Cool Cities Are Not So Cool When You Don't Have a Job

Michigan Capitol Confidential ^ | 9/12/2010 | Russ Harding

[MichCapCon]

Gov. Jennifer Granholm's "Cool Cities" initiative has not done much to help the working middle class. Joel Kotin, a professor at Chapman University, sheds light on what is happening in American cities in an article appearing in "The American" titled "Urban Plight: Vanishing Upward Mobility." Mr. Kotin points to a Brookings Institution study that found that New York City and Los Angeles have the smallest share of middle-income neighborhoods of all American cities. The Brookings Institution found that in 2007, Manhattan ranked first in social inequality, with the top 20 percent earning over 50 times more than the bottom 20 percent, a gap similar to Namibia's.

In Michigan, Gov. Granholm has stuck with the playbook of urban planners and the political left in attempting to attract the "creative class" with grants and "green policies" aimed at luring young urbanites into cities like Detroit, Flint and Grand Rapids. The result: Michigan still has an unemployment rate north of 13 percent and so much abandoned land in Detroit and Flint that urban farming is being touted as the next big thing...

[MichCapCon]

Cool cities MI ping

[cripplecreek]

People are going to die because of this crap.

[ASOC]

Mr Kotin (Must be a PhD what with a colon in the title)
May I suggest some title that might be more in keping with the times.....

The FedGov and taxes: A lead weight on the economy

ObamaCare: An answer to a question not asked

Federal Regulations: Because we ARE smarter than you are

The Democrat Party: THe same set of crooks your grand-daddy elected

and on and on.

[bigbob]

The government has no business favoring one class or region over another. The government ought to get out of the way and allow private enterprise to create opportunities for all.

[altair]

ObamaCare: An answer to a question not asked

If Obamacare is the answer, it must have been a really stupid question.

[Pessimist]

I think this breakdown is just about the way artsy wannabees want it.

The world should consist of them, and a tortured underclass to make them feel superior.

[MaggieCarta]

As voters go to the polls in November, especially those without a job or who are underemployed, they should hold politicians accountable who promote policies that favor one class of Americans over another.

They really should. However, never, ever, underestimate the power of large numbers of people voting stupidly.

Sorry if this is a double post.