Back in the 60’s and ‘70’s we called that “blockbusting”.
But is is all part of a plan. It is of a piece with the outrageous energy prices that Energy Secretary Chu talked about early in the administration. They plan to make it impossible for people to live in a nice quiet suburb and commute to a job. They MUST force everyone back into the cities where the combination of social dysfunction, and corrupt and incompetent government has forced every productive person and enterprise out. It is the UN Agenda 21.
Also, it represents the death of the corporate career employment model. Hardly anyone starts in the mill at 18 anymore and works 45 years to collect a gold watch and a pension. (That’s for government workers.) Companies today look at workers as ‘human capital’ - they have no loyalty to the employees, who are fired at will and in mass numbers to meet narrow short-term financial targets. In return they get none back. Entire career fields and occupations rise and die in a matter of a few years (Look at IT). People continually have to re-invent themselves and move to where the jobs and opportunities are. We’ve become 21st century nomads. Being tied to a mortgage and property isn’t workable in this environment.
Finally, it is also the death of the nuclear family. Almost half of all births are now outside of wedlock. That is the number one guarantor of poverty and dependence. Government subsidizes it to the tune of hundreds of billions each year. For the most part, you can’t own a home and get the full boat welfare package, which I’ve heard calculated at about $60,000 a year. Four bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths and a nice yard are for dad, mom and 2.8 kids. that model of the family is just about dead for half of the population.
You are quite correct on all points. What makes this so difficult for so many to understand is that it is such a long term view, even for the Liberal Elite Social Engineer Planning types. Let me offer you a perspective on that.
The goal is to force the population back into the cities, for a myriad of reasons, (and yes, it is spelled out in Agenda 21 as “Sustainable Development”).
In order to do that, they’ve had to “empty” the cities because for the most part, the cities contain and are immediately surrounded by sub-standard low rise single family homes and old style, Section 8 Housing projects. The cities have to be emptied to give way to re-development. So, they build Section 8 thoughout the Burbs, evict the Section 8 types and literally bus them to the new housing in the Burbs. Once the cities are emptied, they begin the process of re-devloping the cities with 1) new Section 8 high rise apartments and 2) Private Developer built Lofts/Townhouse/High Rise apts. to attract the childless hipster young professionals and the city loving retirees.
At the same time, the Suburbs and their school districts are literally destroyed, rendering them uninhabitable by anyone with a job/family/children. And.....the topper on this is that they force the price of gas sky high so the people with jobs in the cities are forced to surrender the Suburban lifestyle and move into Apts./Townhouse/Loft living in the cities.
Its a beautiful plan, (in their eyes) except for one, small, nagging detail. The employers are leaving the cities for a myriad of reasons, but primarily 1) to avoid sky high taxes and 2) to locate “between” Urban areas near Rail Lines/Interstate Highways. Illinois is the prime example of this. They do that for 2 reasons: 1) by locating away from the urban areas, they can attract bright, young, family minded types who can go to good schools and 2) Rail access is becoming increasingly important as fuel prices go to high.
The end result: Chicago and in the extreme example, Portland.