I’m not talking about a thousand years ago - Western European men have largely ruled the culture and world for over 500 years. Also - there is a strong advantage to being a white male in most of the world. Having said that - I don’t believe brown or black men are inherently any different than white men, and they have ruled culture at different points. Where I can not say if the situation would be the same is gender/sex - women will have a larger say in our society and I think that is an overwhelmingly good thing.
The Crack epidemic was very real in terms of violence PBS has a very good documentary on the central park 5, th kids who went to prison for that brutal rape though they were innocent It starts talking about the violence in the city and kids having guns because they were making so much money selling crack. Look at these murder totals in late 80s early 90s. The only years totals top 20K https://www.disastercenter.com/crime/uscrime.htm I was in high school from 89 to 93. It was normal to know another HS kid selling crack and some killed involved in crack I went to private school, a kid, son of a doctor was killed when he went to college He sold crack and went to college in New Orleans and tried to sell it sell there
Of course they do, there are far, far more people per square unit of area in cities than in rural areas. The Tesla Gigafactory in Nevada is the same area as 2,900 acres of farmland. 2,900 acres of farmland produces about a million dollars of wheat per year. The Tesla Gigafactory is expected to produce about $5B per year over the next 20 years on average (a 5,000:1 ratio). The wealth though is concentrated in businesses, not in the people. The urban poor are neither generating the wealth, nor are they accumulating the wealth. A Comparison of Rural and Urban America: Household Income and Poverty (census.gov) In the vast majority of states, the poverty rate is higher in urban areas than in rural areas, despite the median household income being higher generally in urban areas. Cities become too expensive for the urban poor because there are urban wealthy that drive up housing prices. This is actually a good thing, because the urban poor who are leaving are also the ones who were driving up crime, welfare use, drug use, etc. in the poor neighborhoods of the city. Chicago is a great example of this. Almost all of the violent crime in Chicago is limited to a few neighborhoods overrun with gang violence. The rest of the city is very safe and populated by the urban wealthy. Once again, gentrification works.
Sure no one denies that there isn’t poverty in urban areas. That said to the rural poor generate wealth either? I think being poor in general regardless of urban or rural you don’t end up generating much wealth. As far as gentrification it’s interesting because I’m currently staying in a neighborhood in Dalla where gentrification is very visibile. It’s literally displacing poorer and largely Hispanic people and being driven by developers building new upper scale apartments and housing. The problem is many of these people aren’t just moving to rural areas because they don’t have the resources to relocate. Many of them are ending up homeless. The ones who can easily relocate are middle class generally with young families and they are moving to what was once rural areas but are now ex-urban. For CA places like Vacaville. As you note urban areas generate much more wealth but to keep that wealth generation does require a mixed population of all income levels. This is why the Bay Area has such high cost for everything. Housing prices have priced out many of those who worked service industry in turn service industries have to greatly raise wages to be able to attract workers. It becomes a viscous cycle. At the same time those who once worked service industries and lived in more affordable housing are becoming homeless and a drag on the cities. This is a lesson from Singapore which has some of the most expensive private property in the world. Most of the housing even among the lowest income levels have housing and “own” their housing as an asset under a 99 year lease program. The Singaporeans when they gained independence figured out that in an individual level housing should be a commodity but in the national level it was public infrastructure. They figured this was necessary for both economic and societal development.
Excellent piece in the WSJ today that completely reinforces the points I have made in this thread. We need new leadership in these urban areas -- because the doom loop is kicking in. We cannot let our once great American cities go the way of Rhodesia/Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Haiti. The Real Estate Nightmare Unfolding in Downtown St. Louis The office district is empty, with boarded up towers, copper thieves and failing retail—even the Panera outlet shut down. The city is desperately trying to reverse the ‘doom loop.’ https://www.wsj.com/real-estate/commercial/doom-loop-st-louis-44505465 Cities such as San Francisco and Chicago are trying to save their downtown office districts from spiraling into a doom loop. St. Louis is already trapped in one. As offices sit empty, shops and restaurants close and abandoned buildings become voids that suck the life out of the streets around them. Locals often find boarded-up buildings depressing and empty sidewalks scary. So even fewer people commute downtown. This self-reinforcing cycle accelerated in recent years as the pandemic emptied offices. St. Louis’s central business district had the steepest drop in foot traffic of 66 major North American cities between the start of the pandemic and last summer, according to the University of Toronto’s School of Cities. Now, it stands as a warning to others: This is the future for America’s downtowns if they can’t reinvent themselves and halt the downward spiral.
The Movement to working from home will continue to evacuation of downtowns We have reevalute our ideals of a downtown More patrols by non bigotted cops would help Rocket River
Blaming the police for all the problems? Wow -- exactly the wrong mindset. Makes me think the urban core doesn't have what it takes to recover. No personal accountability, even in the face of overwhelming data and issues.
How does police brutality change it? What is your expectation of these "good new infitrating leaders"? What are they suppose to do? Exactly. Esp without police involvement. Rocket River
