Better Chicago than Detroit

It's happening, dear Reader: we're seeing more and more posts in the blogosphere which sound more and more like us. It seems that a --presumably -- growing number of people are coming around to something like our point of view. "What are the odds of a depression?" whines a piece from the Wall Street Journal; "How government prolonged the Depression" reports another WSJ article.

We feel nervous about all that; in order to be remotely accurate, we believe we should be saying the exact opposite as the rest of mainstream society. With all the hubbub about depressions and such, we wonder if we should be changing our tune... but we'll get back to that.

One thing we haven't seen the mainstream talking much about is the decay of the major cities of the United States. These cities were once America's leading centres of population and culture... now they tend to be more husk-like than anything. This is a significant trend in the United States, which we feel accurately reflects the decay in the quality of living conditions in this country. It's probably not changing anytime soon.

President Obama promised the Citizenry change, and change, of a sort, he will probably bring. But let us point out what he will probably do: he will do what he can to support the Chicago-isation of the United States. Let us be frank, here: Chicago is a town run for the comfort and convenience of the government workers; Mayor Richard Daley rules with an iron fist; every welfare recipient is a voter (who votes the 'right' way).

But -- and we have to grit our teeth here -- it's not that bad. We've visited Chicago, and we could live there, if we had to... and we probably wouldn't even become terribly suicidal. The way we look at it, things could be more like Detroit: no comforts and conveniences, no iron fist, no 'right way' voters. Add to that: no future. Chicago, for all its faults, is at least limping along as a city, and is a place a person could live. Detroit is a catastrophe, a city where people can't seem to leave fast enough.

To tie everything together, we still think the 2007 Depression has a long way to run. We don't expect to see a bottom anytime soon, but we are getting a pretty good idea of what it might look like: the United States will be run Chicago-style, and the Wall Street Journal will have the headline: "Will this Depression ever end?"

Obama Speaks Togetherness, Means Sovietism

"Such knee-jerk disdain for government - this constant rejection of any common endeavor - cannot rebuild our levees or our roads or our bridges... It cannot refurbish our schools or modernize our health care system; lead to the next medical discovery or yield the research and technology that will spark a clean energy economy." [source]

So said President Obama in his recent address in Springfield, Illinois. We feel unsettled about his choice -- or rather, his speechwriter's choice -- of words, equating "common endeavor" with "government." In our reading of this phrase, we take it to mean that the Federal Government will take direct control over... well, anything it wants, really.

This implies the Federal Government will be vastly increasing its presence in the economy of the United States. This is nothing new per se, of course; the growth of Government spending has been baked into the cake for the past eighty years or so. However, President Obama is a man of change; we really do believe him on that point. Unlike others, though, we do not feel his brand of change will be what the common citizen may expect.

The "change" President Obama claims to be bringing seems to not be systemic change. His "common endeavor," we feel, will probably be closer to the harsh Soviet reality than the fairytale democratic ideal. Prepare for a 'Chicago-isation' of the United States: things will be gritty, cold, and impersonal.