I thought I'd resurrect this thread, now that the "I can't afford the Dream" thread has pettered out into a degree of inanity.

In thinking about the meaining of today's economy (and our nation's likely economic future) for cities, I thought this announcement from the government of teeny tiny Singapore (aka 'Disneyland with the Death Penalty') to be of interest:

http://www.thegovmonitor.com/world_news/asia/singapore-builds-workforce-capabilities-for-future-growth-38767.html

the ever-bizarre Singaporean-welfare state is getting involved in workforce transition planning in a recession.

Far more troubling is this article from a couple of days ago in NPR:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129993959

The US has one of the world's highest rates of people falling INTO poverty. 4 million more Americans fell into poverty in 2009, increasing the number of poor to 44 million - the largest number of poor in 51 years.. and that's only because the US didn't start counting the poor until 51 years ago. In other words, for tens of millions we're basically in the Great Depression or worse (despite the fact that the recession has officially "ended").

Another interesting article on the "new normal":

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2012844453_lynne09.html?prmid=op_ed

"It seems everyone has a home-based consultancy or sales business now."

Scary stuff.