Pictures of a Gone City (eBook)

The San Francisco Bay Area is currently the jewel in the crown of capitalism - the tech capital of the world and a gusher of wealth from the Silicon Gold Rush. It has been generating jobs, spawning new innovation, and spreading ideas that are changing lives everywhere. It boasts of being the Left Coast, the Greenest City, and the best place for workers in the USA. So what could be wrong? Overheated bubbles and spectacular crashes; exploding inequality and millions of underpaid workers; a boiling housing crisis, mass displacement, and severe environmental damage; a delusional tech elite and complicity with the worst in American politics. This sweeping account of the Bay Area in the age of the tech boom covers many bases. It begins with the phenomenal concentration of IT in Greater Silicon Valley, the resulting growth in start-ups, jobs, and output, and the unbelievable wealth at the top generated by the local economy. This is followed by a look at the new working class of colour, the millions earning poverty wages, and the struggles unleashed to improve their lot. The middle chapters survey the urban scene, starting with the housing bubble that made San Francisco the most expensive city in the U.S., and ending with the exploding metropolis now reaching a hundred miles in every direction. The final chapters take on the political questions raised by the environmental impact of the boom, the fantastical ideology of TechWorld, and the tech-led transformation of the region.