Minority report vs. colateral damage

Two weeks since my touch down in the USA, my acclimatization process reached an advanced level: I enjoy walking through the streets of San Francisco. Off course, that's not a big deal. SF is a sympathetic town with surprisingly far less than one million inhabitants. And the down town hostel I dropped in represents most of the city's two-sided charm - including a cute, colorful hummingbird, showing up by the hour at the window next the computer.

On a trip ATW+20, you feel instantly certain changes based on the contradictions of the new reality and your memories. Three of them seem mostly present since I'm touring the States. Somehow they are all related with the economy - but that's what obviously counts most here.

The first big thing while driving 3000 miles through the States was about "new cars". Although the three big American car manufacturers again report profits (after the close-to-default situation in the aftermath of the financial crisis back in 2008), I am rather amazed (or worried) by the number of new American cars on stock in front of car dealers along the highways - asking myself "Who's gonna buy all that cars ... and what's going to happen with the trade-ins?"

And as I am walking now for some days through SF, there are two additional phenomena to observe: within all that tall buildings - a skyline that dramatically changed over the past 20 years - I can't find a single skyscraper under construction. No new glass towers in downtown. And while walking along that buzzing streets - leading to observation #3 - I didn't face along my trip around the world so many enstranged persons on the pedestrian walks and crossings as in (big) American cities. 

It must be a significant "minority" that is left out of society, and I wonder why this "new reality" doesn't work as a reminder of that what civilization should stand for: social justice and social inclusion!