The Great Relocation: Americans Are Relocating By The Millions Because They Can Feel What Is Coming
Epic Economist video – November 23, 2020
Millions of Americans are getting out of big cities in a movement that is being called by analysts as The Great Relocation. Entire families that have moved to urban areas over the past decades are now relocating to smaller, safer cities amid mounting social turbulence, another spike in confirmed viral cases, looming lockdowns, and the increasing cost of living. Many have reported to feel that harder days are coming, while others without a job and federal assistance had no choice other than leaving their homes to find more affordable housing elsewhere.
Additionally, knowing that eviction moratoriums are about to expire, over 300,000 New Yorkers have fled the Big Apple trying to avoid the rising turmoil and further economic stress, and those who have accumulated rental debt during the recession might soon be affected by a tragic homelessness crisis. In this video, we examine this disruptive phenomenon brought about by the current economic collapse.
Although over 70 million Americans have filed for unemployment benefits, the housing market is booming. However, due to a housing shortage, home prices are soaring like never before. The U.S. is facing a housing supply shortage. In some urban areas, the median cost of rental properties went up by almost 400% over the past decade. But while the average household income only rose by 64% over the past few years, home prices were up by more than 118%.
The substantial surge in housing demand and the massive migration away from metropolitan areas as a result of the economic downturn experienced this year has become a new phenomenon known as The Great Relocation. The chaotic events of 2020 have caused Americans to relocate by the millions. The trend has been particularly growing amongst families with children that are fearing for their kids’ safety, seeking better living conditions in small towns since big cities’ cost of living has becoming more and more expensive, and hoping to find a new job or, at least, affordable housing outside of urban areas.
The relocation trend was sped up considering many people moved away from virus hotspots or left cities because they lost their jobs amid the outbreak. Americans are looking for somewhere they could stretch their savings, relocating to places where the cost of living is relatively low. In New York City alone, over 300,000 former residents have permanently moved to new addresses in a continued mass exodus.
The total figure is likely much higher since the data points out that a single address change could include a multi-person household. After the widespread business shutdowns ravaged the economy of the city, the migration trend has been kicked off. And now that home office and remote schooling operations have been intensified, people are having less reason to stay in such a troubled environment.
More than half a million city residents who were employed in the retail, restaurant, services sectors have lost their jobs and cannot afford city rents. The late decision on re-opening public and private schools forced many families to relocate so they could make enrollment deadlines in districts where they were living during the outbreak.
A large share of New Yorkers simply relocated across the way to New Jersey, Long Island, and Westchester. Earlier this summer, Upper West Side residents complained about two homeless shelters that were installed in the area, affirming that an uptick in misdemeanors was registered in the region. However, as CDC’s eviction moratoriums are set to expire at the beginning of 2021, authorities have been alerting to a looming homelessness crisis.
However, it seems that class differences are just one of the polarizations generated by The Great Relocation. According to a survey, 42 percent of U.S. residents “would be hesitant to move to an area where most people have political views different from their own”. For other Americans, leaving the country entirely seems like the safest option. Immigration lawyers and expatriate organizations stated that Americans have been leaving the country or seeking foreign visas in record numbers.
Can we even blame these for wanting to leave a country whose economy only gets worse each day it passes? While some may have the opportunity to relocate to other cities and states or move to other countries, those who were left without a choice will face a much harder future. As Michael Snyder pointed out in his latest article: “the clock is ticking, and it appears that our day of reckoning is nearly here.”
For more videos visit our website: http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com
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Why Did 74 Million Americans Vote for Trump? This Sociologist Has the Answer
Arlie Hochschild spent five years interviewing tea party members in Louisiana prior to Donald Trump’s 2016 election victory, and is now hanging out with non-college-educated white guys in Appalachia. Democrats should listen to what she has to say
David B. Green | Haaretz
THERE ARE SOME WHO THINK THE ANSWER TO AMERICA’S PROBLEMS IS BUILDING WALLS. Others believe that relief will come only when people can scale the walls already dividing them. ARLIE HOCHSCHILD IS DEFINITELY IN THE LATTER CATEGORY.
After the 2016 U.S. presidential election, the Berkeley sociologist, who is now 80, became one of the go-to people for help in understanding what made people in “red” America tick. Her book “Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right”, published just before that election, was based on some five years of interviews with tea party supporters living in southwestern Louisiana.
In it, she offered insight into what would soon lead decent, intelligent people to support en masse a huckster candidate who promised to restore their country to a former greatness by way of his own version of the “Think System”.
That, you may remember, was the method of music education pioneered by Harold Hill – the title character of Meredith Willson’s “The Music Man” – who offered to teach children to use the instruments he sold them by having them simply think of the melody they wanted to play.
The morning after this month’s U.S. elections – though relieved by the apparent defeat of the incumbent president – I, like many, still found myself unsettled by the overall results.
THIS WAS NOT THE CLEAR REPUDIATION OF THE POLITICS AND POLICIES OFFERED BY THE REPUBLICANS AND THEIR LEADER THAT MANY PROFESSIONAL OBSERVERS HAD BEEN PREDICTING.
The COVID-19 death toll in America had just surpassed the quarter-million milestone, a sacrifice far out of proportion to the losses suffered in other Western countries. And now the president’s enablers appeared to be willing to accept his unsupported claim that the election had been “stolen” from him.
What is going on in the land where I grew up and which I still love? And what were the chances that the insanity might only be temporary?
HOPING FOR ENLIGHTENMENT, I PUT IN A CALL TO ARLIE RUSSELL HOCHSCHILD. For a sociologist, Hochschild – professor emeritus at U.C. Berkeley – is pretty famous. This is thanks, no doubt, to her accessible writing, much of it intended for lay audiences, but also to her focus on the everyday lives and concerns of real people.
THE GREAT PARADOX
Her 50-year career, most of it spent at Berkeley, has been characterized by a focus on the place of emotions in the way people negotiate their public lives and beliefs. In describing her attempt to infiltrate the thinking of her interviewees living in and around Lake Charles, LA, she said she tried to surmount the “empathy wall”.
Hochschild traveled back and forth between her home in the People’s Republic of Berkeley and Louisiana, in her attempt to explain what she termed THE GREAT PARADOX:
WHY WERE THE STATES WITH THE WORST STATISTICS – in terms of health, income, educational attainment, environmental pollution, divorce and teen births, to name a few categories – almost unanimously populated by voters who opposed government regulation and government assistance, and of course taxes?
IN THE CASE OF LOUISIANA, rich in natural resources but the second-poorest state in the union in terms of per capita income, there was the additional irony, she wrote, that 44 PERCENT OF THE STATE’S ANNUAL BUDGET COMES FROM THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.
One of Hochschild’s methods for scaling the empathy wall is by coming up with a “deep story”, which imagines metaphorically how her subjects perceive themselves and their situation.
THE DEEP STORY SHE IMAGINED FOR HER SUBJECTS IN LOUISIANA PICTURED THEM STANDING IN A LONG LINE MOVING SLOWLY UP A HILL, JUST OVER WHOSE BROW LIES THE AMERICAN DREAM.
THEY ARE WHITE, they are Christian and have different levels of education.
BEHIND THEM ARE MANY PEOPLE OF COLOR, “poor, young and old, mainly without college degrees.”
SUDDENLY, PEOPLE FROM THE LATTER GROUP BEGIN CUTTING TO THE FRONT OF THE LINE.
IN THE BOOK, HOCHSCHILD SAYS THE WHITE LOUISIANANS OF HER DEEP STORY ASK THEMSELVES:
“How can they just do that? Who are they? Some are black. Through affirmative action plans, pushed by the federal government, they are being given preference for places in colleges and universities, apprenticeships, jobs, welfare payments and free lunches. … Women, immigrants, refugees, public sector workers – where will it end? Your money is running through a liberal sympathy sieve you don’t control or agree with.”
[remember: “44 percent of the state’s annual budget comes from the federal government.”]
When we spoke recently, Hochschild said that her friends in Lake Charles – and many of them have indeed remained personal friends, some even having visited her and her husband, the writer-journalist Adam Hochschild, in their California home – “are continuing not to act in their self-interest, as you and I would see it.” HOCHSCHILD CALLS THIS THE GREAT PARADOX, CHAPTER II.
“On the one hand, they are denying COVID-19, like their beloved president tells them to do – and they’re dying of it. And climate too: Their beloved president is telling them to deny that.” Even though the Louisiana Gulf Coast has suffered two debilitating hurricanes this autumn, those voters “are still following the pied piper.”
“On the other hand,” she continues, “as they see it, they are acting in their own interest, as white people.” THIS IS NOT NECESSARILY A REFLECTION OF RACISM. Hochschild imagines non-college-educated, working-class white men asking themselves: “Where am I in this picture? I’m downwardly mobile. They’re automating our trucking jobs and industrial jobs, and I haven’t got the education to go into nursing,” the new female-dominated occupation.
“A lot of white guys feel stuck, and I understand it,” Hochschild says.
For his part, she observes, “Trump has been saying: ‘What good have the Democrats done for you? At least with me, you’re earning more. Because I’ve kept the immigrants out. Lowered taxes.’ I think that’s his appeal: YOU MAY NOT LOVE ME, BUT YOU’RE EARNING MORE.”
THAT’S A MESSAGE, AS WE LEARNED JUST THIS MONTH, THAT ALSO HAS APPEAL TO SOME BLACK AND LATINO VOTERS.
At the same time, Hochschild says she hasn’t seen the Democrats saying, “Yeah, I get that.” In this way, she suggests, “Democrats are missing a great opportunity to say: Look, we all have a lot in common.” HOCHSCHILD QUALIFIES THAT, SAYING THAT SHE SEES PRESIDENT-ELECT JOE BIDEN AS A POLITICIAN WHO’S QUITE ADEPT AT SCALING THE EMPATHY WALL.
As for the party of Biden, however, “they should get rid of the word ‘RACISM’. The blame-shame game is not going to unite the poor of every class,” she says. “There are some Black spokespersons that talk that line of unity. The Rev. William Barber [II] – I think he’s great in that regard.”
Though she sees and admires some Black activists – including Barber, co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival – HOCHSCHILD IS LESS ASSURED BY THE VICE PRESIDENT-ELECT.
“LISTENING TO KAMALA HARRIS’ SPEECHES AS IF I WERE A WHITE MAN, I COULDN’T HEAR MYSELF ACKNOWLEDGED,” Hochschild says. “And that is what a lot of white men are afraid of:
‘Oh man, she’s gonna go ahead with affirmative action.’ And she’s beating her chest, saying, ‘I’m the first, the first.’”
SAVIOR FIGURE
The role of evangelicals in bringing Donald Trump to power is well-documented. I ask Hochschild to explain how Trump fits into their religious vision. She believes the president “taps into a religious paradigm”, something that secular liberals just don’t see.
“Here’s my speculation: TRUMP TAPS INTO THE FIGURE OF A RESCUER.
Imagine that you’re in the back of the line, you’re stuck. Other people are getting ahead. He says: ‘I will rescue you and make you great, bring you to the front of the line.’
“And then, in another chapter to this deep story, Trump says ‘Look, I’m surrounded by many enemies, – pharisees, the mainstream press, the Democratic Party, the deep state. Everywhere you look, an enemy. And I am suffering for you.’ WHO DOES THAT SOUND LIKE?”
She continues: “I honestly think that Trump is appealing – unconsciously – to evangelicals by tapping into their understanding, their expectation – of rescue by a savior. And I think his getting COVID – this was his crucifixion.”
AND THEN HE WAS RESURRECTED.
Why Did 74 Million Americans Vote for Trump? This Sociologist Has the Answer
Arlie Hochschild spent five years interviewing tea party members in Louisiana prior to Donald Trump’s 2016 election victory, and is now hanging out with non-college-educated white guys in Appalachia. Democrats should listen to what she has to say
David B. Green | Haaretz
CONTINUED ……
“Yes, yes … I don’t know how far to carry this. But you get the sense of his capacity to tap into an unconscious premise, an unconscious paradigm. I don’t think his appeal is all race, race, race. I DO THINK THERE IS RACE THERE, however.
“People I studied felt they were losing a lot. They were losing their demographic and economic dominance, their cultural dominance. They were coming to seem like ill-educated rednecks and hillbillies, and looked down upon by coastal liberals.”
I keep hearing – both in your book and in the media generally – that very complaint from people on the right about being looked down upon, ridiculed. They have an awareness of that and, understandably, they’re angry. I wonder if you agree with me that some of the TV hosts whose shows combine news coverage with political satire – Stephen Colbert, John Oliver – only exacerbate the situation by giving people on the left an opportunity to feel smug. By cultivating a sense of disdain.
“That’s right, that’s right. And the people I’m talking to pick that up so fast. “REAL TIME” host Bill Maher is the worst. He’s very funny, very brilliant. He’ll see some 16-year-old boys with rifles, lots of guns, and they walk into a Burger King with all these guns. And he’ll say, ‘How absurd is that – that you need a semiautomatic to get a burger. Ha ha. And they’re eating at Burger King.’”
FOR HOCHSCHILD, LOOKING DOWN ON SOMEONE FOR THEIR UNSOPHISTICATED, BUDGET-CONSCIOUS PALATE IS ARROGANCE THAT CURRENT CIRCUMSTANCES HARDLY JUSTIFY.
Then, of course, there’s social media, which, Hochschild observes, exploits “the financial gain attached to using polarizing algorithms. Each commentator is playing to a more limited audience, which can be spied on by the other side,” so that people know what the enemy is saying about them.
EMPTY COFFERS
At the deeply ironic center of the Great Paradox in Louisiana is the despoliation of the environment by the oil and petrochemical industries, which have been lured to the state by financial incentives that have left the state coffers empty. Many of the people interviewed by Hochschild have been made ill by the severe pollution and seen their homes destroyed by the consequences of these industries.
Some of them recognize the dangers of pollution and climate change, but even they believe the free market will be more effective in regulating the damage than government interference. In light of such credulity, I ask if she believes there is any way of convincing climate-change deniers, among others, of the urgent need for action to stave off further environmental disaster.
Hochschild is a natural optimist and urges me to “END YOUR PIECE WITH SOME HOPE.” At least on the question of climate change, she says, “the membership of independents in the Republican Party is growing, and there are a lot more moderates than those on the extremes. THEY ARE THE SILENT MAJORITY.”
She refers to an op-ed piece she and her son, David Hochschild – an environmental activist who chairs the California Energy Commission – wrote for The New York Times two years ago. It was about polling that showed, she said, “how actually, a majority of Republicans join a majority of Democrats in thinking that climate change is something the government should do something about.”
ARLIE HOCHSCHILD URGES HER INTERVIEWER TO TELL READERS THAT THE POLARIZED DISCOURSE THAT CHARACTERIZES SO MUCH TV COVERAGE “DOESN’T REPRESENT MOST OF US.”
In the meantime, she’s at work on another book, which involves frequent travel to another depressed region of the United States: Appalachia. Hochschild, it turns out, has been observing other cultures since her childhood. As the daughter of a U.S. diplomat, she spent her early years in several foreign countries, including Israel.
“This was ages ago, probably before you were born, between 1952 and ’54. We lived in Ramat Gan, on Simtat Hama’alot Street. Everything was very new. It was a very different period: I remember bread was wrapped in newspaper.”
She says it’s too early for her to talk about her current research, BUT DOES NOTE THAT SHE’S “TALKING TO WHITE, HIGH SCHOOL-EDUCATED GUYS.
They’re confused, they’re lost, and they’re NOT all monsters. And they think the election is stolen. THEY ACTUALLY THINK THAT. They don’t think Trump is stealing it, they think THE LEFT is.”
Nonetheless, the work exhilarates her and she can’t help but draw a connection to her early years.
“My diplomatic childhood keeps me going from one foreign country to another. It’s so amazing to get into these other worlds.”
“REAL TIME” host Bill Maher is the worst. He’s very funny, very brilliant. He’ll see some 16-year-old boys with rifles, lots of guns, and they walk into a Burger King with all these guns. And he’ll say, ‘How absurd is that – that you need a semiautomatic to get a burger. Ha ha. And they’re eating at Burger King.’”
FOR HOCHSCHILD, LOOKING DOWN ON SOMEONE FOR THEIR UNSOPHISTICATED, BUDGET-CONSCIOUS PALATE IS ARROGANCE THAT CURRENT CIRCUMSTANCES HARDLY JUSTIFY.
I laugh at the foregoing because of the GUNS
“16-year-old boys with rifles, lots of guns, ….”
– Tells me they were 16-year-old WHITE BOYS with rifles, lots of guns, ….
If they were black or brown 16-year-old boys with rifles, lots of guns, ….??
One phone call to the local police and they would all be DEAD as soon as the police arrived.
I am NOT LOOKING DOWN – BUT, LOOKING SCARED, about now …..
My laughter is a nervous laughter at a safe distance in another country.
Cities are only good if you can find good jobs. Heard lots of Guyanese in NYC died from COVID, homelessness and malnutrition. I thought America was rich, but only rich for the few.
The things I’ve heard about the social ills in NYC, Toronto, LA, San Francisco make me glad to be in G/Town. Pay is not that high, but at least I don’t die in freezer temperatures that destroy limbs when frost bite.
Why work for US$1,500 a month to pay US$1,300 a month rent to a slum lord?
Mosquito does bite night time in Florida but still cold at night in December. I would be living in fear when the winter starts in NYC or Toronto and the rent jacks up in the slums.
Dennis I was with you all the way until your last paragraph in which you suggested something that has me wondering if you think that Guyanese expatriates who live in NYC and Toronto live only in the slums. Most Guyanese I know in Canada live prosperously in upscale residences, not in the slums. You should limit your thoughts on things that you know for a fact.
Regards.
I didn’t say that anti-poor comment; I said that rent increases are the main reason of being afraid to die in the cold winters of Canada and NYC.
But it is a fact that Guyanese, and many Caribbean and Latin nationals are more likely to live in boroughs like Harlem, Bronx, Jane & Finch, Rexdale and other low income communities.
Some lukcy Guyanese are able to make it to the middle class, but this is due to sacrifices and decades of hard work in the cold.
And there are some who export 11.4 Billion tons of cocaine to Europe and buy condo in Miami or Toronto. 99% of Guyanese don’t fit that category.
Life is hard, even here in Guyana. The only clique who benefit are those who are already rich.
I see the old Trevor masquerading as Dennis Albert. How do I know, you ask?
It’s all contextual, reading the older posts.
Brother Man.
Did I meet you before?
I don’t recall any Brother Man while liming with my crew at Sophia.
Fellow Jamaican lady gives advice to Jamaicans wanting to migrate to “foreign”. Work ten years, save up, and then remigrate to Jamaica to “flee the plantation”