Last Night On Anthony Bourdain

oldguystudent · July 28, 2009

So I'm a pretty big fan of all things Anthony Bourdain. As a guy who worked his way through college in the restaurant/bar industry, I found Kitchen Confidential to be one of the funniest and most accurate portrayals of that industry even put to paper. So now he does a show on the Travel Channel called No Reservations. He travels around to various places, eats street food, and explores the vibes of the places he visits.

Last night, he did a "Rust Belt" episode in which he visited Baltimore, Detroit, and Buffalo. He asked a question at the beginning of the episode that I found really interesting. I'm sure it will get spun as a liberal point of view here, but I saw it as what should be an American point of view. I don't have the actual quote, but to paraphrase, it went something like this.

How is it that the wealthiest nation on earth allowed entire sectors, entire cities within its own borders to fall into such disrepair and decay?

So I kinda saw it like this. It is in the best interest of a nation to maintain and increase the welfare of its citizens. Clearly, this didn't happen in these three cities. If you're a liberal, you'll probably say that the government should step in and help these areas with government spending stimulus. If you're a conservative, I would think you might see these areas as ripe for private investment and development. Either way, it failed.

So my questions are these:

1) When a country has such large parts of its geography in utter despair and economic failure, is it right to prioritize the politics of other nations over the economic welfare of its own citizens?

2) Is there a viable plan to bring these cities from the ashes? Do we even care?

3) When there are a few million legit citizens that have lost jobs en masse in these cities, why is there still such a labor shortage as to attract legions of illegal immigrants?

I propose no particular solution on any of these things. That's why I ask the questions.

EagleGreen · July 28, 2009

The way I see it is that greed (or money) is the root of all evil. I don't mean that from a religious point of view, but that's just the way things seem to be. If the auto industry could make $100 extra dollars a car by shipping the industry to Mexico or India, then they do it. They will say that its just business and on a good day they will apologize to the workers they laid off. Usually they will not recognize the destruction of life they have created by causing American families to go into debt and financial ruin. Its sad really that you can't count on doing a good job at work and retaining your job because your boss may be able to increase his cost center dollars (i.e., he gets a bigger bonus at the end of the year) or the company may be able to increase their stock projections by $0.01 by laying you off (the nice way to say "You're Fired").

This happened a lot in the Rust Belt. Should the government give money to the auto industry to help save some jobs. If it happens correctly (which I don't thing anything ever does) then sure. They give money to the auto industry, the auto industry retains jobs, the community stays in tact and the auto industry pays the money back with interest...win win. But corruption and greed prevail and the auto industry uses the money to be profitable and moves american jobs elsewhere and at the end of the day, the money just causes the problem to get worse. Greed.

Should we bring our troups home from Iraq and Af. in order to spend the money on American welfare? Probably. I think it is a long process that is in progress. I don't know if it will help any American welfare except that it will surely save some American's lives in the short term.

Should we enact the Bush/McCain/Palin (I had to throw that in there) guest worker program. Absolutely not. That program was absurd. American workers only please.

Just my $0.02.

Censored by Laurie · July 28, 2009

1. No...our priorities are certainly out of skew. However, I believe, that we are too arrogant and self-rightous as a nation as to avoid interjecting our opinion into the affairs of the world.

2. Let it happen, then reinvent your city. Baltimore...mind you I've walked around the streets of Bushwick and Bed-Stuy (Biggie's old stomping grounds) in Brooklyn at night solo and felt perfectly safe...is a scary place once you get away from the Inner Harbor. That said, it will be fine. It is adjusting to changes in its base economy...it has a great school in Johns Hopkins who can really help prop up an economy...and it has something that Detroit and Buffalo don't, great geography. Detroit and Buffalo the transition will be harder...but heres a pretty typical blueprint:

Real estate prices bottom out...artists, musicians and the small industry that follow them move in...city starts to be indentified as a burgeoning "scene"...gentryfication, increasing real estate prices and bigger industry move in...city is economically viable, over-run with Chili's and the hippies go save another city.

3. They will always have work b/c they're willing to do work others aren't.

I am saddened that a thread starring Anthony Bourdain is about to turn into a political abortion. I love that man.

Edited July 28, 2009 by Censored by Laurie

KRAM1 · July 28, 2009

I, too, love "No Reservations" and think Bourdain and the show are great. But, you do have to overlook his political comments from time to time. There is no question that he is quite the liberal. No problem, I still think the show is great...He did a bit on Chicago last evening...there was a place on the Southside that serves tamales in hot dog buns with chili and the fixings...Man, great stuff.

Now to your questions:

1) It depends. What's at stake when you set the priorities and just why have the cities fallen into such shape? Is it because they sat on their rears and didn't modernize, adapt to changing economics, elect corrupt politicians (can you spell Detroit, etc.), create social welfare programs that became entitlements and could not be sustained as the area decayed? Answer is not so easy as a "yes or no"...I say it depends. And, as is the case with some places, they can pull themselves out of the mess without a gov't bailout that will just make the problem worse in the long run. Baltimore may be a good example of a city on the edge that is taking steps to move forward...perhaps even Oklahoma City could be an example...OK City has done a good bit lately to "up it's image"...other cities should take note.

2) I don't care if the citizens who live there do not care. Keep electing corrupt politicians and keep doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results...if so, I say...let 'em rot. If you take the steps to work your way out and find ways to get your citizens involved in the make-over, yep, give them all the help possible.

3) I doubt that those areas have a big labor problem with illegal immigrants. many have a problem with labor because they are rust belt cities whose industries were controlled by labor unions unwilling to modernize and get ready to compete in the new economies of the world, and who had executive boards too interested in their own welfare than the welfare of their companies health, and who were taxed to death and found it harder and harder to compete on the global stage.

Just a few thoughts...it is past the time when folks simply ask for gov't handout after handout...time for a "hand up". Americans have always shown a "can-do" spirit when the going is rough and I have no doubt if given the opportunity, the rust belt cities can and will re-invent themselevs and prosper once again. Get the politicians out of the way and let the creative folks in all these areas get after it...and yes, that means the "hippies too".