Suburban slumming?

A thought-provoking Atlantic Monthly article about the potential demise of the traditional American suburbs as the subprime mortgage crisis unfurls.

One thing it reminded me of was the background anxiety I felt growing up in the suburbs. I spent most of my high school years without parents around and always had a sense of anxiety when coming back to our house when my sister and I had been gone for the day. What would stop anyone from breaking in, hiding in the basement and then sneaking out to terrorize us? Maybe I was watching too many horror movies, but I always thought the collective brainwave that thought suburban neighborhoods were safer than cities - when you literally never saw a friendly soul on a suburban street ever - was off.

The article also reminded me of a TV show I caught only once, on one of the many home improvement networks out there. I now can't remember the name of it, but there was a guy with a British-accent who found new homeowners of very poorly constructed housing. Their homes were, perhaps after only a couple of years, really falling apart. Literally stuff like rain dripping from the sills on the inside of the house. The host would then go on a rampage making the houses more solid, whether it was putting insulation in the attic, caulking around window sills, etc, really basic stuff. The best part is how angry and indignant he got about it - and rightly so. This sounds random, but if you read the AM article, you'll know what I'm talking about.