Interesting Times: The Long Emergency is Beginning

[liveonearth]

In LA so many people have lost their homes that they are setting up tent cities and living in mobile homes. They have nowhere to go. This is just the beginning. Imagine the large populations of America's cities without food, jobs, homes or hope, but with diseases and guns. Here it comes. And as my classmate Conan pointed out, it's the BBC reporting on it: you won't find mention of this in the US media. They're trying to keep it mum.

Comments

[hausfrauatu.livejournal.com]

Like in "Snow Crash", by Neal Stephenson.

People wandering around in motorhomes...crap.

Why I am NOT moving to an urban area. Or an arid area.

Hmmmmmmm...may have to buy a gun with the tax refund. Crap. I don't like to have them, but EVERYONE ELSE here has one. I don't want to get picked on if push comes to shove.

I am VERY nice to my neighbors.

Can I admit to feeling like an ass after Y2K?

[kellamaste.livejournal.com]

This sort of thing happened during The Great Depression as well.

[neptunia67.livejournal.com]

I have such mixed feelings about this. I mean, I understand that this is indicitave of a much, much larger problem... but I have no sympathy for the people who have gotten themselves into this situation. It is a perfect example of our American greed, to want bigger houses, newer cars, more STUFF, and to bury ourselves under a mountain of debt to get those things.

Do you forecast these tent cities to continue to grow, taking everybody in? Or do you picture more of a ghetto-type situation in each city, plagued by violence? It seems like the BBC found the most dire situation they could (I felt that the story was sensationalized the same way our news is... something that started in the UK a few years ago)... so am not sure how to react.

I dunno. I am going to send this clip to my sociology teacher and get her reaction.

I look forward to being able to converse about this stuff in person this summer!

[marijkab.livejournal.com]

I think the real estate agents and money lending institutions are as much to blame- if not more- for their greed for getting those greedy Americans into those homes they couldn't afford. I mostly feel sorry for the homeowners, having just bought a house myself, I can imagine just how horrible it would be to lose it and everything in it, and to move into a mobile home or tent. When I look at everything that's happening in our country lately, all I can think of is Ayn Rand's book The Fountainhead. It really does come down to survival of the fittest.
By the by, and off the subject, did you know that the penny will no longer be made, as it costs too much to make them for what they're worth these days?