ON: Response to gibberish: gentrification taking the fun out of big cities

(The above is snipped for brevity, from three pages to three paragraphs. Spelling and grammar errors left as-found).

So...what was the essay about? Since it (the discussion) apparently went nowhere with "racist bigots" or whatnot in the DC and NYC forums...?

Oh wait: it's a eulogy for the arts and crafts of displaced, indigenous peoples in DC and NYC. OK. I wasn't aware winos and criminals were into arts and crafts.

Please stop by the Seattle forum. I am waiting for this subject to come up there, and the amusing firestorm of replies that will result. Amazon and other tech giants are on a hiring roll, past c. year or two, one of several factors driving up real estate prices and rental availability in Seattle (proper), the Eastside (satellite city of Bellevue and surrounding smaller contiguous cities). Now north and south ends are seeing dramatic price increases as demand continues; the 'Haves' buying up what they can, where they can, within reasonable commute of either Seattle or Eastside.

Leaving very little for the 'Have-Nots'. They arrive to Seattle C-D daily, searching for "affordable, safe" apartments at $800/month. No such place exists, outside of a Tacoma ghetto flophouse or town far from Seattle metro.

And that's just how it is. The wheels of Capitalism spin, hallelujah.

I assume the accusations of "racism" are about to start, though that may not cut much mustard in Seattle since it's one of the Whitest large metro areas. Perhaps "the" Whitest. What is really happening: people with brains, hired by Amazon, Microsoft, and Google who want the "best" (gender/race agnostic), are hired for $100k and up jobs. Many, many new hires. You can guess the rest: same as other parts of the U.S. with vibrant economies, sounds-like.

There is something national going on, aside from the absurd Haves vs. Have-Nots debate. Real estate prices are nearing 2007 peaks. Hiring is up, nationally, in growth industries and down or stagnant everywhere else. The divide is growing, the obvious vacuousness of "government handout" economics becoming ever-more obvious. That tide will turn, soon.

This whole "equality in outcomes" and "social justice" malarkey is about to come to a end, by 2016 if not sooner. The United States fundamentally is about opportunity, of which there is (still) plenty, not handouts for non-achievers. Get over it. Argue it further, in the interim.

--Sincerely, a wealthy, highly educated ("elite" schools) professional WM from typical American Middle Class underpinnings. Worked my way up via smart career moves, hard work, persistence, connections, and a little luck. In that order. No qualms whatsoever about supporting social safety nets with my tax dollars. Tons of qualms about racial quotas, handouts to bums, disincentives to business, other anti-growth, morally bankrupt national and local policies.