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Most urban cores are kept alive by government spending. Try pulling the plug on federal money going to city governments, universities, medicaid and welfare programs for a few months and see what happens.
Most urban cores are kept alive by government spending. Try pulling the plug on federal money going to city governments, universities, medicaid and welfare programs for a few months and see what happens.
Speaking of.... if government pulls the funding for sanctuary cities we may get to see what happens.
Most urban cores are kept alive by government spending. Try pulling the plug on federal money going to city governments, universities, medicaid and welfare programs for a few months and see what happens.
That's absolutely untrue. Metropolitan and Blue cities on average receive less federal funding because they tax more locally and state wide and raise their own funding. The Top 10 cities and Top 10 states that receive federal money other than New Mexico are all solidly red with the lowest GDP's. Some red states like Louisiana and Mississippi make the overwhelming majority of their state's revenue from 1 or 2 metropolitans that actual progressively tax their residents and have stimulated economic growth.
In many ways, I think the enormous geographic size of the US is more a curse than a blessing. There's so much mostly-unused space between the coasts that makes it very expensive to travel among them and certainly to have meaningful long distance public transportation. It also makes social benefits and even essential services much harder to scale.
Sure, there's some agriculture grown in flyover country, but not in the majority of it.
Actually, I love the wide open spaces and small towns. You can have your hustle-bustle but I prefer the quiet. And, the space is not unused: farming, ranching, wildlife preserves, national forests, national parks, BLM Land for hiking and camping, etc.
Well, I guess those that live in small isolated towns could make money mowing each other's yards.
Why are people fixated on MONEY?
Money is not prosperity - it's not even real.
It only has value if there are others who WANT IT.
Reality mode:
Prosperity is based on production, equitable trade and enjoyment of surplus usable goods and services.
Those things rely on people's labor, amplified by tools, multiplied by powered machines.
Money is not prosperity - it's not even real.
It only has value if there are others who WANT IT.
Reality mode:
Prosperity is based on production, equitable trade and enjoyment of surplus usable goods and services.
Those things rely on people's labor, amplified by tools, multiplied by powered machines.
For everyone it most certainly is not all about money. Not that there is anything wrong with wanting this but I have no desire to travel the world. There is so much around me to still see.
I can be to three major metropolitan areas in less than 3 hours when I want that. (one being my hometown). As it is, the slower, low cost of living area I live in now suits me well.
Since the 1960's my county's population has quadrupled. Almost all of that increase has come from the metropolitan areas escaping the high cost of city life and wanting a better place to live and raise their families. Of course, Monroe County PA has one of the longest commutes in the Nation.
The point I am trying to make is that not everybody is happy with city life. Many do seek the peace and quite of small towns and sometimes they make small towns 'cities' in the process!
The problem is not the small town way of life per se. Yes, industries move out but historically have been replaced by new opportunities. My relatively small town in MA was once the jewelry manufacturing hub of the world (our police station was once the Josten's factory). The jewelry industry (save for one factory) is long gone from here, but has been replaced by more high-tech manufacturing. We also have many residents who commute to Boston, Providence and smaller cities for work. But we still have a reason to exist; many people are more than willing to work in a city but prefer living in a close, tight-knit community--which Americans have always valued.
Tell that to the US military, look at the high rates of military enlistment from small towns and masculinist places like the south and the west. These guys and gals grow up hunting,fishing and outdoors and know how to handle a gun. small town and rural america is one of the last bastions of masculinity in america. I just cant imagine america building a military with metrosexual leftie urban hipsters from portland, seattle,Berkeley, brooklyn,college towns all around this country etc who are just so effeminate
I also dont agree that all small towns are dying, many wealthy people and professionals move to smaller places to retire, less traffic and crime, better quality of life etc.
You remind me of one of my supervisors in the Air Force who told me there should not be women in the military. He was a "hunter", and he could kill. I told him I was a pissed off woman and I could kill. It so happens I was a marksman with an M-16 and he wasn't.
You need to get out more. Go to the Bronx, Chicago, East St Louis, Oakland, or Los Angeles and check out their marksmanship, especially at night.
Troll
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