I haven't been able to explain the phenomenon, but there seems to be a coincidence between how "ghetto" a neighborhood is and the number of shopping carts randomly scattered throughout. When I drive through a neighborhood in Rose Park (just outside SLC), I see an astonishing number of shopping carts for no apparent reason, and the neighborhoods over there aren't exactly great. And just within the last month I've counted 8 of them in my neighborhood, what gives? The rich neighborhoods NEVER get them... So, like the ideas that stemmed this, the scale is: 5 SCG- really bad 4 SCG- not as bad, but still pretty ghetto 3....2...1.. 0 SCG- Beverly Hills 90210 ghetto.-- AfroAssault, Sep 23 2001 the rich get richer and the poor get shopping carts-- po, Sep 23 2001 I always used abandoned cars + burnt out buildings as a measure when there are no tracks whose other side can be measured against.-- sdm, Sep 23 2001 Wow. My local grocery store must be the ghetto of all ghettoes. I'd never noticed it before, but from now on I think I'll do my grocery shopping online.-- beauxeault, Sep 25 2001 Maybe we've been deluded all this time, and the poor actually have more money than the rich---hence the more conspicuous evidence of shopping. But then, the more people buy, the poorer they are, so it'd make sense the other way, too. My head hurts.-- Ander, May 08 2003 random, halfbakery