bye bye missamericanpie wrote:
This will blow your mind.
I suppose it will blow your mind if you've been living under a rock for the past few decades and you're unaware of Detroit's decline. But most of us were well aware of Detroit's current condition.
I'm from Detroit. What happened there is what happens anywhere you allow large corporations free rein. The place has been a toxic waste dump for fifty years. Detroit is what you get when you let people who care only about money run things.
The destruction of the city started with the construction of the highways. The racial tensions began during WWII, mostly because of the large number of Southern Whites they imported to work in the factories during and after the war. A lot of those bigots stayed on finding a home where they could fight American blacks rather than German Nazis.
The auto boom of the fifties - including the massive public works program constructing the Interstate Highway System was payback for the auto companies re-tooling to make planes and tanks. Roosevelt, by the way had to beg/threaten them to do it. Many of those car execs were Nazi supporters.
There was no public transportation in the city, no central cultural or arts district to speak of (at least for a city that size) it was - essentially - a place for workers to sleep and buy the stuff they made. It was doomed and in trouble way the hell before Coleman Young was elected to office.
He doesn’t mention the elephant in the room.
The city is 82.7% populated with blacks.
Same happened in Southern Africa when the white folk left.
LOL! Right! Detroit's decline can be blamed entirely on Democratic Mayors and left of center policies! It has absolutely nothing to do with an economy based solely around the auto industry, free trade, rampant racism, lack of public transportation, white flight to the suburbs etc etc.
I stopped watching that video once he attempted to put the entire blame of Detroit's demise on leftist politics.
Mr Magoo wrote:
He doesn’t mention the elephant in the room.
The city is 82.7% populated with blacks.
Same happened in Southern Africa when the white folk left.
The black people are better off without the whites in charge.
Link wrote:
I'm from Detroit. What happened there is what happens anywhere you allow large corporations free rein.
No. In fact it is the opposite. I am not trying to be a jerk, but it is pretty obvious that when you have industry that forces corporations to pay union employees an average of $130k a year plus benefits and pension, it isn't going to be long before they go belly up.
How is that sustainable?
Why do these union employees think that driving a screw in one joint 8,000 times a day deserves high pay and benefits? It doesn't. I am not being mean, I am just being honest.
We have an issue with this problem in our country. We are going to end up like France if we don't change.
We need to reinvigorate our desire to produce things in America. If we have to pay unskilled laborers $130k plus benefits and pension, we will continue to outsource.
I am not a Republican. I am a realist who aligns more with the left than the right. This all seems pretty clear to me, though.
Corporations should NOT be given free reign to do whatever they want, but you cannot force them to pay people more than they're worth. That is a the reason our manufacturing industry is dead.
Dukemnukem wrote:
Link wrote:I'm from Detroit. What happened there is what happens anywhere you allow large corporations free rein.
No. In fact it is the opposite. I am not trying to be a jerk, but it is pretty obvious that when you have industry that forces corporations to pay union employees an average of $130k a year plus benefits and pension, it isn't going to be long before they go belly up.
How is that sustainable?
Why do these union employees think that driving a screw in one joint 8,000 times a day deserves high pay and benefits? It doesn't. I am not being mean, I am just being honest.
We have an issue with this problem in our country. We are going to end up like France if we don't change.
We need to reinvigorate our desire to produce things in America. If we have to pay unskilled laborers $130k plus benefits and pension, we will continue to outsource.
I am not a Republican. I am a realist who aligns more with the left than the right. This all seems pretty clear to me, though.
Corporations should NOT be given free reign to do whatever they want, but you cannot force them to pay people more than they're worth. That is a the reason our manufacturing industry is dead.
You're right about Detroit but, based on your post, the question is, how in the world do you align yourself more with the left than the right? What you've just described is the very essence of the right's disagreement with the left, and you clearly agree with the right on this bedrock principle. There is a cognitive dissonance there.
Detroit isnt so different from the rest of the Rust Belt, is it? It is maybe just the biggest place there.
Mort Asplundt wrote:
You're right about Detroit but, based on your post, the question is, how in the world do you align yourself more with the left than the right? What you've just described is the very essence of the right's disagreement with the left, and you clearly agree with the right on this bedrock principle. There is a cognitive dissonance there.
I think it is more the social issues with which I align. Also, things such as allowing companies to screw the environment, etc.
When it comes to the economy, I tend to be more capitalist/conservative (with regard to economic principles).
I am not a guy that thinks corporations should have all the power in the world, but they need to have the power to profit.
Does that make sense?
ibnkill - the problem with your assertions - is -- Pittsburgh. It is unassailable that Pittsburgh's economy (steel based) faced structural disasters equal to that of Detroit. It is not pleasant, but racial politics, corruption, and unbelievable rates of crime have really accelerated Detroit's demise. They have been unable to adapt.
The racial politics matter is real. Young, et.al consciously drove productive, law abiding people out of the city in the name of racial and tribal solidarity. No city prospers without a middle class, and it was and is a tragedy.
There's a good book "Escape from Detroit" about Detroit's decline:
Watch HardCore Pawn.
Detroit is just another Chocolate City. Look at all the other Chocolate Cities and what they have in common and tell me you're really surprised.
If they all got their 40 acres and a mule they would have figured out a way to drink it or smoke it.
realist22 wrote:
Watch HardCore Pawn.
Love that show!
Link wrote:
I'm from Detroit. What happened there is what happens anywhere you allow large corporations free rein.
That doesn't seem to have hurt, say, NYC and LA.
Link wrote:
I'm from Detroit. What happened there is what happens anywhere you allow large corporations free rein. The place has been a toxic waste dump for fifty years. Detroit is what you get when you let people who care only about money run things.
The destruction of the city started with the construction of the highways. The racial tensions began during WWII, mostly because of the large number of Southern Whites they imported to work in the factories during and after the war. A lot of those bigots stayed on finding a home where they could fight American blacks rather than German Nazis.
The auto boom of the fifties - including the massive public works program constructing the Interstate Highway System was payback for the auto companies re-tooling to make planes and tanks. Roosevelt, by the way had to beg/threaten them to do it. Many of those car execs were Nazi supporters.
There was no public transportation in the city, no central cultural or arts district to speak of (at least for a city that size) it was - essentially - a place for workers to sleep and buy the stuff they made. It was doomed and in trouble way the hell before Coleman Young was elected to office.
What crap. I'm originally from Detroit. What happened there is typical of any place on this planet where the current majority population is the majority. Chaos reigns. Dysfunction is the norm.
Not very nice but true.
bye bye missamericanpie wrote:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hhJ_49leBw
God, what a crock of shiiit. He starts by saying until recently Detroit was among the wealthiest, most vibrant cities and then almost immediately pins the current demise on consecutive Democratic mayors since the early 60s. Huh? What kind of contradictory and misguided premise is that? San Fran, CA has had its share of "leftist" leaders and last time I checked things are going quite well there.