Posted on 01/01/2012 9:45:00 PM PST by blam
Formerly Great Cities All Over America Are Turning Into Open, Festering Sores
January 1, 2012
Once upon a time, the people of the United States constructed beautiful, shiny cities from coast to coast that were the envy of the entire globe. We had the largest and most vibrant middle class that the world has ever seen and life was quite good in America. But now all of our prosperity is coming crashing down and many of our formerly great cities are turning into open, festering sores. Unfortunately, we are drowning in so much debt that we can barely even slow down the shocking decline of our cities.
Over the past decade, tens of thousands of manufacturing facilities and millions of good jobs have been shipped out of the United States. As our economic infrastructure has been ripped out right in front of our eyes, an atmosphere of unemployment, poverty and despair has descended on many of our major cities like a soaking wet blanket. Today, many of our cities that once were considered to be some of the greatest in the world have been transformed into rotting, post-apocalyptic hellholes. When you visit many of these cities and look into the sunken eyes of the residents, you almost get the feeling that something has sucked all of the hope and all of the life right out of them.
For a while, large numbers of Americans still believed that the right politician would bring them "hope" and "change", but now crushing despair is giving way to absolute desperation for millions of people. Desperate people do desperate things, and as our major cities continue to decay they are going to become very dangerous places to be.
Even in some of our most "prosperous cities" there are areas that closely resemble third world conditions. For example, in San Francisco there is an area known as "Hunter's Point" that is a complete and utter nightmare. In Hunter's Point, more than half of the population lives in poverty and more than half of all children live in a home where there is no father present. The following is what one reporter found on a visit to Hunter's Point....
Abernathy and I cut through the complex, tromping over an expanse of dirt and concrete toward the northeast end of the development, where a row of apartments looked down from a grassy hill. We paused next to a vacant, boarded-over unit to take in the scene: A stream of ****, piss, tampons, and toilet paper spewed from a dark hole in the sidewalk, poured down the hill, and formed a sort of **** lagoon next to the street. Weeds, about six inches tall, were growing in the little lagoon.
Raw ****, obviously, is not cool. Beyond the fact that it smells and looks nasty, fecal matter provides a haven for dangerous bacteria, most notably E. coli, a virulent pathogen that can sicken and even kill humans, especially infants. In the so-called developing world, according to the World Health Organization, water tainted by feces is a major killer, a prime cause of severe diarrhea, which takes the lives of an estimated 1.8 million people annually.
But in general, San Francisco is doing better than the rest of California is. Down the coast, Los Angeles continues to come apart at the seams. Approximately 40 arson fires were started in Los Angeles in just the last three days alone. That is the highest number of arson fires that Los Angeles has seen since the 1992 riots.
Unfortunately, as economic conditions worsen, we are going to see a lot more arson all over the nation.
Once upon a time, people all over the country wanted to move to California. But today, millions of people have been pouring out of the state as it continues its shocking decline. If you can believe it, the number of children living in poverty in the state of California increased by a whopping 30 percent between 2007 and 2010.
That isn't just a decline, that is a free fall.
But it isn't like there are too many areas of the country that are doing that much better. All over the country, our major cities are becoming open, festering sores and child poverty is absolutely exploding.
According to the National Center for Children in Poverty, 36.4% of all children that live in Philadelphia are living in poverty, 40.1% of all children that live in Atlanta are living in poverty, 52.6% of all children that live in Cleveland are living in poverty and 53.6% of all children that live in Detroit are living in poverty.
Speaking of Detroit, it is almost unbelievable what has happened to "the motor city"....
*An analysis of census figures found that 48.5% of all men living in Detroit from age 20 to age 64 did not have a job in 2008.
*If you can believe it, the median price of a home in Detroit is now just $6000.
*Only 25 percent of all students in Detroit graduate from high school at this point.
Today, Detroit has become a very frightening place to live. 100 bus drivers in Detroit recently refused to drive their routes out of fear for their own personal safety. The head of the bus drivers union, Henry Gaffney, said that the drivers were "scared for their lives"....
“Our drivers are scared, they’re scared for their lives. This has been an ongoing situation about security. I think yesterday kind of just topped it off, when one of my drivers was beat up by some teenagers down in the middle of Rosa Parks and it took the police almost 30 minutes to get there, in downtown Detroit,” said Gaffney.
Right now, Detroit is a city that is being torn apart by thieves and vandals. Buildings are being literally dismantled as people scramble to find things to sell to keep themselves afloat. The following is from a recent article in the Detroit News about this crisis....
The war to keep the lights on in Detroit is a serious one. Thieves, antiquated equipment and a lack of funding have made it impossible for city officials to catch up to the problem.
City officials estimate 15-20 percent of the 88,000 lights in the Motor City are not working, and they acknowledge that figure could be as high as 50 percent in some neighborhoods.
But it is not just Detroit that is having a major problem keeping the lights on. Over in Highland Park, Michigan the majority of the street lights have been repossessed because the city was not keeping up with the electricity bill.
All over the country, cities are going dark and fixtures are being torn out of homes and businesses as thieves search for something to sell. As one of my readers shared recently, there are some parts of California that are literally being transformed into hellholes by hordes of desperate people....
Here, in the California desert, many vacant houses are being taken over. Fixtures are being ripped out and sold as scrap. Trench latrines are being dug in backyards and water is being pilfered from neighboring pools and hoses. While most of these folks are simply trying to keep a roof over their heads (while they keep their heads down), many are also setting up meth labs and in-door marijuana grows.
I can see the eventual day when the total breakdown of the economy and our society will drive thousands from the cities. A lot of those will be looking for ‘opportunities’.
As sad as it is, if you’re not one of the most unfortunate, it’s time to prepare a defense for your goods, family and self. You are going to be viewed as wealthy, no matter how poor you feel, by someone with nothing left to lose.
Do not rely on police or government authorities. We all saw how that went in New Orleans. Be ready as an individual family unit.
In Fresno, California the theft of copper wire from street lights has become a major crisis. At this point, the loss of copper wire and the cost of repairing street lights is costing Fresno about $50,000 a month. So far, approximately 2,500 street lights have been stripped of their wiring.
Over on the east coast, there are some cities that have lost so much industry that many young people feel as though there are not many viable options left other than selling drugs or selling their bodies.
In an extraordinary article entitled "City of Ruins", Chris Hedges did an amazing job of documenting the nightmarish decline of Camden, New Jersey. Today, it is estimated that the actual rate of unemployment in Camden is somewhere around 30 or 40 percent. For most young people in Camden, there are very few legitimate opportunities for a better life at this point. The following is a brief excerpt from "City of Ruins"....
There are perhaps a hundred open-air drug markets, most run by gangs like the Bloods, the Latin Kings, Los Nietos and MS-13. Knots of young men in black leather jackets and baggy sweatshirts sell weed and crack to clients, many of whom drive in from the suburbs. The drug trade is one of the city's few thriving businesses. A weapon, police say, is never more than a few feet away, usually stashed behind a trash can, in the grass or on a porch.
If the area where you live has not gotten that bad yet, you should be thankful. But the reality is that these economic conditions are spreading and they will get to where you live soon enough.
Disease is also becoming a huge problem in many of our major cities. The combination of poverty and moral decay has created some very frightening conditions in many areas of the country.
This is even happening in some of our most prosperous cities. For example, the rate of HIV infection in Washington D.C. is actually higher than it is in West Africa according to the director of the D.C. HIV/AIDS Administration....
"Our rates are higher than West Africa," said Shannon Hader, the administration's director, who used to spearhead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's work in Zimbabwe. "They're on par with Uganda and some parts of Kenya."
Up in Canada, they have come up with some very "unusual" methods for preventing the spread of health problems. For example, in Vancouver, British Columbia authorities are actually handing out free crack pipes to addicts in an attempt to slow down the spread of diseases. But there is a limit - only one free crack pipe per day is allowed.
Crazy stuff.
What is happening to this world?
But perhaps we should all be thankful to at least have some place to lay our heads at night. Today, there are more than 700,000 homeless people in America, and that number has grown by about 20 percent since 2007.
After the next major financial crisis, that number is going to go even higher.
The truth is that the economy is in much worse shape than most people think, and the poor in America are rapidly getting poorer.
As Gerald Celente has said many times, when the poor lose everything that they have they tend to lose it.
Desperate people do desperate things, and we are already starting to see signs of this all over the nation. For example, you can watch one homeowner defend his home against four armed invaders right here.
So what are our leaders doing to fix this?
Well, unfortunately there is not a whole lot they can do.
Our federal government is absolutely drowning in debt.
During the first three years of Barack Obama, the U.S. government accumulated more debt than it did from the inauguration of George Washington to the inauguration of Bill Clinton.
Of course it would help if the Obama administration would stop wasting money on stupid things and would start spending it to rebuild this country.
For example, did you know that the Obama administration gave a $529 million loan to a U.S. electric car company so that they could manufacture electric cars in Finland?
Talk about stupid.
Is it any wonder that there is such a lack of confidence in the government at this point?
According to one recent survey, 77% of all Americans now believe that there is a leadership crisis in America.
Our economy is dying and formerly great cities all over America are being turned into open, festering sores. This country is in so much trouble that it is hard to find words that can adequately describe it.
2012 is going to represent a huge turning point for this country. If we do not get enough Americans to wake up now, we might not get another chance.
If you love America, please make this a year when you take more action than ever before.
Working together, we can make a huge difference.
Ironic.
It’s more than that. Americans no longer want to be free to live their own lives as they see fit. All too often, when given a chance, Americans will immediately turn to the centralized, federal government... and literally beg for the ability to give up their freedoms in return for government chains.
Chains of regulations... chains of unneccessary, overreaching, overcomplicated laws... chains from the willing disregard of our constitutional rights.
All for a morsel of ‘government cheese’ (welfare) and a pat on the head (attention to interest groups).
Of course Ayn would not have approved...but that in no way vitiates her predictive powers of the devastation caused by socialism and crony capitalism. No-one ever thought that AS was in any way a prescription for actions that should be taken...but if one wanted to wreak economic and social havoc, her works would provide a blueprint for things to do to cause maximum damage.
How many of the worst cities are characterized by being run by corrupt Democrat machines?
Not in Atlas Shrugged.
It’s one of my favorite books. But I am deeply concerned at how Rand’s vision of an innovative, self-reliant American locale (the Gulch) has been twisted around and used to somehow be the Peoples Republic of China.
I see “free traders” use of Galts Gulch to justify offshoring and firing Americans - and giving those jobs to communists, as a corruption of that wonderful book.
Nothing could be further from Galts Gulch, than a massive communist nation.
Plenty of white lib cities that like it or not survive well enough
Lagos, Detroit, Port au Prince, Kingston, Jackson MS do not have democrats in common
“Bring back Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt. They wouldn’t put up with our jobs being shipped to slave-wage countries.”
When we dismantle our labor unions, then we might have some standing to complain about China. But, for now, if China doesn’t provide our goods, no one will - simply because the unions will NOT permit us to make them here, at a reasonable price.
It also wouldn’t hurt to dial back the government a bit when it comes to environmental laws.
And speaking of Camden New Jersey, it looked very bad even 20-30 years ago.
Our country had been slowly robbed blind by corruption and cronyism. Obama is just pushing down on the accelerator.
The destruction of America’s cities is the legacy of President LBJ and all of the democrats and RINO appeasers who have followed in his footsteps.
Walmart stocks goods from everywhere, including America.
Today, people can barely afford their goods and, instead, turn to Dollar Store and the like. even though most items are just pennies cheaper in price.
Meanwhile, a German chain, Aldi’s, can sell canned and packaged food and produce, paper goods, soaps, etc. at considerable savings over Walmart, which is at least American-owned.
This past year, the good thrift and consignment shops have been busier than ever. My town has a flea market which is actually a huge building, full of second-hand goods. The owners buy up entire estate and rummage sales and it is a good place for pots and pans and small kitchen appliances.
The truth is Americans are being taxed to death. Health insurance has gone up, again. Energy costs are high, except for natural gas. So, folks look for low prices when something breaks or wears out. Non-union or second-hand is more affordable.
There used to be room in this economy for a lot of middle-of-the-road retailers. You could make a living producing the items or selling them. Walmart was just a choice for the things that are needed that don’t have to be quality. Now, there are high-end merchants and the Walmart-to-flea-market continuum.
In Britain, even the low-end shops are closing. This is a global situation.
Hubris. You can see this outside America too, where municipalities convinced themselves it was a sign of their greatness and largesse to support the most of those least likely to support themselves, never mind even if they hated those who kept them fed. Margaret Thatcher said something about the morality and the economic sense involved in this, as did others.
truth!
No doubt many Jihadis around the world will be salivating at a sentence like that.
Just sayin'
It's not just about wages...
Look at what you would face if you were to put a small $10million factory in a hellhole like, say, Hartford, Connecticut.
The first guy through the door would be the tax collector with a bill for over $600,000.00 - the mill rate in Hartford is over 60 mills. ($60 in taxes per yer for every $1000 of property that you are foolish enough to acquire in Hartford.)
I don't know about you, but I have to stay up pretty late at night to think of a way to make an EXTRA $600,000.00 per year just to hand it over to some idiot tax collector to squander on local welfare scum and overpaid, do-nothing municipal workers' salaries/benefits/payola.
Then of course, you need workers for your factory. Leroy in Hartford cannot read, does not know how to operate a ruler, never mind a micrometer and has no marketable job skills and is likely not even trainable.
Your parking lot will need razor wire and guards and you will still be robbed at some point.
Your workers will harassed, robbed at gunpoint, raped by the local feral population.
Then you have unions, OSHA, regulations, inspections and overpriced water and sewer fees which act as additional taxes. -------------------------------------
Now if you put your factory in China or Mexico, you have none of those issues. The only complication is perhaps an additional 30 days of lead time (shipping time) to get your goods to market.
When you think that an entire 40 foot container of blue jeans (Levis) is worth over $600,000.00, and it costs just about $1500 to ship it from China to the US West Coast, you can ship 400 containers (or $240 million worth of goods) to the USA just on the savings in property taxes. This is probably more than ten times the annual productive capacity of a $10million factory for most industries.
As a businessman, you are in business to make profits and money, not supply tax revenue to the local tax thieves so that may use your largesse to purchase votes from welfare scum, unions and other money-sucking social parasites. So you put your factory outside of the USA, and never in Hartford.
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My point is that the problem is deeper than merely a wage differential. There are so many impediments to rebuilding our country and nobody is making the moves that will reverse the decline... even Reagan only slowed it a bit. It has been going on since the 1960's.
Except for one year dimocrats have run CA via the state legislature for over 40 years. Yet these people can't figure out what the problem is?
Either way, His Justice will be done and Evil will be defeated by Him (not by us).
Protectionism makes no sense. It promotes over priced, low quality goods because it stifles competition.
Higher taxes and government control over what we purchase is not a path to prosperity.
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