Author: Bailey Reutzel

Though the hows and whys may be up for debate, there is consensus on one thing in Baltimore, that the city is an economic fiasco. High taxes for businesses, corruption, civil disobedience, violent crime and a decline in jobs spanning decades – all are identified problems, but worse may be that the issues themselves are now heavily politicized. Baltimore, as it has come to be said, “emphasized a state-sponsored capitalism … rather than market investments” in its search for a solution to its economic woes, a ‘Big Government’ perception that in a minority-heavy city only creates mistrust. Is capitalism failing you? In Baltimore, the answer shards along class lines. “Well I’m doing pretty good, but I work,” says David Evans, an assistant manager at U-Haul and a sales associate at Parisian Flea, an antique jewelry shop in Hampden, Baltimore. Evans also studies humanities at the University of Maryland University College. “[But] you go a block away and ask and they’ll say something different, because they don’t work,” he says. “They care about their welfare check. So they’re not really a part of capitalism then.” It’s a typical refrain – ethnic minorities, particularly African Americans which are 63% of Baltimore’s population, are lazy, too reliant on government assistance. But, often stuffed into soundbites, there’s more under the surface of this claim. It’s not that they’re lazy, says Evans, just unmotivated....