Half Of Detroit Can't Pay Water Bill. UN To The Rescue? (Coleman: loans, home)

[OuttaTheLouBurbs]

Originally Posted by mrviking

Ya, democrats never stopped any republican legislation from going thru when Reagan, Bush1 and Bush
2 where pres right??/ LOL

When they did, they stopped it because they felt it wasn't right for the nation (whether that was true or not). Up until now the Republicans did the same. Now they just block everything because it's Obama and he is a communist Muslim Kenyan foreigner who hates America.

[Retroit]

Originally Posted by detwahDJ

So this is your defense of Republican congressional obstructionism and doing nothing else for six years?
Wrong, the "Democrat" Party is pro-labor but also has a handful of yellow dogs (Republicon DINOs) in it, which saves Republicon bacon from time to time.
Conservative trickle-down policies have driven jobs from the country for the benefit of their investor-class base - and no one else.
You don't like government "interference" but gladly accept corporate welfare and tax breaks for the wealthy? Why is the wealthy conservative base so "dependent" upon government? What about that much-vaunted "personal responsibility" so touted by the Right?
The Corporate Welfare State: How the Federal Government Subsidizes U.S. Businesses | Cato Institute
Taxpayers Deserve to Know How Their Money is Squandered » The Progress Report

OK it's true that some hardline moderate Republicans are against such "handouts" but your sorry corporate-owned media cabal, including Faux News, won't say much about this.
You don't think the government should create jobs, so what are all those tax breaks for? It is government "interference" in the marketplace. You really don't believe government has a place in economic stimulus? Seriously? What about government-created jobs for the crumbling infrastructure which your heroes in Congress have sabotaged? Should we wait for some corporation to make "free market" decisions on things like this? Privatized roads and bridges okay by you?

Conservative deregulation is what led to the economic crash of 2008 which required taxpayer bailout of the "too big to fail" banks. Our banking industry is dominated by a handful of institutions which have the power to destroy our economy while holding the American taxpayer hostage, and who have discovered that mergers, i.e. monopolistic cabals (like Big Oil and even "territorial" ISPs), increase their power and control of markets. Thanks to repub obstructionism, they are back to their old tricks. Conservatives, republicon or democrat, don't want "big government" interfering with this "free market" process which tolerates collusion.

Per the Constitution, government is to oversee citizenry's "general welfare" and rule by corporations is economic fascism while rule by the wealthy is plutocracy - both of which are anti-democracy and are also endorsed by the rightist media, including Faux News. Why do y'all righties constantly crow about the Constitution while ignoring the parts you don't like?
Yeah, government "of the people" is required for lots of things, including the economy and the well-being of the poor, and whatever else is needed for the citizen's "general welfare", including employment. After years of the conservative corporate-sponsored trickle-down panacea, why do you righties continue to single out Obama for high unemployment numbers?
Since Congressmen respond to their investor-class patrons who favor trickle-down outsourcing, corporate lobbyists have gained control of government thanks to this sorry donor system of campaign finance favored mostly by repubs who obstruct all attempts at reform. This is what causes poverty and unemployment whether in Detroit or anywhere else. Detroit just happened to be the center of, and highly dependent on, outsourceable manufacturing.

There is nothing "of the people" in either plutocracy or corporate special-interest "free market" control of government. Both are oligarchies.

Just for the record, I am against subsidies for corporations. However, you are apparently unaware of the fact that the Democratic party is just as complicit at granting those subsidies as the Republicans.

[detwahDJ]

Originally Posted by mrviking

Ya, democrats never stopped any republican legislation from going thru when Reagan, Bush1 and Bush
2 where pres right??/ LOL

Oh yeah, dems have opposed and stopped legislation. Repugs have taken it to a whole new level.
An unprecedented number of filibusters - sometimes even of their own legislation.
3 Charts Explain Why Democrats Went Nuclear on the Filibuster | Mother Jones

And how about that awful number of Obama executive orders Faux News complains about?
Obama’s Executive Orders

And the awful number of Obama vacations which has wadded conservative panties?
Who vacationed more, Bush or Obama? | PolitiFact

Illustrated here is the new level of obstructionism. Keep in mind that the repub Congress has done nothing else over six years.
The Senate GOP's Unprecedented Obstruction In Five Charts | Right Wing Watch

Originally Posted by Retroit

Just for the record, I am against subsidies for corporations. However, you are apparently unaware of the fact that the Democratic party is just as complicit at granting those subsidies as the Republicans.

Too much Fox "information" in your posts - you need a change. Oh I am aware. There is criticism of Obama from the "left" for being too much the corporatist. Look at his appointments of Geithner etal - Wall Street foxes guarding the henhouse - right from the neocon playbook. Corporate blue-dog dems and repugs are on the same page, and I said so in my post. There are just more of these types in the Republican Corporate Party.
The Progressive Democratic Caucus wants reforms, but doesn't have the numbers or power of the flat-out corporatists. There is no equivalent in the American Corporate Party whose members flat-out sabotage all reform. A congress for sale to the highest bidder - this is what trickle-down Reaganomics has done.
Repugs also have the Supreme Court which gave us the anti-democracy "corporations are people and money is speech (not just property)" Citizens United ruling. In their admitted tactic to obstruct everything dems want as their road to the White House, they even filibuster their own legislation. Faux not telling you this stuff?

Republicon obstructionism laid bare. What a sorry display - depending on the corporate media to ignore such stories in their "news" cycles thus keeping Americans in the dark. Naturally you hate the media which exposes this.
Bills Blocked by Republican Filibusters - Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont
McConnell Filibusters His Own Bill To Lift Debt Ceiling
Senate GOP filibusters tax-cut bill it supports | MSNBC

Notice in the above listings how "job-creation" efforts by withdrawing tax incentives to outsource were filibustered. These initiatives were not, in your words, "government creating jobs", they were just a first step in leveling the field. So IMO let those filibustering neocons pay those water bills.

[detwahDJ]

Originally Posted by OuttaTheLouBurbs

When they did, they stopped it because they felt it wasn't right for the nation (whether that was true or not). Up until now the Republicans did the same. Now they just block everything because it's Obama and he is a communist Muslim Kenyan foreigner who hates America.

Here's the story on that.
GOP's Anti-Obama Campaign Started Night Of Inauguration

Yes, a "who's who" dinner party was held the night of Obama's inauguration where the republican plot was devised to obstruct Obama at all cost. Check out who was on the guest list - House Speaker John Boehner, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and Michigan's own Pete Hoekstra. Even that pillar of right-wing morality, Newt Gingrich, was there. We should keep this in mind whenever these "leaders", and any others on the list, find their way into the national media with their "opinions".

Let's recognize that these people are plutocrats whose desire is to privatize places like Detroit and as much else as they can get away with. Create poverty then step in to "save" it? It has been suggested that this is a possible first step in a wider plan of privatization and corporatization of governments, but it is still early in the game.

[Retroit]

I see MSLSD has done a great job of brainwashing someone.

[jessxwrites89]

Originally Posted by Retroit

Just for the record, I am against subsidies for corporations. However, you are apparently unaware of the fact that the Democratic party is just as complicit at granting those subsidies as the Republicans.

I agree with Retroit on this one. It seems like both the Republicans and Democrats have done their fair share of damage... not only in Detroit, but other places. Currently I live an hour and a half away from Camden and Camden is falling down as well. Like Detroit, all the businesses left. My parents refuse to go there because of the crime; I suppose that's why they get nervous with me with Detroit. I have a hope that places like Detroit, Camden and heck even Baltimore rise again. We need to get America back.

[Devout Urbanist]

Originally Posted by detwahDJ

Let's recognize that these people are plutocrats whose desire is to privatize places like Detroit and as much else as they can get away with. Create poverty then step in to "save" it? It has been suggested that this is a possible first step in a wider plan of privatization and corporatization of governments, but it is still early in the game.

I don't think it's too early to tell. This is standard operating procedure in the age of neoliberal capitalism and those of us who actually care about Detroit should expect it to happen. Consider the fact that when Mexico defaulted during the Reagan administration it was forced by the U.S.-controlled IMF to implement more privatization, which, of course, benefited bankers and American corporations. Same thing happened earlier in NYC after their bailout. Many of the government's responsibilities and organizations will be privatized. There will be an attempt to reduce union power and increase financialization. All of this will lead to more income inequality in the city proper and some neighborhoods in Detroit still thought of as decent and relatively stable, particularly in Northwest Detroit, could suddenly start to look more and more like the worst parts of the city during the height of its decline.

[Devout Urbanist]

Originally Posted by jessxwrites89

We need to get America back.

Fair enough, but it's kind of hard to do that when your government is run by multi-national corporations. The capitalist class does not care about nationalism or patriotism. They care about money, and they will follow it wherever it goes. Some people just don't understand this. Or they do and think the solution is for workers in Detroit to accept lower wages, pension cuts, and lousy and overpriced healthcare coverage. This is their vision of America, apparently.

[jessxwrites89]

Originally Posted by Devout Urbanist

Fair enough, but it's kind of hard to do that when your government is run by multi-national corporations. The capitalist class does not care about nationalism or patriotism. They care about money, and they will follow it wherever it goes. Some people just don't understand this. Or they do and think the solution is for workers in Detroit to accept lower wages, pension cuts, and lousy and overpriced healthcare coverage. This is their vision of America, apparently.

Yeah, I see that too and it makes me sad to see. I'll be 25 on Friday... so my experiences are limited, but reading about how we used to be... it makes me hopeful, but at the same time sad.

[Devout Urbanist]

Originally Posted by jessxwrites89

Yeah, I see that too and it makes me sad to see. I'll be 25 on Friday... so my experiences are limited, but reading about how we used to be... it makes me hopeful, but at the same time sad.

Hope you have a nice birthday. I'm not that much older than you, but I grew up partly in Detroit. People don't understand that the city really turned a corner in the 2000s. I can remember when Belle Isle was bustling (anyone else ride the Giant Slide?) and NW Detroit had several grocery stores.

Anyway, I have always believed that if you don't know where you come from then you don't know where you're going. That is why I tell people to read The Origins of the Urban Crisis by Thomas Sugrue if they really want to understand Detroit and deindustrialization. Check it out if you haven't already.

And, by the way, you should be hopeful. It doesn't have to be this way. People are losing faith in neoliberalism, which only increases inequality, everyday. Things will change.