Comments on: Thank the Government for the Ghetto

By: Hookman

Hookman — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 13:20:36 +0000

Ohhhhh Mr. Gibson

You’ve become a moron magnet now, LOL!
I have no complaints, keep up the good work

By: Gary Gibson

Gary Gibson — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 20:08:07 +0000

Hello Jocelyne,

I meant liberal. How “moral” a person is remains their own business…as long as they do not attempt to harm or control my person or property, I couldn’t give a fig what they do in private…and I expect the same consideration.

I’m a pure Austrian, anarchist and capitalist…a true conservative in the sense that I believe government should be limited to absolute nothingness.

I hope we can still be friends.

And check out Wilton D. Alston!

By: jocelyne

jocelyne — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 15:37:52 +0000

It’s nice to meet another black Austrian! Good article, Gary. Don’t mind that Bill idiot. You could have pointed out to him that black voters squashed the proposed California gay marriage deal in November, while the white voters sat on the fence, or would that be pouring oil on the fire? I do have one complaint about your comment to Bill, though. You said, “The postwar black ghettos are the result of liberal government’s attempt to bailout the black race.” I object to the use of the word “liberal” when (I hope) you really mean “libertine”. May I recommend the following 3 Wiki discussions on these topics?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_liberalism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_liberalism

Enjoy!

By: Gary Gibson

Gary Gibson — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 16:10:42 +0000

You’re right. It’s those dang-blasted negroes. Animals, all of ‘em. Nothing at all to do with the government handouts weakening the race. The race itself is deeply flawed. Oughta exterminate ‘em. Lemme know when you’re ready to start the killin’!

Note to morons:

The postwar black ghettos are the result of liberal government’s attempt to bailout the black race. It ended up destroying the American city. It’s the same manner in which Prohibition resulted in organized crime; it’s not that Italians are naturally prone to criminal empire.

By: Bill

Bill — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 10:19:13 +0000

Why do you blame the government for what the blacks do?

The ghettoes are predominantly black, so that proves that it is black-based NOT government based.

By: Matt Hyland

Matt Hyland — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 02:24:20 +0000

Ken – what do you know of any of this – when the government got involved in urban renewal back in the early – mid 60’s, it became the kiss of death for the inner cities. Johnson’s “War Against Poverty” turned out to be a war against the middle classes who dwelled within the cities, and a free lunch for any woman who spread her legs and gave birth to more and more welfare babies with no chance of a real life off the mean streets. She got a fat check every month for all the “children” she was bringing into the world; never mind that the children would become the future stalkers and criminals of the rest of society, to fill our prisons and create a further burden on the system.
It’s the same today. Maybe worse.
I had to apply for social security disability income in February of this year as a result of 7 strokes that were misdiagnosed as sinusitis by our wonderful healthcare system ( and our premiums were $1,400.00/ month! – for the last 17 years).
When the big one hit 12 months ago, my working life was over at age 59. I wasn’t happy about that at all, but even walking was not easy anymore, and I had to learn how to speak again as well.
The scene at the local social security office was a wake up call to me that we are basically F___ed! Out of the 150 – 200 people in there, I was the only white person there, I was almost the oldest one there, and the dark side has got the system in a lock. Most of the people in there weren’t older than 30, all black or hispanic, and trailing kids or juvenile deliquents to be by the carload, all talking on the latest and best cell phones, listening to brand new I-pods, and waiting for a check. And they were all driving better vehicles than I’ve got, to boot – every one of them.
Since it was 11 am, I assumed they didn’t have a job, because they were all to hyper to have worked the night shift.
I made 3 different visits to that SS office on 3 different occasions – it was the same every time.
We’re screwed.
It is not the function of government to set up and run these programs that can’t be run by such an inefficient, top heavy organization, full of palms to be stuffed and Washington lobbyists. Social security used to be solvent, until Congress found that pool of money and decided it would be better if it were put into the “general fund” back in the ’70’s, to help pay for the debacle of the Viet Nam War, of which I was a part for 13 months from ‘68 – ‘69.
At least John Harvey got a job and worked back then, even if it was for a corrupt government; because that’s what was going on back then – you do it our way or the highway. Or you starve.
What would be your choice?
And what is so different today?
Which is exactly what VP Cheney has done to Bush’s administration – destroyed it through subterfuge, lies, abductions, and crimes that should be prosecuted in the Hague, except they all gave themselves a get out of jail card in March of this year. This administration has 1 huge criminal in it – Cheney – and quite a few minor one who have caused the rest of the world to HATE this great country. I pity Bush his ignorance and trust in such an evil person, a backroom backstabber from way back.
That is very sad, and will take a long time to resolve.
We should have thrown them all out back then. That was sheer complete fiscal irresponsibility, but the sheep in this country trusted the crap they were hearing on the only sources they had, which were being fed by Washington.

By: Kenneth Benton

Kenneth Benton — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 21:24:39 +0000

John Harvey, you too are a criminal and responsible for this mess. NO INTEGRITY

By: John Harvey

John Harvey — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 23:23:55 +0000

I grew up living IN the City of Detroit. Our lot was about 40 x 100. With a house and a garage, and a driveway, and the sidewalk and required setback, there was not room for a garden. I returned to Detroit after I got out of the Navy. Since GM was on strike, I was unable to return to my old job within the required time after discharge. I had several “jobs”, one of which was doing repairs to houses sold under the FHA 235 program–$99 down, and $99 a month, and the realtor was not qbove advancein the $99 down. All you needed was a regular income–read welfare check, to qualify. I credit that program with the destruction of our cities. My employer was a block buster–he’d start at one end of the block, and pay a fairly reasonable price, then proceed down the block yelling at the top of his lungs that the Blacks were coming, and you needed to sell before the price dropped any more. The last half of the block, he’d pay between 10% and 20% of the first one. Since he only recorded the first one, he was able to get his subsequent sales to appraise for what that first one went for. Since he was a licensed broker, what he did was legal, just unethical. The FHA appraisers were a bunch of crooks. We knew what had to be done, so we’d fix the broken windows, make sure the lights all worked, patch leaky plumbing, and give it a one coat paint job. We even had some stuff to coat the roof so it looked pretty good, too. One of my jobs was to meet the appraiser and tour the house with him. Since we knew the guys, we knew what brand he drank, and would have a case of it in the trunk. We always passed, and got our appraisal for what we wanted.
We even ended up beiong sort of a guarrantee service for a while. I asked one woman why she had a pile of cash in a drawer. She told me it was rent money, but the landlord never came to collect it so she just kept it because she knew she’d need to pay her rent one day. She was shocked to learn that she was the landlord, and she was supposed to mail it in to the bank every month. I guess she made it right with the lender, because she was the last house on the block that the lights were still on. The government was so incompetent that the people could live there for a couple years without ever making a payment, then it would take 2 years before the government got around to trying to fix the place up to sell again.
For the past 35 years I have lived in the county. I get most of my vegetables from my garden. I have a couple animals that mow the grass, and fertilize it at the same time. Annually, one of them goes into the freezer. I can take a deer if I want one, I can take wild turkeies and other game. You think I really should move back into the city? Down town takes about 15 minutes to get there from here.

By: Brian Weerts

Brian Weerts — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 22:23:12 +0000

Gary,
Thank you for this excellent article. In response I must ask;
When you understand the federal government’s involvement in this problem and others such as Amtrak which Pete McCue mentioned , how can any sane person believe that government involvement in anything not specifically mentioned in the Constitution, can result in any efficient or truly beneficial program in the long term?

When decisions are made by very large committees, whose members are dependent on staying in power by pleasing their constituents and most of whom would rather stay in power because of power itself, how can any degree of excellence be achieved? How can true efficiency be expected? Entrepreneurs have been the backbone of our culture, because they have been willing to make decisions that they can be held accountable to. They rise or fall on the wisdom of their decisions. Government cannot ever do the same! When is the last time you heard a congress person saying “Well I was wrong in my vote, it was a bad idea!”

The government’s best involvement in our lives is ensuring that the real freedoms enshrined in the Constitution, freedom to worship; freedom of peaceful assembly; freedom of speech; and freedom of the press, continue!

A negative case in point. We as a country pour more and more money into education, but as of 2003 our eighth graders ranked 9th behind the Netherlands in science and 15th in math according to the TIMSS 2003 study. Furthermore, the education system hardly bothers to teach critical thought, instead focusing on instilling particular viewpoints. Whether it is urban development, education, health care, Amtrak or anything else when the government gets involved there is a decline.

The centers of the cities are seeing a renaissance because individuals and companies see merit in buying properties. If government stays out of it there will be prosperity.

The problem is they won’t stay out if there are more votes to hinder it than there are to encourage it.

Thanks
Brian Weerts

By: Peter McCue

Peter McCue — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 20:05:10 +0000

Gary,

I agree that once again we’ve abdicated our responsibilities to “government” and government has failed. What began as “assistance” (help or charity might also be substituted) has become a way of life and a sole means of support.

As our economy has been changing since the post WWII days from a manufacturing base to our current service/knowledge base, so have the availability of jobs and the “freedoms” to get to and from those jobs. Yes, government building of roads catered to our increasing love of the automobile. The automobile also spelled the demise of public transportation as a realistic and useful means of transportation. The more we insisted on our “independence” and driving where and when we wanted to go, the less we used public transportation until it became too costly for the cities to maintain and continue it. The railroads realized the changing trends and began to emphasize freight traffic until they had all but killed passenger trains.

Amtrak has been a dismal failure simply because the dolts we’ve elected are too greedy and readily accept the largess of lobbyists for other means of transportation. However, the statistics for Amtrak ridership over the last few years are a challenge for even the greediest in Congress to continue denying adequate funding to upgrade and expand the system.

The social experiment of the 60’s and 70’s left the inner cities wide open to increases in crime. This isn’t any different in Baltimore than it is in any other major city. I was in Panama in May and saw the same thing. We were warned that if we went a few blocks in the old section of town, we should travel in a group and take a cab. Panama City isn’t much different from London, Paris, Zurich, or a multitude of other major cities. There are sections of any large city in which you just don’t go meandering around at night by yourself.

Here in the U.S. we’ve abandoned most of the factories, breweries, small stores and restaurants in favor of the malls, super stores, and niche “hot spots”. This left a decaying and abandoned downtown area inviting crime. Those not economically able to move were forced to endure it. I don’t believe they were ever given an honest chance to improve their lot in life or the protections they deserved to combat the increasing crime. Then we added the social changes, partly at least helped by the government, that contributed to the breakdown of the family and the need for a dual income. Children growing up in a single parent home were left unsupervised for periods of time thanks to the necessity of the parent to work. We took God out of our schools and prohibited our teachers from disciplining students. Without the proper moral guidance and a positive reinforcement of values we have only encouraged our young to do as they pleased without fear of punishment.

Having a society bent on instant gratification, lacking respect for authority, with no fear of possible punishment is a losing combination in any environment, especially one with little wholesum entertainment and uacceptable living “standards” (conditions). A return to the inner cities will only occur after they have been made safe for all citizens.

Thanks for listening. I regret any typos as my keyboard needs servicing.

Pete McCue