Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Let me say that I think Detroit represents "the real economy". The state of the Detroit region, I believe, is a microcosm of the TRUE health of our nation. Keep in mind that the Detroit region cannot print money.and does not have in infinite buyer of bonds the governments issue to finance its spending and keep the region afloat, like the US government does. I say that because people will note that the national economy was being doing a lot better than the Detroit area economy. Well, that is because of a 17 trillion debt, 50 trillion in unfunded liabilities and the FED buying of securities issued by the government to keep things stimulated and the result of the FED zero interest rate policy. Without all that debt and manipulation, the US economy would mirror the Detroit area economy.
Manufacturing is the REAL economy, in my opinion. Manufacturing "puts meat and muscle on your bones", drawing analogy to a human diet. It's the "protein" of the economy. Read this article.
As I pointed out before, if Detroit's major companies collapse, the national economy would be impacted much more than if the major corporations of Minneapolis collapsed. How can Minneapolis even be considered the second most influential and important region in the Midwest when Detroit's economy is more important to the US economy than is Minneapolis? More important economy, larger economy in terms of GDP of the GREATER areas, 2 million more people in the GREATER areas, Greater impact in terms of international trade and a much greater exporting economy.
As I said before......its basically cultural that you all are really ranking. If you like Minneapolis.....if that is your model....then no you will probably not like a metro area why a hyper black majority occupying the urban core....and for that reason....more than anything else....is why most whites would consider Minneapolis the second city.
Me and others have figured this one out before. Detroit is a microcosm of America. It's almost like you can literally see America's near future coming out here if you pay attention.
Quote:
An additional major public institution is the University of Minnesota flagship. While the CSA of Detroit includes Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan flagship, it seems like it might have been much better for Detroit and its MSA and immediate environs had the University of Michigan flagship had remained in Detroit to this day or had been built much closer.
You are so right about that. Imagine an Ann Arbor somewhere in Detroit. It sucks that UofM was moved out 45 minutes away. But many of Michigan's leaders were not the brightest in planning for the future, in fact, many were incredibly short-sighted which is the root for many of Detroit's problems. Detroit was the first state capital as well. Both would have been much better for Detroit imo.
You are so right about that. Imagine an Ann Arbor somewhere in Detroit. It sucks that UofM was moved out 45 minutes away. But many of Michigan's leaders were not the brightest in planning for the future, in fact, many were incredibly short-sighted which is the root for many of Detroit's problems. Detroit was the first state capital as well. Both would have been much better for Detroit imo.
I definitely agree with that. Having the major state government institutions and the flagship state research university within Detroit proper would likely have done wonders in helping Detroit buffer itself for the inevitable globalization of the car industry and foreign competition and would have bought it time and resources to significantly reorganize. There's probably some alternate history timeline with those factors where Detroit, instead of being questioned on whether or not it's soundly second in the Midwest, would have been questioned on whether or not it's soundly first.
I don't understand, instead of using recognized metrics for city size such as UA, MSA, or CSA (and in Detroit's case, the international conurbation with Windsor), why are people using this radius population nonsense?
Pulling in Grand Rapids' population doesn't elevate Detroit in anyone's eyes and that is its own autonomous city and metropolitan region, independent of Greater Detroit.
I definitely agree with that. Having the major state government institutions and the flagship state research university within Detroit proper would likely have done wonders in helping Detroit buffer itself for the inevitable globalization of the car industry and foreign competition and would have bought it time and resources to significantly reorganize. There's probably some alternate history timeline with those factors where Detroit, instead of being questioned on whether or not it's soundly second in the Midwest, would have been questioned on whether or not it's soundly first.
Exactly, even though Detroit is and was already big, I honestly think Detroit could have actually had a much larger economy had people took advantage of a booming Detroit and diversified the economy. But the problem with many people is they don't act before something happens, they act after the fact. Detroit ought to be a history lesson and a warning for any city that is shining bright right now.
- Pakistan: 189,790,000 people
- Vietnam: 91,583,000 people
- Ethiopia: 90,076,012 people
- Egypt: 88,516,700 people
- Democratic Republic of Congo: 71,246,000 people
- Burma: 51,419,420 people
- Tanzania: 47,421,786 people
- Kenya: 46,749,000 people
- Ukraine: 42,895,704 people
- Algeria: 40,400,000 people
- Sudan: 38,435,252 people
- Iraq: 36,004,552 people
- Greece: 10,816,286 people
- Portugal: 10,477,800 people
There is literally like 110-140 more countries we can list here, but you get the point.
Basically what each place is able to do with 3-5 million people it surpasses what it takes 10-200 million people elsewhere in the world.
You conveniently left out a lot of countries. Where's Norway on your list? Oh right, they have triple the economy of Greater Detroit with the same population.
Detroit has also more awesomer buildings/skyscrapers:
Penobscot Building
Guardian Building
Fisher Building (Detroit's Art piece)
Can Minneapolis/Saint Paul hold its own? Minneapolis City Hall is spectacular. The Foshay Tower, meh. The Wells Fargo or Capella Tower are impressive modern skyscrapers. But the Twin Cities signature building may be...a mall?
^ So with that mindset Philadelphia is way ahead of and more important than Los Angeles? Because they have more "cool" buildings?
Not mention Washington DC. That place is less important than Cleveland.
I'm just trying to bring a little humor/"lightness" to this conversation. This thread has gotten so full of numbers and long dissertions about GDP and CSA; it's hard to follow sometimes.
I don't understand, instead of using recognized metrics for city size such as UA, MSA, or CSA (and in Detroit's case, the international conurbation with Windsor), why are people using this radius population nonsense?
Pulling in Grand Rapids' population doesn't elevate Detroit in anyone's eyes and that is its own autonomous city and metropolitan region, independent of Greater Detroit.
I don't see how anyone logically could pull Grand Rapids into Detroit's region. It's 150 miles from Metro Detroit and most people from the Detroit area don't know anything about it. That makes no sense.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.