Source #3

Summary:

            Timothy B. Lee’s article, Bulldozing the American Dream, was originally published in the magazine The American.  Lee takes a different angle than the common magazine; the article begins with an allusion to the life of an American immigrant.  The life of Joseph Erondu, from Nigeria, who opened his own dental practice in St. Louis.  Erondu loved what he did for his community, with his office able to help an underprivileged clientele and provide necessary dental care.  In the early 2000’s the city began to plan a redevelopment of the
            Throughout the United States, entrepreneurs bought property only to have their businesses taken away from them, and demolished by their own government.  These programs to bring about employment, and renovate what they called “slums” destroyed all social fabric of the neighborhoods and did nothing but relocate crime.  The only thing which was accomplished was the relocation of the prior population due to overpriced homes.  These government attempts to redistribute wealth and give better chances to those stricken by poverty only destroyed their lives.  Lee’s attempts to make the public realize the negative effects of these programs is easy to understand and drives the point home that not all things the government attempts work out for the better.

Response:

            Timothy B. Lee made some very important points in this article around the idea of the housing market, but his two most relevant were in the very start of his argument and the very end.  The housing market is a major issue, but is not the most relevant part of the American dream.  This housing market paper stems entirely from the governments over-involvement in the market and their attempts to fix it.  Lowering costs and assisting with home ownership, while appealing only hurts them in the long run; this is bad business.  The government along with helping with home ownership, also at the time of writing the article in the early 2000’s was actually destroying neighborhoods along with local businesses, and replacing them with higher income housing.  This government attempt at “helping” by intervening and taking drastic measures only displaced the “slums” they attempted to cure.  Moving the people who once called it home, just driving their economic issues even further.  The realization was made this idea of “neighborhood reform” was irresponsible and ineffective in 2005, when the Supreme Court handed down its Kelo decision.  What Lee fails to recognize is what Kelo is for his audience, which was a court decision in which homeowners would have to be reimbursed in order for the government or local business to remove them from their property.  Overall, Lee did a great job of portraying the problems government intervention into things they should not control such as city size or wealth will not work.

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area of St. Louis where Erondu’s dental office was located, and he was thrilled.  What was not included was that his office would be removed and through eminent domain laws, and replaced by high-income businesses.  Erondu died shortly after the Kelo decision in which the U.S. Government could no longer seize property without proper financial compensation.