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Really, do explain how inner city poverty is "much worse" than it was in 1900? Infant mortality? No. Access to safe and nutritive food? No. Access to housi

Really, do explain how inner city poverty is "much worse" than it was in 1900? Infant mortality? No. Access to safe and nutritive food? No. Access to housing? No. Do tell. "If turn-of-the-century infant death rates had continued, then an estimated 500,000 live-born infants during 1997 would have died before age 1 year; instead, 28,045 infants died" (1) (1) Hoyert DL, Kochanek KD, Murphy SL. Deaths: final data for 1997. Hyattsville, Maryland: US Department of Health and Human Services, CDC, National Center for Health Statistics, 1999. (National vital statistics report; vol 47, no. 20).

bokonist 18y ago
Read a few modern accounts of urban poverty, like "The Corner" and "Gang Leader for a day". Then compare it to accounts from the early 1900's such as "The Slums of Baltimore, Chicago, New York, and Philadelphia", "Land of the Dollar", and "How the other half lives." It will blow you away. Yes, the technology today is far better and knowledge of science far greater. We have penicillin and vaccinations. Fwer babies die at all income levels. But the gang violence, drug addiction, and perpetual unemployment problems are all much, much worse. Nothing like our modern inner city slums existed 100 years ago. Technology gave us low infant mortality. Politics lost us our cities - http://detroityes.com/home.htm http://detroityes.com/home.htm
- delackner 18y ago
  Now I understand the perspective you were writing from. Certainly our inner cities are crumbling. For very specific population groups, quality of life and life expectancy is shockingly bad, and that is indeed the fault of politics. The US is the only major democracy that seems content to cheer the success of the lucky and laugh at the failure of the rest. Sadly the poorest of the poor have in large part bought this destructive mantra of "self sufficiency" and "freedom" that in real terms means: tough luck if you get hit by a bus!
  - bokonist 18y ago
    The US is the only major democracy that seems content to cheer the success of the lucky and laugh at the failure of the rest. That has nothing to do with it. The main problem with the U.S. is that it has had 150 years of racial warfare - whites hating on blacks, blacks hating on whites. All of it has been entirely destructive, and it really needs to stop. Try watching a couple episodes of The Corner ( http://www.amazon.com/Corner-Year-Life-Inner-City-Neighborhood/dp/0767900316 http://www.amazon.com/Corner-Year-Life-Inner-City-Neighborho... ). It's based on a the account of a journalist who spent a year following a family in Baltimore. It also matches my personal experiences in working for various inner city charities. Then tell me how somehow getting rid of this alleged mantra of "self sufficiency" and "freedom" and replacing it with X will make things better.
    - kaens 18y ago
      I haven't watched The Corner, but I have read the book, and stayed in some very ghetto places in Baltimore when I was in my hitchhiking / train-hopping phase. The book The Corner is an excellent read, and is quite accurate. People who have little to no experience with real lower-class city areas and ghettos should read it. It's also very well written, and is not a dry read at all.

bokonist 18y ago

Read a few modern accounts of urban poverty, like "The Corner" and "Gang Leader for a day". Then compare it to accounts from the early 1900's such as "The Slums of Baltimore, Chicago, New York, and Philadelphia", "Land of the Dollar", and "How the other half lives." It will blow you away. Yes, the technology today is far better and knowledge of science far greater. We have penicillin and vaccinations. Fwer babies die at all income levels. But the gang violence, drug addiction, and perpetual unemployment problems are all much, much worse. Nothing like our modern inner city slums existed 100 years ago. Technology gave us low infant mortality. Politics lost us our cities - http://detroityes.com/home.htm http://detroityes.com/home.htm

delackner 18y ago
Now I understand the perspective you were writing from. Certainly our inner cities are crumbling. For very specific population groups, quality of life and life expectancy is shockingly bad, and that is indeed the fault of politics. The US is the only major democracy that seems content to cheer the success of the lucky and laugh at the failure of the rest. Sadly the poorest of the poor have in large part bought this destructive mantra of "self sufficiency" and "freedom" that in real terms means: tough luck if you get hit by a bus!
- bokonist 18y ago
  The US is the only major democracy that seems content to cheer the success of the lucky and laugh at the failure of the rest. That has nothing to do with it. The main problem with the U.S. is that it has had 150 years of racial warfare - whites hating on blacks, blacks hating on whites. All of it has been entirely destructive, and it really needs to stop. Try watching a couple episodes of The Corner ( http://www.amazon.com/Corner-Year-Life-Inner-City-Neighborhood/dp/0767900316 http://www.amazon.com/Corner-Year-Life-Inner-City-Neighborho... ). It's based on a the account of a journalist who spent a year following a family in Baltimore. It also matches my personal experiences in working for various inner city charities. Then tell me how somehow getting rid of this alleged mantra of "self sufficiency" and "freedom" and replacing it with X will make things better.
  - kaens 18y ago
    I haven't watched The Corner, but I have read the book, and stayed in some very ghetto places in Baltimore when I was in my hitchhiking / train-hopping phase. The book The Corner is an excellent read, and is quite accurate. People who have little to no experience with real lower-class city areas and ghettos should read it. It's also very well written, and is not a dry read at all.