Chicago Fire of 1871

Fires were a big, new problem with Urbanization. Urbanization brought millions of people to live in tall, cramped buildings without modern fire safety features that are now required in buildings. According to an article in American History, after the Civil War, Chicago became the timber capital of the world. This and the fact that steel and masonry were used very infrequently caused many buildings to be wooden and suceptible to fires. Also, Chicago was known for a certain type of buildings called balloon-frame buildings that were built a certain way that was cheap and easy to build, but caused many fire hazards. The city was also considered the fastest growing and the most polluted in America at the time. American History called it, "a tinderbox waiting to be ignited." This eventually did happen and it ruined 90,000 homes and killed over 250. Urbanization had boomed the economy but it also allowed for terrible things such as the Chicago Fire of 1871 occur.

Urbanization of America Part 3

After reading an article on American Urbanization, it seems to me that American Urbanization was just a rush of people trying to find easy money. People stormed cities almost all at the same time due to the hope of a better life due to more money. For instince, in four years the population of San Fransisco rose from less than 1,000 inhabitants to 35,000 inhabitants due to the California Gold Rush. People always have wanted the best life for themselves and Urbanization is just a result of this human behavior. The rush to cities also created problems. Epidemics spread like wildfire in the cities because there was no modern water or sewage systems. Also, fires spread like wildfires because the close packing of cities made these fires spread quickly. Not only did americans flood cities, but immigrants hoping for the same american dream spread to american cities. Cities did a lot of good but a lot of bad in American Society but all of it was a rush to find more money.

"urbanization." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 28 Jan. 2010. .

Urbanization of America

America in its early years was pretty big on agriculture. Whether it was cotton, indigo, tobacco, or any grain or livestock, it was a pretty big part of american business and lifestyle. After the civil war and before the turn of the century, people started moving to the cities to live and work. There were many jobs in these cities because there were advancements in transportation and industry so huge companies, like those controlled by Rockefeller, created enormous amounts of jobs in these cities. This made people swarm to cities nationwide. I think this is funny because 50 years later, those same people left the same city they swarmed to. After the war, people left the city to live a better life. And now it seems, people are just getting lazier and lazier. People care more about personal satisfaction than true hard work. Just find that kind of interesting.

State of the Union

Obama isn't my favorite person in the world to begin with, but it really annoys me when he lies blatantly and people believe it. He joked about later in the address that the tax cuts and cutting of government registrations for the last 8 years got us in the mess we are in now. However, this is completely untrue. Every time the government has added government programs and increased taxes the whole country has suffered. The great depression was extended three or four times as long as it should have been because of FDR's policies. Unfortunately our current president has the awful idea that FDR was a god, and I just dont understand. Also, the last eight years did not get us in to this mess. The previous 8 did. the policies that forced subprime loans and regulated banks into doing things that they wouldnt have normally done. For example the government run fannie may and freddie mac banks. They made tons of subprime loans to people that shouldnt have had bought houses. Also, many of these were without down payments. This created this enormous money bubble of money that didnt exist and screwed our entire country.

my first post

Larry Csonka is a stud
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQ_vHLUrTQ0