Since we don’t have a reliance on a dying industrial base, it’s hard to imagine Atlanta ending up like Cleveland or Detroit. Seems like we are too diversified in general just as DM points out. I can imagine, however, some unicorporated burbs without decent schools or communities and some blighted urban areas that are already too far gone unable to weather the economic storm and seeing a big downturn.

There’s something to his argument, but I don’t think we will see the dramatic consumer shift he predicts. We’ll continue to treat oil like its a renewable resource as long as there’s no real incentive to do otherwise. We’re just too short-sighted.

Instead we’ll see a couple carrots and a couple sticks that slowly turn the tide, but really don’t reform the system. Look at the stimulus package…the green technology support is great, but what’s with all that highway $?