be ready to cope with a strike by bus drivers. Transporting students to school now costs over 1 billion dollars a year or $7,000 per student. New York City has 1.1 million students of whom 165,000 are special education students. That percentage is similar to that of Chicago and Los Angeles, which speaks volumes about resident demographics.

Bloomberg came into office as the education mayor and during his time in office the city’s debt doubled to $110 billion. In 1975, New York City almost went bankrupt over $14 billion of debt. The reasons for that crisis were the same bad habits that the city and most cities are still governed by today. Pensions are underfunded, budgets are based on imaginary revenues and accounting tricks are used to hide debt and inflate revenue until the bottom falls out.

In Chicago, in Daley’s last ten years, its debt rose 96.9 percent and almost a quarter of the city budget goes to servicing that debt.  The worst is yet to come with unfunded pensions in Chicago, in New York City and across the country spilling over and eventually consuming as much as 75% of tax revenues. Not that this is likely to happen, because by then most of the tax base will be gone, leaving behind schools full of low-income special education students waiting to be put through a unionized educational bridge to nowhere that no one can afford to pay for anymore.

That’s not some wild post-apocalyptic fantasy; it’s the near future.

The American city is dying. It used to serve as a center of transportation and industry. Today the city holds a few knowledge industries and some secondary industries catering to them, but is mostly full of low-income immigrants whose big dream is to get a government job with good benefits. Until then there are government benefits that don’t require government jobs.

Chicago’s population fell by 150,000 in the last 3 years. New York City lost 200,000 people around the same time. Most American cities have been facing population declines, and while they haven’t entered the population freefall zone of Detroit or New Orleans, which are permanently broken, even those that haven’t gone all the way down the hole have an uncertain future.

The social reformers who used to be the band aids on the city’s growth have become its entire reason for being. Social welfare is the only thing that cities do anymore. Its broken school systems are forever trying to dig their students out of a hole while plunging their economy deeper into it. The alliance between community activists and public sector unions has created a runaway monster that no one from Arnold Schwarzenegger to Rahm Emanuel has been able to stop.

Politicians have usually found it easier to pay off the representatives of human dysfunction and their caretakers than put up a fight. With the coming of the recession even liberal politicians have discovered that they may need to fight, but it’s too late.

It’s easier for cities like New York City and Chicago to shake down their remaining financial industries than to try and win the bloody fight against the unions and their affiliated parasites. Unlike unions, corporations are willing to pay out, but they will also move on. Financial industries are now less tied to cities than ever before. The city is a matter of image and convenience, and a collapsing city is good for neither.

It’s no wonder that the cities voted for Obama and that their vote carried him over the top. Unlike the rest of the country, there is no answer to the problems of the cities except more government money. Their tottering educational systems depend on large infusions of federal cash. So does the rest of it.

When New York City hit the wall in 1975, it needed federal help. But most of the major cities are going to hit the wall sooner or later. Whether or not there will be enough federal money by then to bail them out is an open question, but for the moment federal money can delay the moment of collision. And the worst news is that the federal government is the city on a macroscopic scale run by a representative of the worst in urban politics.

The Obama administration has won a triumphant victory in imposing the irrational social and economic values of the city on the rest of the country. But while the liberal tycoons and college students who made it happen are celebrating, it’s a coup with no future. All that they have done is put the country on the same dead end track as the city.



TOPICS: Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: americandecline; banglist
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-51 next last

1 posted on 01/30/2013 4:54:11 AM PST by SJackson
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: SJackson

Interesting read. Thanks. I might add that its a good analysis, but it isn’t “news”. The U.S. city scape has been in decline since the 1960’s.


2 posted on 01/30/2013 5:00:22 AM PST by Rich21IE
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SJackson

This article clearly states the problem but fails to arrive at a solution to the problem, and that’s because there is no solution. Please allow me to explain:

Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution (often referred to as The Theory of Survival of the Fittest) describes the positive effects resulting from any “pressure” on an animal species that removes the least fit among the species and allows only the most fit of the species to reproduce. Most of us are well aware of this “Survival of the Fittest” theory, but few are aware that Darwin also makes mention of the negative effects resulting from unlimited reproduction of a species’ least fit when the weak, the lazy, and the stupid are left unchecked.

We like to think otherwise, but our species, Homo sapiens, isn’t that long out of the trees and the same laws of nature that affect all of God’s creatures apply equally to us. If we were to observe any other species that had been allowed to reproduce without limitations, we would know immediately what the consequences will be.

Whenever the weak; lazy; and stupid of a species is allowed to reproduce unimpeded by predators that feed off the weak; lazy; and stupid, they soon outnumber the strong, productive, and intelligent. When the weak/lazy/stupid dominate the gene pool, the entire population becomes weak/ lazy/stupid, and then the population collapses.
In the past, when these collapses occurred within human populations, they have been referred to as a “Malthusian Collapse.” Thomas Malthus, a Nineteenth Century Economist, thought these collapses were caused simply because past civilizations had reached a point where human populations could no longer produce sufficient food supplies to feed themselves, but he never pinned down the exact reason for these food shortages.

It is now thought by some that these collapses of past human civilizations have occurred whenever the unproductive weak/lazy/stupid greatly outnumber the strong/productive/intelligent of the population. In other words, the majority of the population becomes too lazy to perform the work necessary to provide for themselves and what’s left of the strong/productive/intelligent refuses to continue to do it for them.

These collapses have occurred at frequent intervals throughout human history, and Western Civilization is, in my humble opinion, currently on the cusp of one of these collapses.


3 posted on 01/30/2013 5:08:52 AM PST by DJ Taylor (Once again our country is at war, and once again the Democrats have sided with our enemy.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SJackson
“The reality of guns in urban areas are very different from the realities of guns in rural areas,”

Not true, the issue of urban vs. rural is not really the issue. Let's be honest, the reality of gun violence is primarily a racial divide.

So if Obama is going to suspend civil rights for the purpose of ensuring safety, why not address the statistical heart of the issue and suspend the civil rights of those "male urban youths" between the ages of 12 and 35?

Why would that violation of rights be more unpalatable than the suspension of a specific civil right for everyone, when Obama himself is conceding that its not really a problem outside of the identified demographic?

For any knuckle-headed opus writer who mistakenly reads this as a racist post, the point is to demonstrate the unacceptable restriction of any civil rights, and that cutting off every innocent citizen's right hand is not a fair alternative to cutting off just a few innocent right hands. Better that we observe the Constitution and personal liberties in ALL situations, and leave innocent free citizens alone altogether.

4 posted on 01/30/2013 5:12:05 AM PST by SampleMan (Feral Humans are the refuse of socialism.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SJackson
"When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe."

Thomas Jefferson

5 posted on 01/30/2013 5:16:24 AM PST by awelliott
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SJackson

The perspective is not long enough. The view is still too close. The assumption is the cities, the great cities, are ongoing forever.

It can be argued the cities are obsolete. The reasons compelling businesses gathering in close proximity are gone. The need to have people very close to the jobs gathered in close proximity is gone. The skids greased over and over to make the system continue have become worn and rough.

The grease no longer reduces the friction like it did for so long. There is no new rational thought. There is only extrapolation of existing dogma.

There is an obvious biological component. The nature of the city residents has changed. The new residents lack the native ability to conduct business in a non corrupt manner. They lack the ability to innovate successfully. They can only stagnate. They are innately harmful to the collective freedom necessary for the city to function.

There is no solution but to let the coming conflagration occur.


6 posted on 01/30/2013 5:19:25 AM PST by bert ((K.E. N.P. N.C. +12 .....The fairest Deduction to be reduced is the Standard Deduction)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DJ Taylor

“These collapses have occurred at frequent intervals throughout human history, and Western Civilization is, in my humble opinion, currently on the cusp of one of these collapses.”
______________________________________________________

I agree. It is somewhat analogs to “The Peter Principle”.
In the case of the US, it is being spurred on by the Marxist ideology of Obama, as well as a Marxist media and educational system.


7 posted on 01/30/2013 5:19:56 AM PST by AlexW
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: awelliott

Jefferson also said, “The Democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.”


8 posted on 01/30/2013 5:22:26 AM PST by csmusaret (I will give Obama credit for one thing- he is living proof that familiarity breeds contempt.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: SampleMan

Murder rates, regardless of the availability and use of guns, are strikingly consistent by racial group worldwide.

That’s very much the same as educational test results. E.g., American whites are no more murderous than whites worldwide, and American Chinese/Korean/Japanese kids score on achievement tests in the range of their counterparts worldwide.


9 posted on 01/30/2013 5:23:00 AM PST by 9YearLurker
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: DJ Taylor

The difference between now and the past is that technology makes it increasingly possible to produce without people. In short, technology serves to insulate us from the reality of our practices. Sadly, I can foresee a world where an increasingly intelligent AI infrastructure takes care of an increasingly degenerate human population.


10 posted on 01/30/2013 5:23:47 AM PST by rbg81
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: SJackson

“The American City Is Dying-And why the country will inevitable follow”

RATS!!!


11 posted on 01/30/2013 5:23:56 AM PST by kenmcg (scapegoat)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SJackson

good read


12 posted on 01/30/2013 5:26:40 AM PST by quintr
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DJ Taylor

Excellent comment....

To sum it up, Idiocracy.


13 posted on 01/30/2013 5:27:10 AM PST by EQAndyBuzz (I own a weapon to protect my family from those wanting to take that weapon away.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: SJackson

We all know wht is wrong in America’s large cities. We all know who is killing each other robbing, selling and using dope.

We just cannot say it. It isn’t politically correct.


14 posted on 01/30/2013 5:27:33 AM PST by Venturer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DJ Taylor

Bravo......


15 posted on 01/30/2013 5:29:13 AM PST by bert ((K.E. N.P. N.C. +12 .....The fairest Deduction to be reduced is the Standard Deduction)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Venturer

“Politicians have usually found it easier to pay off the representatives of human dysfunction and their caretakers than put up a fight.”

That sums it up pretty well.


16 posted on 01/30/2013 5:36:32 AM PST by generally (Don't be stupid. We have politicians for that.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: AlexW

“In the case of the US, it is being spurred on by the Marxist ideology of Obama, as well as a Marxist media and educational system.”

You are correct. Anyone who didn’t see this one comeing just wasn’t looking.

In our country’s recent history we’ve celebrated diversity in our population as if it were a good thing. However, one look at world history will show you that no country with a diverse population of different races, languages, and religion has long survived.

Countries don’t naturally form with a diverse population, and when in the past they’ve occurred it’s usually been as the result of armed conquest. These unnaturally formed countries have either melded together into a single population made up of one mixed race with one language and one religion or they’ve come apart, and they’ve usually come apart with extreme violence. The longer these diverse populations are forced to coexist with one another without mixing and becoming one, the more the hatred grows among them and the more violently they break apart, but break apart they will, or genocide will settle the issue once and for all.

Why is this and why can’t we all just get along? The truth of the matter is that we (the human race) just aren’t as civilized as we would like to think we are. Genus Homo sapiens isn’t that long “out of the trees” and the veneer of civilization is very thin, to non-existent, upon us all. We are all carrying the genes that got us here and some of those genes carry a very basic survival instinct that has allowed us to survive thus far.

This most basic of all survival instincts is the one that warns us to be very wary of those who are different than us, our family, and our tribe. Those who possessed this survival instinct survived and reproduced, and those who had no fear/distrust of strangers didn’t survive. Over the years, this survival instinct has been referred to as tribalism, nationalism, ethnocentrism, racism, and various other isms, but it’s an inborn instinct carried in our genes whether we like it or not.

This “celebration” of diversity in the American population was introduced in the 1960s and 70s as a deliberate divisive revolutionary tool wielded by Marxists like Bill Ayers and other radicals. It became dogma taught by Marxists in our universities, then spread by our leftist controlled news media and leftist controlled Hollywood. The intent was, and is, to split American culture along race and class lines and set off a “proletarian” revolution to destroy capitalism. The Left has now managed to elect a half-Black radical as President and their revolution is proceeding along very predictable lines, with him using every opportunity to stir up more division and discontent. A reading of the Constitution of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA at this link should make clear their goals and methods: http://revcom.us/Constitution/constitution.html

At the beginning of the 21st Century, the American people are about to learn the savage lesson of Communist Revolution that the Russian people learned at the beginning of the last century. Millions died in Russia’s Communist “experiment” before they learned that Communism doesn’t work, as the concept of Communism (“You didn’t make that”) is completely alien to basic human nature. Now it’s our turn to learn what Russia after a century of death and misery now knows.

However, the coming American Communist Revolution that Karl Marx and his acolyte Barack Hussein Obama is bringing upon us won’t progress in the comparatively orderly fashion as it did with the Bolsheviks in Russia. The cursed diversity within the U.S. population will quickly turn this Communist Revolution into a no-holds-barred, and to-the-death, Race War. How our country with its Constitution intact could possibly survive such a blood-bath is a near impossibility.

I once believed our country would one day become a mixed race people of olive skinned, brown eyed, black haired, Spanish speaking Muslims, but Barack Hussein Obama has started a Communist Revolution that will undoubtedly destroy any possibility of that ever occurring.

There is no expiration date on any of our survival instincts, and white Liberal Democrats in their “Gun Free” zones will be the first among us to be reminded of this at the very beginning of our coming Communist Revolution turned Race War.

As we Americans continue to live out the old Chinese curse, “May you live in interesting times.”


17 posted on 01/30/2013 5:38:23 AM PST by DJ Taylor (Once again our country is at war, and once again the Democrats have sided with our enemy.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: awelliott

The Jefferson quote that I like better is

“I view great cities as pestilential to the morals, the health and the liberties of man.”

The title of this thread is not correct - the country will not follow. Rural, agrarian based communities will thrive.


18 posted on 01/30/2013 5:42:23 AM PST by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter admits whom he's working for)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: SampleMan
... suspend the civil rights of those "male urban youths" between the ages of 12 and 35? Why would that violation of rights be more unpalatable than the suspension of a specific civil right for everyone ... ?

Because that would be profiling! It would be equivalent to subjecting young Muslim men to extra scrutiny at airports. Or asking Hispanics to prove that they're here legally.
19 posted on 01/30/2013 5:47:49 AM PST by The people have spoken
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: DJ Taylor

Apparently DJ Taylor believes that he will be spared. :)


20 posted on 01/30/2013 5:49:00 AM PST by JCBreckenridge (Texas is a state of mind - Steinbeck)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-51 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson