HOW
IS ECONOMIC INJUSTICE EXPRESSED AND EXPERIENCED LOCALLY,
NATIONALLY, GLOBALLY?
CONSIDER
A CASE ...
(From
The New York Times, Aug. 9, 2001)
RICH
STATES, POOR CITIES AND MIGHTY SUBURBS
BY
DAVID M. HERSZENHORN
NEWARK,
Aug. 17 - On South Orange Avenue - a decrepit stretch of liquor stores,
ramshackle grocery marts, and darkened bars in Newark's impoverished West
Ward - the idea that New Jersey could be the wealthiest state in the
nation seems not only far-fetched, but downright ludicrous.
The same could be said on East Main Street in Bridgeport, the largest city
in Connecticut, which, of course, is New Jersey's main rival for the
who's-richest crown. Or, for that matter, on many streets in Hartford or
Camden or New Haven or Paterson or Waterbury, poor cities all.
Nevertheless, new Census Bureau statistics show that New Jersey and
Connecticut are indeed the most prosperous states in the most prosperous
country in the world with median household incomes of about $50,000. On
South Orange Avenue today, this fact is met with disbelief and not a
little scorn.
"Ha!" said Thomas Cook, 66. "Ha, ha!" he laughed,
pausing from doing repair work at the Cozy Corner lounge. Mr. Cook said he
tried to retire in 1995 after a heart attack but could not afford to stop
working. "I've worked harder since I retired," he said. "I
intend to move out of here."
There is, it turns out, a mordent sidelight to the pageant of prosperity
that has played out recently as New Jersey and Connecticut renewed their
rivalry for the title of the nation's richest state. Along with high
income figures, the states share the pattern of enormously wealthy suburbs
and almost universally distressed cities... [For
the complete article,
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