U.S. Suburbs Now Just Sprawling Hell-Camps For the Poor
The scared white working class used to flee The Poors and The Coloreds by moving to the next new ring of surburbia, which helped create the Architecture of Banal Oppression that defines this ruined country. But now the next (last) ring of suburbia/exurbia is where The Poors have wound up ... and it turns out The Poors are actually the people who last tried to escape theotherPoors, and ... oh god.
The poor population in America’s suburbs — long a symbol of a stable and prosperous American middle class — rose by more than half after 2000, forcing suburban communities across the country to re-evaluate their identities and how they serve their populations.
The increase in the suburbs was 53 percent, compared with 26 percent in cities. The recession accelerated the pace: two-thirds of the new suburban poor were added from 2007 to 2010.
“The growth has been stunning,” said Elizabeth Kneebone, a senior researcher at the Brookings Institution ...
Eh, always stop reading a news article when it gets to "Brookings Institution," unless the reference ends with "is on fire." [ NYT ]