My City of Ruins

[Hannah Bell]

When Reagan came to office in 1980, one of the first things his administration did was contract the money supply to engineer a hard recession.

The stated reason was "fight inflation."

The subtext was "push down labor."

It turned out to be the most serious economic downturn since the Depression. It shut down unionized mills in my hometown & destroyed our small business district.

Neither has ever come back. Nearly 30 years labor, our downtown is still boarded up storefronts & a succession of under-capitalized "Julie's House of Hair" ventures that come & go.

This is what happens when the money pulls out: st louis



detroit




Now the sweet veils of mercy
Drift through the evening trees
Young men on the corner
Like scattered leaves
The boarded up windows
The hustlers and thieves
While my brother's down on his knees

My city of ruins
My city of ruins


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ck3wa-VlsZM


In the game of global churn, big players make money by pulling money from one "investment" to pump another. Then they buy up the old assets - land & resources in particular - for future re-churn.

Meanwhile, the population loses - jobs, land, skills, assets.

[latebloomer]

1. Another song, from the Reagan era, by Bruce

I was eight years old and running with a dime in my hand
Into the bus stop to pick up a paper for my old man
I'd sit on his lap in that big old buick and steer as we drove through town
He'd tousle my hair and say son take a good look around
This is your hometown, this is your hometown
This is your hometown, this is your hometown

In `65 tension was running high at my high school
There was a lot of fights between the black and white
There was nothing you could do
Two cars at a light on a saturday night in the back seat there was a gun
Words were passed in a shotgun blast
Troubled times had come to my hometown
My hometown, my hometown, my hometown

Now main street's whitewashed windows and vacant stores
Seems like there ain't nobody wants to come down here no more
They're closing down the textile mill across the railroad tracks
Foreman says these jobs are going boys and they ain't coming back to
Your hometown, your hometown, your hometown, your hometown

Last night me and kate we laid in bed talking about getting out
Packing up our bags maybe heading south
I'm thirty-five we got a boy of our own now
Last night I sat him up behind the wheel and said son take a good
Look around
This is your hometown

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIqYn_1IdZU

[Xipe Totec]

2. You just reminded me of the fall of Tenochtitlán

The Fall of Tenochtitlán:

Broken spears lie in the roads;
We have torn our hair in our grief
The houses are roofless now, and their walls
Are red with blood.

Worms are swarming in the streets and plazas,
And the walks are spattered with gore
The water has turned red, as if it were dyed
And when we drink it,
It has the taste of brine

We have pounded our hands in despair
Against the adobe walls,
For our inheritance, our city, is lost and dead
The shields of our warriors were its defense.
But they could not save it.

We have chewed dry twigs and salt grasses:
We have filled our mouths with dust and bits of adobe.
We have eaten lizards, rats and worms
When we had meat, we ate it almost raw.

- Cantares Mexicanos
The National Library of Mexico,
circa 1523

[latebloomer]

3. "Allentown" another Reagan era song of hard times

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K62DdoFoNeg

Well we're living here in Allentown
And they're closing all the factories down
Out in Bethlehem they're killing time
Filling out forms
Standing in line
Well our fathers fought the Second World War
Spent their weekends on the Jersey Shore
Met our mothers in the USO
Asked them to dance
Danced with them slow
And we're living here in Allentown
But the restlessness was handed down
And it's getting very hard to stay
Well we're waiting here in Allentown
For the Pennsylvania we never found
For the promises our teachers gave
If we worked hard
If we behaved
So the graduations hang on the wall
But they never really helped us at all
No they never taught us what was real
Iron and coke
And chromium steel
And we're waiting here in Allentown
But they've taken all the coal from the ground
And the union people crawled away
Every child had a pretty good shot
To get at least as far as their old man got
But something happened on the way to that place
They threw an American flag in our face
Well I'm living here in Allentown
And it's hard to keep a good man down
But I won't be getting up today
And it's getting very hard to stay
And we're living here in Allentown