Little Pink Houses
And their friends, the loitering heirs of city directors
Departed, have left no addresses
--The Waste Land, T. S. Eliot
I'm sitting down by the highway
Down by that highway side
Everybody's going somewhere
Riding just as fast as they can ride
--Your Bright Baby Blues, Jackson Browne
______________
Departed, have left no addresses
--The Waste Land, T. S. Eliot
I'm sitting down by the highway
Down by that highway side
Everybody's going somewhere
Riding just as fast as they can ride
--Your Bright Baby Blues, Jackson Browne
______________
The federal deficit sits at $1.42 trillion, a figure greater than the total national debt for the first 200 years of the Republic. Our debt is greater than the entire economy of India.
Meanwhile we pursue our endless wars to shed our grace on the sandbox nations of Iraq and Afghanistan, and we can't seem to give houses away in our blighted-but-once-thriving city of Detroit (Detroit House Auction Flops for Urban Wasteland):
Meanwhile we pursue our endless wars to shed our grace on the sandbox nations of Iraq and Afghanistan, and we can't seem to give houses away in our blighted-but-once-thriving city of Detroit (Detroit House Auction Flops for Urban Wasteland):
Despite a minimum bid of $500, less than a fifth of the Detroit land was sold after four days.
The county had no estimate of how much was raised by the auction, a second attempt to sell property that had failed to find buyers for the full amount of back taxes in September.
The unsold parcels add to an expanding ghost town within the once-vibrant town known worldwide as the Motor City.
The number of U.S. homes in foreclosure rose to 938,000 in the July-September quarter, up 5% from the previous quarter (U.S. Foreclosure Filings Rose in Third Quarter). Combined with unemployment rates at a 26-year high, foreclosures are projected to hit 3.5 million this year. Funny thing to have happen on the way to a rosier economy, news of which greets us each day in the papers.
Even if the homes were given away, the poor and underemployed would not be able to cover the maintenance and taxes; that's how this mess started in the first place. Well, perhaps it is some solace that we are kicking about trying to improve some wasteland, somewhere. So Detroit withers away. Buh-bye.
On an upnote: We hear cycling among the ruins in Detroit has become something of a biker's paradise. You see, the lack of civic activity provides for untrafficked boulevards. Broken glass can be a problem, but if you outfit your mountain bike with Kevlar Panaracers, you should be o.k. Weapon suggested.
Why doesn't real estate in Kabul and Baghdad suffer such indignities of neglect? Perhaps if the denizens of Detroit formed proper militias, the U.S. government would turn their sights there, and do more than sympathize with the abysmal plight of our citizens.
Where will Toledo, Buffalo, Erie, Cleveland and Detroit get the funds to update their dilapidated infrastructures? Where is the Coalition of the Willing which will save our citizens?
The financial institutions of America are as brutal to the American dispossessed as the Taliban are to the average Afghan citizen.
posted by rangeragainstwar at 10:29 AM
9 Comments:
"Where is the Coalition of the Willing which will save our citizens?" RAW
I for one am not looking forward to the age of the Coalition of the Willing saving anyone.The word citizen imply's freemen working for the commonweal, not the other way around.
In dysfunctional relationships each person points the finger at the other, not realizing the fault lies within, not without(the other). Deception breeds deception. Illusion breeds delusion. It's time to cut through the crap. Are we creating citizens or a mindless dependency on an external source to save us? If it's to be the latter, the Messiah is standing before you, a wolf in sheeps clothing.
MM
“When facism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross." ”Sinclair Lewis"
MM,
If we are so flush that we can save AFG/IRQ/PAK then we can spare a little runoff for our citizens.
Capitalism and not Terrorism will destroy America.
jim
Neither capitalism nor terrorism will destroy America,or save it for that matter. But rage, greed, fear, and and an 'somebody save us' mentality, sure will.
As far as AFG/IRQ/PAK I'm all for 'grab kit and ship'. But having said that, if every American got a $5000 stimulus check from the 'ship'; where do you think that money would go? How do you think it would save us? Would it 'promote harmony and domestic tranquility'? Would we be any freer? Get a leg up? A 'New Deal' for every man and woman?
The math don't work, things tend fall apart, shit happens, history repeats itself, and "the pumps don't work because the vandals stole the handles".
To tell you the truth Jim, I'm fucking pissed. So ya I'm angry too. I do have a choice though, and staying pissed ain't 'getting her done'. So I ask you all in RAW land, what then is to be done? Who's gonna do it? When? Why? Where? How? The shit is coming down hard and as far as I can see, we can't do a damn thing about it. But I can start at my 'ground zero', and then do what I can do to lend a helping hand to others. Dat RAW my friends is it.....over
MM
"I have met the enemy and he is us" Pogo
We're not leaving Afghanistan. It doesn't matter how many people freeze to death this winter or starve to death in the coming months because they don't have jobs or homes. President O. is so afraid of being accused of "losing Afghanistan", just like Truman was accused of "losing China", that I'll bet he wets his knickers every time he thinks about it. So the common man has to suffer so the President can look good in the history books.
I think China is going to be an influence on our adventure in Afghanistan. They can't be too happy about having 60,000-100,000 US troops in close proximity to their borders. The easy solution for them would be to stop buying our T-notes. No money coming into the Treasury from China means no war in Afghanistan. But it wouldn't surprise me to see "Chinese volunteers" in Afghanistan or maybe Yalu River 1950, part two. Somebody tell me I'm wrong. Happy Halloween, all.
Barcalounger:
I'm going to go on a limb and say the Chinese don't care about the US/ISAF forces on their border.
One: it's a narrow border
Two: What are they going to do, Invade China?
Three: Great intel for them. They are witnessing the greatest military clown show on earth part II. brought to you by Globo World enterprises and their subsidiaries, with the mis-en-scene produced by History's worst ever (by far) general Officer Corps.
As for T-bills, I ain't no expert, but they can't unload 1/10th of one percent of their holdings without causing a panic.
Which is why they want an alternate reserve currency....one not backed by red white and blue American bullshit, and printing presses gone haywire.
For a sound reading of the International picture, you can't go wrong with Sic Semper Tyrannis ...or, to get info on resilient commitees....Global Guerillas.
Face it, the US foreign policy is run by the Likud Party and the Mil Industrial Complex, through the auspices of the bought and paid for Congresscritter majorities. US bizness runs most of domestic policy. Their goal....All war, all the time, and Empauperment for the 95 percenters who are unconnected.
See ya in the next war (COIN???) in a neighborhood near you.
I meant to say resilient communities....sorry!
what is to be done? indeed. an ageless question.
despite the crows of "the reccession is over" i remain sceptical. i see many, very disturbing signs.
but, since we don't know for sure what will happen, we cannot plan our course of action and preparation.
probably, there won't be a cataclyzmic meltdown and reshaping of things.
the biggest bubbles tend to be more like soccer balls than soap bubbles.
rather than burst they continue to slowly deflate, retaining just enough shape and bounce to fool you into thinking that there's one more kick on goal left....
the decline and fall of rome took centuries, while its rise took mere generations.
count me in with jim in not presuming there is much worry among the chinese. they have millenia of history regarding their co-option and absorbtion of any invaders. the saying is "by the time an invader reaches beijing, they are chinese."
that mindset is not only deliciously subtle, it is functional.
rather than a huge upheaval and overthrowing, there will be a slow, painful slide into irrelavence. as institutions and governments become less effective at influencing the lives of people directly, less attention will be paid to them.
things will most likely get very localized. with little or no thought given to the larger, more national or global structures.
There will be no coalition of the willing. Nothing will be done.
I'm not sure that there is anything that CAN be done, long term, for a couple of reasons.
1. There are some very basic economics at work. We are talking econ 101; supply, demand and all of that. The global economy means that production can find the cheapist labor markets. Those are overseas. Even if we were to create new jobs in this country, wages would have to be at global equalibrium levels and that is too ow to sustain the lifestyle that Americans have become accustomed to.
2. Inorder to complete a proper assessment of current state and then plans for going forward, we would have to accept that our success over the past couple hundred years or so has not been so much due to our values and political system as it was a result of having colonized a land of abundant unexploited resources at precisely the time in human history - the industrial revolution - when these resources could be converted to amazing wealth levels widely distributed across the population.
Design followed good luck; not the other way around, as we want to believe.
I don't think there's much that can be done about point 1 and I don't think that most Americans are psychologically able to face point 2.
avedis
fasteddiez:
A pretty fair roundup of that status quo.
MB:
I think this is an excellent analysis of the direction we are headed -- "rather than a huge upheaval and overthrowing, there will be a slow, painful slide into irrelevance. As institutions and governments become less effective at influencing the lives of people directly, less attention will be paid to them."
Avedis:
It would seem that we could enjoy a correction only if we acknowledge the things you mention: Our good fortune at expropriating resources, and the necessity of a comedown from our inflated and unsustainable current state of living.
No one is telling the American people they must face these harsh truths. We laughed at the last president who tried to impose responsibility (Carter).
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