The return of Hoovervilles

[dcsmart]

During the Great Depression, shantytowns sprang up on the outskirts of American cities. Populated by those who had lost jobs and been turned out of their homes, these "Hoovervilles" became an indelible symbol of the human suffering wrought by the Depression. They were named in spiteful mockery of the president during the Depression's first four years, Herbert Hoover (1929-1933), who was fond of telling Americans that "prosperity is just around the corner," while offering virtually no government assistance to the unemployed and homeless.

American high school and college students learn of the Hoovervilles in their history textbooks, which treat the shantytowns as an example of American poverty vanquished by the New Deal of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, never to return.

But the Hoovervilles are back.

A front-page article in Thursday's New York Times ("Cities Deal With a Surge in Shantytowns") describes the reemergence of itinerant encampments on the American cityscape. The most widely reported of these lies near Sacramento, California. About 125 people now reside in this Hooverville, in the capital city of America's richest and most populous state.

Yet the Hooverville is far more widespread than the media attention on the tent city near Sacramento implies. It has reemerged in Phoenix, Arizona; Olympia and Seattle, Washington; Reno, Nevada; Portland, Oregon; Nashville, Tennessee; St. Petersburg, Florida; and Fresno, California; among others.

People in these encampments live in tents, or else shacks built of old wood, scrap metal, cardboard and other waste. They live without running water, electricity, plumbing, or garbage removal.
Text

FULL ARTICLE
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/mar2009/pers-m27.shtml

[phantom power]

1. Bushvilles! Georgetowns! Shruburbs!

[derby378]

4. "Shruburbs?"

I think I just felt a synapse misfire. That's absolutely beautiful.

I'm gonna go cry now.

[phantom power]

7. I think I favor Georgetowns.

Rolls off the tongue, and I bet not that many people would get who "shrub" refers to, unless they are political blog addicts.

[MADem]

9. Those are all rather clever--I especially like "Shruburbs!" nt

[derby378]

2. Tom Eley really fucked up big time

He should be calling these tent cities "Bushvilles." No sense tagging these shantytowns to Hoover's legacy - this time, it ain't his fault. It's Bush 43's fault.

[JuniperLea]

5. EXACTLY!!!

Damn straight!

[Dogmudgeon]

3. It's a BUSHVILLE

Hoover was at least a humanitarian, even if he was hopelessly attached to a dying strain of predatory capitalism. (Is there any other kind?)

Look up "Committee for the Rescue of Belgium". Do you thing Dubya would be caught dead doing anything similar?

--d!

[rurallib]

6. Story on NPR the other day about a shopping cart that converted into

a canvas tent that could at least keep a FAMILY OF FOUR dry. And hold their few belongings during the day. Good lord, what a great country.

[derby378]

8. I propose naming that shopping cart...

...a Bushebago.

[Earth Bound Misfit]

10. Bush Gardens...

:evilgrin:

[Earth Bound Misfit]

11. Redefines the term "Living in the Bushes"

:evilgrin: