Another alarmist thread. Yes cities do have problems but most cities are better off than they were in the 70’s. Most American cities aren’t dying and many US cities over the last couple of decades have reduced the flight of loss of population and even grown. At the same time commitment to mixed use development has created vibrant communities in places that were just decades ago urban wastelands. Consider Houston for example. The area around the Dynamo stadium not that long ago was a blighted wasteland of warehouse. It’s been developing with new housing, nightlife and mixed use businesses. At the same time while many bemoan the plight of cities rural America has been hammered with a major loss of population especially a brain drain of younger and more educated people. Consolidation of agriculture, the mortgage crisis, and drugs like opiods are hitting rural areas hard. Some of the worst areas of endemic poverty aren’t in cities but in rural areas.
It's really this. I've been less concerned about City populist groups that would generally be in the Bernie crowd turning militaristic over the populist Nativist BS the MAGA folks been spewing. Pity pieces about "Southerner Pride" like Hillbilly Elegy or Hillbilly Anthem are all about dead end flyover areas drying up with zero corporate backing. B-B-B-Butt there's homeless dookie all over the streets of Saaan Franciscoooo!! So dead. So sad! The North/South divide had shifted to Coastal vs Inner States. When you break that down, it's large cities vs rural areas. Cities are more productive, earn more per capita, have more economic and intellectual capital for starting businesses, and has a much lower mortality rate on the aggregate given its access to healthcare vs rural areas. NY is safer in most areas than the boonies if you have half a brain on you. Cities are even more efficient than the best run mega corporations by far. Dirty ass LA - ~175 years old How many companies in the S&P 500 are as old? Only a few handful even hit the 100 year mark. Bigger Cities Do More with Less https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/bigger-cities-do-more-with-less/
It’s obvious so much of this is politically driven to go after “blue cities” while ignoring the very real problems of “red rural America”. The truth is there are problems in both urban and rural America and as a country we should try to address both. That said talk of “colonizing” cities as though they don’t deserve to govern themselves is as ludicrous as saying we need to put all of rural America under Federal control because they can’t govern themselves.
The Red boonie areas are further apart and cost more per sq ft to maintain in infrastructure. Even suburbs close to cities are in a Ponzi-like spending pattern where growth covers current infra maintenance that's due every 75 years. The open space effect is why you have blue state funding red podunks through national spending and appropriation committees. Many small towns that specialized at one thing like coal, car parts, or tv/appliance manufacturing straight up had their roots gutted when the host company closed shop or moved offshore. LA had nearly a half year entertainment strike that shut down movies and tv and cost the local economy several billions of dollars, but Diamond Joe and Slick Gavin didn't have to bail out LA. During covid, there were fears rural communities would either have to drive hundreds of miles away to get solid treatment or even be turned away due to overcapacity and embark on another 100+ mile journey to the next nearest care practitioner. The irony of libertarians in Congress wanting to privatize the USPS is that the easiest way to save money while retaining overall quality would be to shut down "over-served" branches at hicksville and cracker county. These people LOVE their local offices even if they VIOLENTLY AGREE with Fox News muppets about government waste and the "bloated Post Office hemorrhaging money." And while you're at it...Hands off Gran Gran's Meddycare, you heartless Washington Elite Savage! The ideal of a "peaceful countryside" is usually promoted by people with less or able to live on lesser means and culturally amplified by the prepper "Zombie Apocalypse" dread that's infected our minds since the Great Financial Crisis. Cities can suck...rude people, long commutes, and lines to your favorite restaurant. But there's a very good reason why you can still buy five to ten times the amount land in the middle of nowhere vs a house in the city, and it isn't because the political leaders are full of corrupt degenerates ripping you off.
Objectively, if a city proves incapable of self-governance, based on objective metrics, such as crime rates, quality of education, economic issues, etc, then we should seek to provide them with help. The USA has been the driving force behind regime change in many foreign countries over the last several decades -- so don't act like this is A) Out of character for us; or B) An insult to the people being replaced. This is doing right by the people who live in these underperforming locations. I think time and data are kinda proving that some people groups just struggle to put together effective communities. Bring in the pro's and help uplift the community. In terms of other countries, Haiti is another example of a place in need of colonial-style assistance.
I guess if you want to put whiteys in charge of black and brown people in urban areas, can you find a minute to move some smart Asian American people into low education, rural America to teach them whiteys some calculus?
The Post Office is an example of narrative and governmental obstructionism to move a low-cost government utility to a high-cost corporation. The Post Office is the ONLY part of Government that EARNS Money However It is the ONLY ORGANIZATION IN AMERICA that has to maintain a 75 year pension plan liquid funds at all time That's right . . .. We let ENRON raid their pension funds and bankrupt people. . . but expect the Post Office to maintain 75 yrs worth of funds OH YEA . . .. BTW . . . . occasionally the government will BORROW FROM THIS FUND AND NEVER PAY IT BACK Then b**** about how the Post Office is in the Red Rocket River
Maybe if Haiti didn't have to pay France for its freedom from their enslavement they would be better off. You are literally talking about REGIME CHANGE inside American Cities. . . . . You *REALLY* don't like Democracy do you? I guess maybe you would prefer Plantation Style "people management" That seems to be his basic premis Rocket River
An interesting thought piece below. Imagine if our cities were safe again for families to live in, and pleasant to visit. Their economies would boom and their citizens would see tremendous employment and wealth creation opportunities. A rising tide...
Are you trying to say people with “black” skin are incapable of self rule? Not sure I am following the plot here TJ
I thought Jamacia was where 20-somethings went to get baked on the beach, not a murderous hellscape. The British commonwealth surely propped this island up financially as well. You need to stay away from the propaganda channels, bro.
Jamaica was a sweet young one I loved her true She was a comfort And a mercy through and through Spoiler
Is this what will become of Baltimore, Philadelphia, Detroit, and other once proud American cities? These people should not be left to suffer. We need to bring in competent leadership. Johannesburg's water crisis is the latest blow to South Africa's 'world-class city' https://www.wmfe.org/2024-04-01/joh...latest-blow-to-south-africas-world-class-city JOHANNESBURG — Lungile Khoza is at her wits' end. The mother of four has been without water at her home for three weeks, the kids are dehydrated and sick, and she can't run her small hair salon so she's losing money. Khoza, 37, lives in Soweto, a sprawling township of Johannesburg, which is among the areas worst hit by a water crisis in the city. She says there are sometimes government trucks distributing water, but it often runs out before you make it to the front of the line. Then she says, the water seems to cause stomach problems for her family, but — to add insult to injury — she can't even boil it because she's often also without electricity. Khoza doesn't hesitate when asked who she blames for the current crisis. "Our government is failing us, our government is so failing us," she says. "It's not getting better, it's getting worse." Analysts say corruption scandals, record unemployment, and the failure to ensure basic services like water and electricity account for the once-storied party's dwindling popularity. World-class city? South Africa's state-owned power company, Eskom, triggers planned blackouts in Johannesburg and other parts of the country, which it calls "load-shedding," saying it needs to ease pressure on the overstretched electricity grid — sometimes for as long as 10 hours a day. Now, city residents have added a new bleak term to their lexicon: "water-shedding." And there are other signs of decay: Trash lies uncollected for days and the streets are riddled with potholes, which some frustrated citizens have taken to spray-painting with the ironic tagline: "Thank you ANC." The failing infrastructure does not discriminate and has affected people of all incomes and across racial lines, from the rich leafy suburbs to the bustling townships. "Overall ineptitude, deficiency of transparency and accountability, as well as little to no political will, has exacerbated the ever-expanding water crisis," says Anja du Plessis, an associate professor and water expert at the University of South Africa in Pretoria.
This is funny because the least educate, least healthy, poorest states are all red...but lets take over only the cities because, you know, librulz and dark skinned people. Every traitor post in this thread and the idea in and of itself has made everyone dumber.
