Sorry State of Our Economy

Just left the Philadelphia area the other day and feel the need to comment on the neighborhood I visited. An urbanized industrial area called Chester along the Delaware River just south and west of downtown Philly. I delivered to a large, national manufacturer of consumer goods with a factory right on the river. It was a large facility with multiple properties and was a damn obstacle course to drive through, a fact attested to by a bit of graffiti left on a sign in the drop yard. It was poorly maintained and dirty.
The area itself was interesting to say the least. Lone houses standing on a small block where every other structure had been torn down. What appeared to be abandoned houses, some boarded up and some with gaping holes due to missing doors and windows, side-by-side with tidy homes and some others that were still lived-in but should be torn down. There were businesses mixed with the houses, some open but many closed. There were shuttered industrial buildings, some vacant lots and some brand-new construction.

What was the brand-new stuff you ask? A huge Harrah's Casino on the river bank and a prison. Really? This is the new growth moving in to replace our rotting industrial base? One to take your hard-earned money via what's called "entertainment" and the other to lock up more and more of our population who do not conform to our societies rules. Granted, there are a number of incorrigible and dangerous individuals that need to be removed from our communities but many are repeat offenders of petty crime and drug users that should not be warehoused at a huge cost to our society. I don't see either of these "industries" providing anywhere near the number of jobs that manufacturing provided.

I was amazed as I entered this area at 11pm on the Wednesday before New Years Eve, at the sheer volume of cars pouring into the casino with people apparently willing to shell out their cash on the hopes of a big win. The odds were not in their favor and never will be. Let's hope that we can do better for ourselves and this country.