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 the other Poors, 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]
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Boehner must be so proud of himself. That must be why he spends so much time playing golf in Orange County.
I like to pretend that the poors have pushed Orange Countians to the last suburban space in America… and that a shove or two more will put their country-club asses into the drink.
Orange County. Where the Oompa Loompas go to retire; and Boehner is their king.
The Applebees of our Union remain strong.
Applebees are so yesterday. Get with the picture. Chili's is the new-old Applebees.
We are the 53%.
No snark, just depression after reading this.
"Elizabeth Kneebone"? They've resorted to using stripper code-names at the Brookings Institute for the lousy shit they shovel?
♫Connected to the… shinbone.♪
Why do the poorz hate success so much?
Depends on who's it is.
Well clearly it's THEIR fault they cant get a new job after they were laid off and they now live in sprawl land with little or no access to public transit. Herman Cain is angry at all of them. Go get a job at Godfathers, suburban serfs!!!
“The growth has been stunning,” said Elizabeth Kneebone…
Terry Thighbone explained the results using charts prepared by Henry Hipbone and other Brookings Institution interns.
"The War on The Poor is going even better than we could have hoped for!" Buckner Backbone summarized.
~
Meanwhile, Executive Director Hands "Phalanges" Skullbone is boning his secretary, Fellatia Pubicbone, in his office on the seventy-fifth floor. His CFO, John "Bones" Dice tickles the ivories with his fingerbones in the next room, which is decorated in 19th Century style with animal bones and elephant tusks, er, bones. Whew.
Before you know it, there'll be debtors prisons at the malls.
That might just take care of the "vacant retail space" problem everywhere.
"Cage-fight-for Less."
Do you have a secret "facetious idea which will later be turned into reality" tag? Because I see this damn argument being made in the not too distant future.
Are there no Build-a-Bear Workhouses? Are there no Prisons-r-Us?
Both very busy, sir.
Good point. Every successful mall needs a good "anchor" destination store.
It would be sort of perversely perfect – pay your debt to society at the same place where you maxed it out on your credit card. The banks will probably charge you a fee just for being in prison.
Well, there are already cop shops in the mallz.
How 19th Century to have to "The Poors" out in the countryside.
It's where I, and the CAVE People, have ended up.
You know who else ran their economy into the ground facilitating the forced resettling of the hinterlands?
The Administration of Andrew Jackson, in re: the Seminole Nation?
Only in America could poor people be given the same opportunity as rich people to grow up vapid and neurotic.
That burning ring of poors.
I'm waiting for David Brooks to weigh in on this topic in his next book, "Hobobos in the Exurbs."
Ha! Back then he was almost funny. NYT ruined it by taking him seriously.
One too many "bo"s methinks.
Who would have guessed there would be underwater mortgages in suburbia? And laid off people who are accustomed to making it who are no longer making it?
What are "underwear mortgages," again?
Oh. Never mind.
If we all had underwear mortgages, and the enforcers sent to repossess them were bikini clad and hot then no-one would complain about recession. We'd all happily default and America's problems would be solved.
Even Bristol Palin hated it.
Have the banks foreclosed on her house in AZ yet?
I thought Bristol needed to fuck something first before she could hate it.
not. enough. upfists.
My son's cat is staring at me because I just burst out cackling. Thank you for adding some variety to his day.
Except that Maricopa isn't a suburb so much as formerly far-flung farming hamlet/currently subsumed-by-Phoenix pit of despair, hantavirus, and meth.
"formerly far-flung farming hamlet/currently subsumed-by-[metropolitan area] pit of despair" is the very definition of a suburb.
Which is why this is about suburbs and exurbs.
Some communities resist the idea that poverty exists. When Ann George, who runs the Parma Heights pantry with stalwart volunteers, speaks at churches and community gatherings, “I see the skepticism on people’s faces,” she said. “They say, ‘This is Parma Heights, not Cleveland.’ ”
Apparently instead of being located near Lake Erie, residents of Parma Heights live on the banks of Denial River.
Many years ago I went to school with a girl who insisted there were no hungry people in America because she had never met one.
Them Parma folks make some damn good cheese, but I never knew that place was in Ohio.
This is so true in Metro Detroit. A full quarter of the population of Detroit left the city, last decade, with most of them ending up in the suburbs and they go to pretending that these new residents in their community don't exist, one day, to blaming any problem (i.e. falling property values, rising crime, etc…) on them the next day.
Not that it's an outright hostile suburb, but Harper Woods (an inner-ring burb) went from 85% white/10% black in 2000 to about 45/45% black-and-white in 2010. There isn't a single black elected official.
Hey, I grew up there. Actually, in Parma, as Parma Hts was for the richies (comparatively speaking) in this very blue collar suburb. Whole place was very, very white, catholic and polish/italian. Wonderful peirogis and pizza. Good drugs from the boys who went to the all boys (now co-ed) franciscan high school. Culture, open-mindedness, and intellectual curiosity, not so much. I moved to San Diego after 1 yr at Cleveland State U.
Hello, fellow-greater-Clevetown-metro-district alum! I went to prom with a boy from that high school. The drugs WERE good! The sex, not so much (too much catholic self-flagellation).
I know what you mean. My catholic boyfriend and I lost our virginity together. I drank champagne and he went to confession.
Wait, Ken wants to set the Brookings Institution on fire? Is he secretly G. Gordon Liddy?
Charles Colson? (coulson?)
In a few more hours of Repubican filibusters and there won't be any firefighters left, so only a small fire will be needed.
You mean the complete lack of suitable public transportation wasn't enough to keep the poors out of my neighborhood? Next your gonna tell me the poors are going to start shopping at my Target, too. Quelle horreur!
Let me tell you, they live 40 and 50 to a house, too, like filthy messicans. You can tell the economy is bad by how many fucking cars are stacked in front of so many houses, you see 4 or 5 cars, it means parents live there, married daughter and family moved back in when husband got laid off, 2 kids still live there, and grandma. Cars every fucking where. Hey, just like the messicans, if everyone is working, even pumping gas or deli clerk or 7-11 clerk, together they will be able to pay all the bills and survive.
On the other hand, it's bringing families closer together, in an old fashioned-y way like in the 19th century, which will no doubt make the conservatives even happier.
Goodnight, John Boy.
That is precisely David Brooks point.
In a sign of just how far the economic distress had spread, one volunteer saw his former boss come to the pantry
And now I need a drink or ten…
I'll take a drink or ten…out of celebration – I dream of the day Mrs. Ann Taylor Loft flat fronted fatty pants comes swishing into the pantry on my watch…
We are talking about Cleveland, though. That city is sort of the canary-in-the-coalmine for the absolute worst things could possibly get.
Poverty — it's just the accent for the emotional and aesthetic bankruptcy of the suburbs.
You've nailed it, Si/W, as usual.
Who says there aren't any good restaurants in the suburbs? Ever been to Red Lobster?
Who says there isn't any worthy architecture in the suburbs? Ever see the club house at MeadowRidgeDowns Estates near exit 45?
Who says there isn't any culture in the suburbs? Did you hear the band do Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring" at halftime of the football game? It kind goes DUH-duh-duh-duh, DUH-duh-duh-duh…Sure made them march funny, though.
Writing to die for: "Eh, always stop reading a news article when it gets to “Brookings Institution,” unless the reference ends with “is on fire.”
But are the schools still high-performing enough to attract those money-laden furriners to our shores, baited with sweet sweet blights-of-fancy? If so, then Senators Schumer & Lee do not see a problem.
OWS has NO MESSAGE, remember?
The solution is to combine the 999 plan with the Perry 2020 plan…
999 plus 2020 = 3019 = Jobs, A Strong America and…. EXTRA cheese on top!
Cain/Perry 2012!!!!
999 plus 2020 = 3019
It is also the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act in the Republic of the Philippines.
JohnnyZ yer math works globally.
OT: Elizabeth Kneebone — is she connected to the Legbone Institute??
"Bootstraps!"
"It's your own fault!"
"Hooray for coma deaths!"
"Boo for gay soldiers!"
"Crumbling infra-structure!"
"Shipping Jobs overseas!"
"1% own everything!"
"You can't refinance!"
"Beat the Occupados!"
"Sharia Law!"
Man, I love this place… the people are so sweet and we all get along so well… :'(
Crumbling Infrastructure sounds delicious
Cook at 375… for extra crumbling…
OK, now you're getting a bit ahead of the global warming thing.
New pizza topping! You're a genius!!
Now you're talking wonderful.
President Cain…may I have a large pie with extra crumbling infrastructure?
"Done!"
Almost as good as Sudden Valley dressing.
At this rate, White Flight is just gonna be the nickname of a teenaged Caucasian basketball prodigy playing to get his family out da 'hood (Long Island).
**golf clap**
Boehnervilles
Please make that stick.
Yes, do. (Also, Viva Machete!)
But the suburban poors are still supposed to hate the urban poors right? and pretend they've got nothing in common so they don't pay attention to who it is who is actually fucking them over.
Sounds like time to head for the Buffalo Commons with a tipi, a horse, a travois, and a bloody strong bow. Screw the 21st century and the horse it rode in on…..
This is no goddamned excuse for ignoring HOA directives which, after all, protect YOUR property values!
Needz moar burning cars, like in Paris.
Hopefully the suburban poors and the urban poors will be different ethnicities so it'll make it even easier for the rich to pit them against each other.
Well of course, or "white flight" would have been pointless.
Hey Ken, this post gives me a great idea for a novel about poor suburbanites casting off modernity and banding together to become self-sufficient. I'm going to call it A Quality or State Worthy of Esteem and Respect.
Who ever isn't mad and wants to be can get there quickly by reading this. Why's Elizabeth Warren picking on those poor bankers? She's hurting their feelings!
Funny part is she became the scourge of the rentier class when she, at the time a Republican, embarked on a study to find out why all those Poors were cheating their way out of their obligations through bankruptcy, and leaned that is was uninsured illnesses, two-job-stress divorces, sudden unemployment, vicious credit agreements and other benevolences of the Riches that were causing it.
God, I love Elizabeth Warren.
Excellent article.
At a time of record corporate profits, a time when 14 million Americans are out of work, when millions have lost their homes and, according to the Census Bureau, the ranks of those living in poverty has grown to one in six—that Elizabeth Warren could be publicly kneecapped and an agency devoted to protecting American consumers could come under such intense attack is, ultimately, the story about who holds power in America today. Why is #OWS happening?
All the youngster hipsters are moving to the cities leaving their poor old parents in the burbs to fend for themselves and their bunions.
Well, I live in the suburbs and see many OWS supporters. So yes, this is true.
"To my brothers and sisters at Shadow Vista Estates…."
K-k-ken, you kii-ki-kill me. "..is on fire". You are my idol.
Did you used to be CIA?
So what happens when you move to the exurbs and then lose your job in the city…that's fucking right – you are now fucking poor and there are no jobs in your shitty little town because they're all in the city….and now you can't afford to fucking drive into the city in your fucking suburban to look for a new job…because you're poor….FUCK FUCK FUCK!
I hate when that happens.
I moved to downtown Hartford Connecticut. ("We built this city on rock and joe-mentum.") There are almost no retail stores, Lots of empty office space. Some of the unoccupied office buildings are being converted to apartments and condos. There are still government and insurance company jobs nearby, but few companies move downtown. (It's all about the parking.)
Nevertheless, the city has certain appeal for near-retirees and childless couples. Restaurants, cultural amenities, transportation, medical care, no lawn to mow. I think cities may become what the suburbs were a generation ago: bedroom communities.
If I'm right, the suburbs will become what the cities were a generation ago: abandoned, decaying and poor.
But with Walmarts, Applebee's and Costcos!
It's all about the parking.
Truer words never spoken. However, that is until *none* of us can afford to drive any longer.
"near-retirees and childless couples. "
Hey now, don't forget us lonely singles. And I've lived in the city my whole life, have never owned a car and no desire whatsoever to have one.
Typical librul media, ignoring the smoking gun :
Federal vouchers to get poor people into private housing also contributed, Ms. Kneebone said.
If we just kept those people in the hood or ghetto or barrio where they belong, we wouldn't have this problem!
All too much mention of the 19 century here…………pretty soon someone will stumble across some Golden Tablets in his backyard……………and i don't mean iPads either…..
I think Glenn Beck already pulled that gag.
Is there an App for that?
" 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…"
See when I first read this I was thinking that they meant that the poor population was the symbol of our prosperity, and if it is growing, well, great! Because, you know, more prosperity! Then I realized what it really meant… and then, depression set in.
Trickle down! Rising tide lifts all boats… Of course, if you can't afford a boat and you're just treading water as best you can, then high tide or low, you're just barely keeping your head above water…
I always hated that metaphor. It sounds more like a description of inflation to me, since high tide doesn't actually get you anywhere, and anyone with an anchor is sunk.
I have now been reading Wonkette long enough that I can tell a Ken Layne piece from the title alone. And sweet baby Jesus, I am never disappointed when I clicky that clicky. Godspeed, Ken, you are the 21st century Upton Sinclair on the same acid that Hunter S. Thompson took.
This is just proof that there are no actual poor people in America. Because not only do they have teevees and cell phones, they live in the suburbs!
This is the urban structure in most of the Third World; I just don't know how to say that in a funny way.
"In Uzbekistan, you flee poverty, death, and oppression! In America… "
The Brook, the Brook, the Brook is on fire
We can only hope. After Nixon plotted to explode it, the B. Fellows went Right, Right, Right, but the American Falange still hates them. In isolation, we call this the Liebermann Effect.
Wow, Ken, way to channel Nixon there.
Bah, humbug!
–Ebenezer Koch
If you please, Mr. Koch, it's gotten colder, and the bookkeeping staff would like another shovelful of coal for the fire.
Ah yes … where the deed restrictions are the only law of the land.
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