Munchkin-wg.de

Okay, so I just read this article over at the Washington Post (thanks Sudeep!) and have something to say about its subject. First of all, the article is really good and explains Pittsburgh pretty well. And I might just not be in the position to add or critize anything of it due to my limited expierence of Pittsburgh. However, this is the Internet, and you can’t stop me. Hah!

Pittsburgh today still has the repuation as the “Steel City” – as has the Ruhrgebiet in Germany. In both cases, it’s not true anymore. While the Ruhrgebiet still has some mills, Pittsburgh has none. O’Nan points out that the G-20 will be here to show that it’s “connection” to the labor force. However, Pittsburgh has (to me) little resemblance to a “working”, blue collar city anymore. Yes, certain neighborhoods still have that attire. But the city itself is and feels very much newer – white collar. It actually is a very good synomym for the world in the past 50 years. First, buzzling with steel and heavy industriy. Than the great decline. Than comes new work. The new work is not as plainly seen as before. You can spot a steel mill easily. Todays workplaces are hidden behind non-descript office buildings, sometimes hughe,  but nerver remarkebly. I think this relates to the way the world is today. Money is not anymore made in production, but in the more undercover, hidden way. The big players of the economy are not anymore the big production companies, but the banks and other companies, that deal in “virtual” products.

For Pittsburgh, the green boom in the past years was a big wave to ride on. I hope that the G20 summit will put an equal wave out for the banks to get back from the limelight into the open sunlight. And I demand that spot in the open sunlight for Pittsburgh.