Big cities are dying. This should shock you.

[Industrial Toys]

Just look at consumer debt levels. Everyone wants everything now, and that can't be helping their long term prospects. We had one b&w tv (that we had for decades), one telephone and one radio in the house. I was just watching something on the cheapest Billionaires. Many of the Richest men fly coach, and Warren Buffet buys modest hail damaged cars! lol

 

[ultrarunner]

Just look at consumer debt levels. Everyone wants everything now, and that can't be helping their long term prospects. We had one b&w tv (that we had for decades), one telephone and one radio in the house. I was just watching something on the cheapest Billionaires. Many of the Richest men fly coach, and Warren Buffet buys modest hail damaged cars! lol

You can live quite well today with cast-offs...

There is recent story about this in San Francisco...

In San Francisco, Making a Living From Your Billionaire Neighbor’s Trash - The New York Times | Global News Archive

As a property manager for decades I see what people toss out and leave behind... low income to high income... I have been given cars that needed nothing more than air in the tires and a jump... all those shiny new Christmas Presents fill the dumpsters by Easter...

I'm always finding kids bikes at the dumpsters... when I ask the response is generally indifference... like it is broken or my child doesn't want it anymore... a broken bike could mean the tires need air!

Never before have there been such an abundance of material possessions… so much so that value suffers... toys, furniture, electronics, clothes, etc...

What I am about to say my surprise some...

A big problem here and for the city is electrical tampering... businesses, to city street lights having the Junction Boxes opened leaving live wires dangling...

The reason is the Homeless have smart phones but no way to charge them unless they get creative... so they use jumpers on live circuits to charge their electronic devices...

Only in America... homeless and living on the street with a smart phone and internet/entertainment but having to steal electricity to keep the batteries charged.

 

[goeduck]

Heck the druggies in these encampments live every day with cast offs.... out of garbage cans. I have seen them with generators and wood stoves.

 

[goeduck]

Now we have Medieval diseases in these camps.

Typhus and Tuberculosis Are Spreading in Homeless Populations - The Atlantic

 

[aczlan]

There is virtually no more ascending from the lower ranks, from my observations. I have had customers a long time, and seen very good employees set up for dismissal, in very ugly ways, because these individuals are making too much money for their position and they won't be promoted to management.

IMO many companies have no concept of loyalty to their employees and have no idea how much losing good employees hurts them with their customers.

You used to be able to be a moderately sucessfull blue collar employee, have the wife stay home, and afford a modest home, two cars and a cottage. You tell me, that's even remotely possible anymore.

How much of that is wages being stagnant and how much of that is the cost of things skyrocketing (ie: look at the cost of a truck now vs even 15 years ago)?
With the right company, it is still possible. Sadly, they are few and far between.

Also, I believe, companies don't want great employees. They want ones that are just good enough that can be readily replaced by others, just good enough. And these employees are going nowhere in the company. They might even be salaried, made into some "manager" at less pay and longer hours than what they were making if they are dumb enough.

Sadly true at many companies and the employees need to realize when that is the case and move to another company to get a bump in pay, or move up the ladder as there is no way that they will get it where they are at.
I did that a few years back and have been very happy with the company I landed a job with.

Aaron Z

 

[aczlan]

You can live quite well today with cast-offs...

There is recent story about this in San Francisco...

In San Francisco, Making a Living From Your Billionaire Neighbor’s Trash - The New York Times | Global News Archive

As a property manager for decades I see what people toss out and leave behind... low income to high income... I have been given cars that needed nothing more than air in the tires and a jump... all those shiny new Christmas Presents fill the dumpsters by Easter...

I'm always finding kids bikes at the dumpsters... when I ask the response is generally indifference... like it is broken or my child doesn't want it anymore... a broken bike could mean the tires need air!

Never before have there been such an abundance of material possessions… so much so that value suffers... toys, furniture, electronics, clothes, etc...

There is that too, when you buy a new TV, game console, etc, etc, etc and have 5 working TVs in the house, all bought on credit cards with payments at 15-20% interest, that burns through a lot of your buying power in a hurry.

What I am about to say my surprise some...

A big problem here and for the city is electrical tampering... businesses, to city street lights having the Junction Boxes opened leaving live wires dangling...

The reason is the Homeless have smart phones but no way to charge them unless they get creative... so they use jumpers on live circuits to charge their electronic devices...

Only in America... homeless and living on the street with a smart phone and internet/entertainment but having to steal electricity to keep the batteries charged.

As you said, "only in America"

Aaron Z

 

[lilranch2001]

I feel sorry for you guys negative attitudes.....

 

[Steppenwolfe]

I feel sorry for you guys negative attitudes.....

I don't think these are attitudes as much as they are perception. Look around... it isn't that great right now for feeling good about where you may be in life. Me, I'm light years past where I ever thought I would be and love my life, but... I try not to get riled up by the evening news.

 

[ultrarunner]

I feel sorry for you guys negative attitudes.....

It is just the times and seeing first hand the decline...

Gets old having to scrape poop from doorways and washing down the area with bleach at 4:30 am so the area is presentable by 6 am opening... I have been here since 1991 and this only started a couple of years ago... It would be different if someone that had to go went behind a tree or deep in the landscaped areas... but the main door to out patient surgery division???

 

[goeduck]

But the law enforcement officers have to be able to enforce the law. In the Seattle documentary the cops quit because they were NOT allowed to enforce laws that are on the books.

It cannot be legal for someone to crap in a hospital doorway or drain their oil in a parking lot, but cops are told not to enforce laws by elected officials who obstruct the law... how did it get this way?