Checks and Balance: City limits

Checks and Balance from The Economist

The Economist

Politics, News & Politics, News, Us Politics

4.6 • 1.7K Ratings

🗓️ 11 March 2022

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Since the founding of America, its people and its economy have moved steadily westwards and, later, southwards. Recently, people and businesses have flocked to Sun Belt states, while cities in America’s old industrial heartland are struggling. What makes American cities boom and bust?

The Economist’s Simon Rabinovitch compares two places on divergent paths. We find out about a city that turned its fortunes around. And community organiser Ian Beniston explains how he’s trying to fix his Ohio hometown.

John Prideaux presents with Charlotte Howard and Jon Fasman.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
0:06.1	There are a few more famous opening lines in literature.
0:09.0	The first paragraph of Charles Dickens' tale of two cities is packed with contrasting
0:13.7	couplets.
0:14.9	It was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope,
0:20.3	it was the winter of despair.
0:22.7	At first glance, Dickens continues the contrasts in his portrayal of the cities, Paris, the
0:27.7	chaotic hotbed of revolution, London, the orderly safe haven.
0:32.6	A tale can be told about two cities in today's America, Buckeye, Arizona, is having the
0:38.6	best of times, it's the fastest growing city in the nation.
0:43.2	For Youngstown, Ohio, it may feel like the worst, its population has been declining for
0:48.7	decades.
0:50.5	But in comparing Paris and London, Dickens was trying to emphasise their similarities
0:55.3	to show that the revolutionary fervor that had erupted in the French capital was simmering
1:00.1	just beneath the surface over the channel.
1:03.2	And in America, it's also more complex.
1:06.2	Just as Youngstown is showing signs of recovery, there are limits to how far Buckeye can grow.
1:12.8	I'm John Prado, and this is Chex and Balance from the Economist.
1:19.6	Each week we take one big theme, shaping American politics and explore it in depth.
1:32.9	Today
1:34.9	What makes American cities boom and bust?
1:47.5	It's the founding of America, its people and its economy have moved steadily westwards
	...

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