Bushistans

Remember the Hoovervilles from history class?

Check out their modern equivalent:



How about we call these Bushistans? Or perhaps Greenspanistans? Since he appears to have allowed the housing bubble to reach its manic pitch.

And please explain why this isn't all over the American media? Are they too busy trailing Brittany around, or is it Hillary? I forget.

While we're on the subject, here another grim prediction from the San Francisco Chronicle

Is Suburbia Turning Into Slumburbia?

...But mostly Leinberger is predicting the future rather than describing the present, arguing that the pendulum has swung too far toward isolated, car-dependent single-family-home neighborhoods to be sustainable. (In his description of the city, he's not including older inner suburbs like Berkeley or Palo Alto that have walkable urban neighborhoods and public transit; he's talking about the hillsides of homes detached from urbanized towns.) Now with high gas prices, long commutes, a bad job market and a new attraction to walkable urban living, it's just a matter of time before suburban fringes begin to absorb the people that can't make it in the city.

and she goes on to say...

In Europe, where the cities never died, the suburbs have long been the homes of last resort for the poor and the marginalized. Just last week, French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced yet another plan to revive the suburban slums that erupted in riots in 2005 — the 16th such proposal in 31 years.

Florida and Leinberger say that retooling the suburbs is going to make urban renewal look like a walk in the park.

"Suburb development is really fragile," Leinberger explains. "It's going to be very complex to rebuild."