Dave, the way I see it there is no balance in anything anymore. I was satisfied when I lived in a neighborhood where everyone knew each other. If there was a death all of the people would bring food so the grieving family would not have to be cook so they could plan a funeral. Most people had a good relationship with the local gas station owner, and would support it. The reason people fled to the suburbs was pretty simple it was because of crime. First hand knowledge, I knew women were getting raped at our local supper market a few blocks from our house. As the old folks moved out new people moved in, parties would go on and the people would park in front of your driveway. My wife would say you better tell them to move their cars, my response was I’m not crazy! The guy that lived next door to me got shot and killed over a kids bicycle. My daughter was 3 years old and had asthma really bad, sometime in the middle of the night we would have to rush her to the hospital, the houses were so close if your driveway was blocked you didn’t have room to get out. In the 70’s people didn’t call an ambulance as they do today, and we didn’t have 911. We had a Mayor that made a new rule you could not have a for sale sign in your yard so you didn’t know what house was for sale until it was sold, and the u-haul was at the door moving the old out, and the new in. I feel like people have the right to live where ever they can afford but when it’s unsafe I’m not staying plain and simple.
I worked in mills that had toxins and if you choose to get paid you worked around the toxins. I worked in steel rolling mills, and when something would break, I, and others would have to fix the broken part so they could keep rolling beams, or channel. At times the only way to keep from burning up was to wrap a blanket around your self and it just happen to be asbestos.
The refineries, I worked there also, within a certain distance around the refineries there were people dying of cancer from the toxins. I believe it is North, Carolina a guy is ruining the country because of all of the hog farms he has. You can do a search and see what’s happing to that area. When people go out to eat ribs, they don’t care where they come from just how good they taste.
Chicken farms are the same way can’t just raise chickens for the area the people live in, they have to have chickens for the World but they are raised in some ones back yard, it’s always ok if it’s not our back yard.
You don’t have too many local farmer’s anymore you have one owner that has many, many farms.
A few people want to have more, and more never satisfied, how much money would it take to make a person happy, you can’t get enough.
As long as it’s not affecting a single person they pay no attention to the situation but when it does then they have a voice.
We still have a choice in this Country and my choice was to get out of the neighborhood that was being overtaken from crime. Most people do not have that choice or the means to get out and I feel sorry for them because most are decent people.
We could go on and on but the whole thing boils down to not having any balance.
Put the mills, and refineries in an area where people do not have to die from the poison being dumped.
Have smaller hog farms over a larger area.
Try to tell people they do not need a billion dollars to be happy.
Life was simple when we were just trying to keep up with Jones, now we want to be like the Hiltons.
In the 70’s, they said the same thing about being less dependent on foreign oil car pool drive less. Drive 55 turn down the thermostat to 68 degrees. People did that until it looked like things were ok again, then we went back too big cars using more oil. So the rich will get richer when they acquire all of the things the poor people can no longer pay for. I was afraid when the gas crunch hit back in the 70’s I had a 61 Corvette two 40 Fords, a 39 Ford, 55 Chevy plus the daily driver a new 72 Camaro. I thought these cars would really go down in value but I was wrong. The old cars I believe will always be worth money but fewer people will have them because we are in for some tough times ahead. I still say I feel sorry for the young people coming up today like my grandkids.
Richard