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Comment by rKarpinski | Hacker News Reader

What he bought was a large warehouse and later some foreclosed lots at auction, spending in total ~400k. The warehouse alone was worth 3.4 million as recently as 2008 but de-industrialization and local crime have since cratered it's value. [1]

While he's engaged in a completely unreasonable adventure, It's sad to see how accepting & cynical we are of the hallowing out and degradation of the US.

[1] https://arktimes.com/arkansas-blog/2022/08/17/meet-a-man-who...

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I've lived in Pine Bluff before (not that long ago) and almost everyone I worked with commuted from either Little Rock (a straight shot on the interstate for something like 45 minutes of drive time) or one of the nearby little rural towns. A lot of businesses have since left the town and will likely never come back. The crime is just too high and there aren't enough jobs in the area. Little Rock is pretty dangerous too in parts, but is safe for the vast majority of places.

i was stationed in Arkansas in the late 80's and we used to go to Pine Bluff sometimes. It was a lovely little town. Just tragic about the downturn. I had no idea.

Yep. The downtown architecture is pretty and goes back to when I assume it was an important agricultural hub for the region and money existed.

For anyone who wants to understand the macroeconomics behind why the US Economy seems to hate export industries lately, I highly recommend the book "Trade Wars are Class Wars" by Michael Pettis.

> It's sad to see how accepting & cynical we are of the hallowing out and degradation of the US.

Certain parts of the US. It’s a big country, it might not be reasonable for it to all be doing well, especially with an overall older and older population with productive segments of the population agglomerating to smaller regions.

Don't conflate Arkansas with the United States. It's one of the poorest states.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territ...

While Pine Bluff is one of the fastest a shrinking cities in the country, the northwest corner of AR is one of the fastest-growing metro areas. A fascinating example of the somewhat fractal nature of growth in the US.

>t's sad to see how accepting & cynical we are of the hallowing out and degradation of the US.

It is disappointing that people are socioeconomically swept away by the tide, but I think all across America since its inception has been a place of ebb and flow. A nation of boom towns and ghost towns.

It’s harder to have sympathy when I’ve watched these places blatantly vote against their own self interests for my entire lifetime.

Probably a case of just wanting to vote for “your own people” rather than who’s actually competent.

You saw the same the same thing when Jacob Zuma was jailed for corruption. They had massive riots in his support. They had massive pro-, not anti-corruption riots.

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