I suspect we'll see a lot more of them before the shakedown is finished. Check out the BBC report video below:
YouTube - Tent Cities Spring Up In California
In related news, residents of the tent encampment in Ontario Cali are going to be kicked out today:
Ontario Tent City Residents To Be Kicked Out Monday - News Story - KNBC | Los Angeles
This is a perfect time for another "forgotten history" moment courtesy of Uncle Mikey. Cast your mind back to summer, 1932. A large group of WW I veterans, upset with the crushed economy and their miserable circumstances, were lobbying aggressively to get Uncle Sam to change the date at which their bonus certificates could be paid. These certificates had been provided to veterans in 1924 as a bonus for war service, with one small catch - they weren't payable until 1945.
The vets, many destitue from the effects of the 1929 market crash and following depression, pleaded with Uncle Sam to give them a payout early. A bill to do so was rushed through the House, but blocked in the Senate.
Meanwhile, the administration was growing annoyed with the so-called "Bonus Army" of protesters which had marched to Washington and set up a large Hooverville on the Anacostia Flats not far from the Federal District in DC. Since DC was a "special" location, unlike in the states themselves Posse Comitatus did not apply. The Army was ordered to clear out the protestor's Hooverville, so infantry and cavalry troops led by George Patton under the general command of Douglas MacArthur fixed bayonets and hoisted sabers, and rolled up the Bonus Army encampment like a cheap carpet using tear gas, fire, and a bit of forceful persuasion.
The lesson learned by the Bonus Army that day is the same one that will be learned by the residents of America's tent city Hoovervilles in 2008:
Our leaders do not like to be presented with a constant eyesore that advertises their failure. They'll put up with it for awhile, but inevitably the enforcers will be sent in and the shacks will be destroyed and some heads will be busted.
Bonus Army - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Return of the Hoovervilles: Tent Cities in California
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