Monday, March 17, 2008

Return of Hooverville



What if there was a Depression and Nobody Told?

Tent Cities - 21st Century Hoovervilles - springing up outside Los Angeles to no media notice.

I live there, and the first I hear about is on the BBC?

Good thing we have Consolidated Media, Inc. running the show...
lying and obfuscation are much more efficient now.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

The reason you didn't see it in the local media is because the story is bunk. This is from Camp Hope in Ontario, California. THe camp has been there since last summer to accomodate the population of homeless that has been growing in the area for the last five years. It's a homeless shelter- albeit one that's outside. Very few of the people there are subprime victims. According to the latest survey in the camp, 26% were mentally ill. You can read about it here: http://www.pe.com/localnews/redlands/stories/PE_News_Local_D_tentcity28.2915a96.html

The BBC went out of their way to make it look like everyone there is a subprime victim. It makes for a sexy story. But it's not true. Again- don't trust the media. Even BBC.

Anonymous said...

If this is "a contemporary Hooverville", shouldn't it be called "Bushville" or, to avoid ambiguity, "Dubyaville"?

Anonymous said...

"According to the latest survey in the camp, 26% were mentally ill."

You have the impoverished and the nut-jobs living in camps? Eww, that's not very charitable for a christian nation!

Perhaps they should be offered shelter and succour in the houses of the uber-rich evangelists and the homes of their god-fearing congregations.

If every USANian christian practised charity the world would be a kinder, more caring place.

Perhaps it's time to start beating a few of the swords into plough-shares.

On the other hand, the tent-dwellers could simply be armed and sent off to take a few pot-shots at ragheads, allies, and anything else that moves, in those places with funny names that have sand and oil.

Primadonna said...

Homelessness is the reason why these people end up in this camp ... regardless of the circumstances that led them there - illness and medical bills, loss of job and inability to get another one, ...

This plight is growing and this is America ... what was once a land of opportunity and goodness, compassion and kindness towards one another. Now it seems the opportunists' have captured our hearts as well and we've become a land of people who care about one for one. Haliburton is moving to Dubai, and so is it's CEO ... what do they know about staying here that we don't???

Anonymous said...

This is horrible reporting by The BBC. Are there homeless people living outside of Ontario? Yes. Is it sad? Totally. Is it related to the subprime loan debacle? Not even close.

Watch the piece. Out of 400 people in the camp, the BBC finds ONE GUY who can actually point to a house he lost to foreclosure.

And to you Subliterate... you wanna see Hooverville? Drive five minutes to downtown LA. Stay overnight in The Midnight Mission or check out the Weingart Center.

There is a crisis going on certainly, but eating up some poorly reported crap and calling it a "Return to Hooverville" just makes you look dumb.

Luke Burbank
Seattle

dwiff said...

before anymore "nothing to see here; damn lying ferrin media" knees jerk up, you might want to check out http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7297093.stm

before you continue to attack bbc.

secondly, "tent city": nary a ripple, "Hooverville" : unleash the hounds. I had no idea us Merikans were so nostalgia bound.

c: special to Luke: you think i care if i look dumb? have you checked out this blog?

Anonymous said...

well, maybe if you start reading the local paper...
From 6 weeks ago:
Ontario opens arms to homeless
Doesn't mention the foreclosure stuff, but the BBC were playing that up quite a bit for a clear minority of the camp dwellers. "It could happen because we found one or 2 people for which it happened to them! scary scary!"

Anonymous said...

Hey, man, where's my goddamn Lovecraft story?

Sincerely,

Luke Burbank, Jr.
Hooverville, USA

Anonymous said...

Anonymous sez:

"population of homeless that has been growing in the area for the last five years. It's a homeless shelter- albeit one that's outside. Very few of the people there are subprime victims..."


And the fact that the homeless population has grown SO MUCH over the last % YEARS doesn't tell you something about republican leadership? Afte rall, it IS the republicans who gave away the store to the subprime mortgage bands, to the tune of another $5 Billion as of last week