Gentrification: John Edwards at GenerationEngage

While living in Chicago, I witnessed the process of "gentrification" a process wherein the old houses are remodeled and made fit to live in and then rented out or sold to new owners at prices too steep for poor people to live in.

This issue is important because as we've seen in our cities and in hard hit places like New Orleans where clean up is hampered by the desire of some to take, condemn or otherwise lay claim to areas where the poor normally live so that developers can rebuild and turn a nice profit. While I am by no means a person without appreciation for the things that money can bring into people's lives, I seriously believe that the US's over accentuation of the capitalist system over the lives of people is repulsive and denigrates the ideals so many people spout. What's the point of being free to be nothing more than a worker bee for others' profits and loss of those things that make community, families, etc enjoy the less material things in life.