Seattle finds itself at the crossroads as the Great Disruption ends era

…Some economists and urban thinkers are advancing a theory that this recession will result in much more profound change than any recession in memory. Most prominent among them is Richard Florida, the author of the best-selling book “The Rise of the Creative Class.”

Writing in the March issue of the Atlantic magazine, the author states: “Some cities and regions will eventually spring back stronger than before. Others may never come back at all. As the crisis deepens, it will permanently and profoundly alter the country’s economic landscape. I believe it marks the end of a chapter in American economic history, and indeed, the end of a whole way of life.”


That way of life has depended on cheap oil and, in recent years, easy credit and a series of bubbles. Florida writes: “You don’t have to strain too hard to see the financial crisis as the death knell for a debt-ridden, overconsuming and underproducing American empire