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Complete-Ad9574 t1_j6cn3i7 wrote

The local news makes a profit off of keeping the suburbanites in a constant state of fear. American cities have always had a crime problem, so did Rome. It is hard to know how to give a picture of life in the city as it differs from neighborhood to neighborhood. People think the loss of population is all due to crime. Much actually has to do with a government which is not able to improve basic city services or control outside entities which own most of the decayed property. Many of these owners are living in the nearby leafy suburbs, and own decayed property for money laundering or as slumlords. We do have an underclass which is more like the few kids in a classroom who are able to derail the teacher. It only takes a few to do disrupt. If you travel through the wealth belt of Roland Park, Bolton Hill, Guilford, or Homeland, you will not see bars on the mansions. I take this as a sign that the problems tend to be in the underclass neighborhoods and between segments of the poor who are having turf wars. The ills of Baltimore can be traced back to the post WWII actions by the federal and state government which ghettoized the poor blacks of the country's cities. Their actions were to use federal money to build the suburbs, using city infrastructure, like sewer, water, electricity, and not allow federal dollars to be used to rebuild the cities which had suffered 20 years of decay during the depression and war.

If you were to locate in Federal Hill, South Baltimore, or Ridgley's Delight, you would be near I-95 and have access to I-97

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Frofro69 t1_j6cvsd6 wrote

Not just poor blacks, the effects of discriminatory practices affected poor whites (just look at Curtis Bay, Brooklyn and pre-gentrified Locust Point and Fed Hill) and any non-white group. Redlining, Blockbusting, Steering destroyed the American dream for so many families.

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sxswnxnw t1_j6cyxfv wrote

Yes. The hate you give little infants fucks everybody, truly.

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YouAreADadJoke t1_j6da72i wrote

Do you think that poor economic outcomes are exclusively due to external forces like you mentioned?

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Frofro69 t1_j6did8h wrote

Not 100%, but they definitely didn't help marginalized groups. Poverty is a monster that devours and destroys whatever it touches and it can be caused by poor personal decisions. However, the moves from the post WWII housing lenders and government of the time manufactured much of the poverty that affects the cities in America. Baltimore just looks harder hit because of the city's racial makeup. The practices I mentioned (redlining, blockbusting, etc) were designed to primarily target blacks. In a majority black city, the effect is seen in greater detail and in a wider span.

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S-Kunst t1_j6efzs4 wrote

No. I now work in an industrial manufacturing company, in the county, with mostly white working class men. Most of them live dysfunctional lives and have the same bad habits as the media often place on poor blacks. Mostly its having children they can't afford and having bad relationships with the family. Yet, they have had an easier time of getting bill paying jobs, and have gained a foot hold home owning and many middle class life styles. Yet they are angry, bitter and very short tempered people. The older ones have much to show for their hard work, but the young ones step into bad habits, the same as their parents.

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YouAreADadJoke t1_j6ejvck wrote

> Yet, they have had an easier time of getting bill paying jobs, and have gained a foot hold home owning and many middle class life styles.

What makes you think this?

So your opinion is that they would be more successful without the cultural/behavioral/genetic factors that cause the dysfunction?

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