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.
Detroit's predicament has two very simple, predictable causes:
1) Economic shifts that hit "one trick pony" cities harder than those that are more economically diverse
2) Mismanagement by local government.
On part 1, Detroit was a one trick manufacturing pony. That kicked ass in the 50s and 60s when Europe and Japan were still rebuilding from WW2 and China's manufacturing was still under communist lockdown. The Big 3 were the not just the biggest dogs on the porch, they were only dogs ion the entire neighborhood. Let the good times roll, happy days are here again, and this will all last forever....until it doesn't.
Japan emerges as serious player in the auto market in the 70s, thanks to OPEC and various oil crises, Big 3 market shares go into decline, etc etc. Europe regains their manufacturing edge, and both the Eurozone and Japan begin doing direct investment on American soil...just not in culturally locked Detroit.
This leads to (2) Local government mismanagement. Pledges made during the good times must be honored, lest local politicians get bounced from office, but tax revenues are falling. No sweat, raise taxes AND promise more stuff. Yippee, reelection won, but wait, super rich Detroiters are moving out and revenues are falling again. No sweat, raise taxes AND promise more stuff. Uh oh, now upper and middle class Detroiters, white AND black are moving out, and revenues keep falling. No sweat, now not only raise taxes some more, but blame all the people who left for their insolence, blame whitey for something, blame the enemy party, state government or the freaking White House, AND promise more free stuff! Lather, rinse, repeat ad nauseum.
When you have a solid lock on virtually all automotive manufacturing for an entire nation plus that nation's share of global automotive exports, you are ballin' and can be profligate with your spending. But then came the 1970s and every year after...and US, i.e., Detroit, dominance of the automotive manufacture market declined and did so substantially. And when the foreigners and new American manufacturers set up new shops to regain market share, they did it in new areas with much lower legacy costs, right to work laws, etc, further distancing Detroit from the good ole' days. And at almost no point until ruin was already upon them, did the government of Detroit do much else besides raise taxes, blame some external force and promise more free stuff to the lowest income quintiles.
Plenty of Democrat AND Republican led cities have done the same thing. Detroit is just the biggest example.
While I agree with the majority of your post, I disagree with Detroit being where it was due to the effects of WWII. I'm so tired of hearing that excuse for why not only certain cities but the US was so prosperous in that time. Yes, it was a factor but Detroit was prosperous long before that.
Ship building
Steel works
Locomotive rail cars
Cast iron Stoves
It's actually one of the best bike cities in America if you ain't skeered. A lot of people in the city don't have cars, and the drivers are quite mindful of bicyclists.
This is what neo-liberal policies alongside democrat identity politics, and unfettered criminal/corporate control of a city does.
What threatens Detroit is "conservative politics" where the true causes of Detroit's problems are ignored, and then liberals are attacked for Detroit's problems. And in the process no one discusses what can be done to solve Detroit's problems.
The other thing holding Detroit down is it's made pretty difficult to invest in a home there.
You can buy a fixer-upper project house for three or four grand all day. But you'd need a bigger stack of cash to get it livable (wiring, plumbing, new roof etc.) and you can't take out a loan for it.
Jeez. Many towns sold bonds to finance such projects for renewal of their slum areas. Guess they have nothing to back up the bonds.
Years ago you could get a building for a couple thousand and the city would give you 5 years to get up to code. NYC sold bonds for entire buildings to do that.
The obsession is real on here. Detroit and Chicago with a little Baltimore thrown in for good measure.
There are so many other cities doing well but lets use Detroit, a rust belt city that relied on car manufacturing. I bet half the people bashing Detroit drive foreign cars.
It's not American made if it has foreign parts. I live in Toledo and several years ago saw many people with that idiotic bumper sticker - "Out of a job yet? Keep buying foreign." Yeah right. One young woman was driving a car she thought was American made but had been assembled in Mexico with foreign parts. Show me a car made with 100% American made parts or close to it and assembled in the U.S., and then you'll have an American made car.
Back in the late 70's, as late as 1980, not sure the exact year, I recall the UAW was on strike for quite awhile. One of the last issues decided on was whether to assemble cars with foreign parts, meaning millions of factory jobs (both union and non-union) would be sent overseas. The Big 3 automakers told the UAW if they took a certain level of cuts to their pay and benefits the Big 3 would not use parts made overseas. The UAW refused, made small concessions for current members, and agreed to steeper cuts for future UAW members. If the UAW members at the time had been willing to take as big of cuts as they were willing to impose on their future UAW brothers, millions of jobs would have stayed in the U.S., at least for awhile. I'm sure at some point the Big 3 would have started buying foreign parts, but it could have been staved off for years, and the battle fought over off-shoring at a later time.
If people want to know why we have a rust belt it goes back to that time period, in some industries maybe even sooner. I remember it well because I have two older brothers who lost five factory jobs between them. Once one factory closed they went to another until that one closed down.
There was a time people took pride in buying American made products, especially cars. Unfortunately, the Big 3 automakers and UAW weren't as loyal.
On a sidenote, people have touched on some of the reasons Detroit is in the mess its in, but I don't recall seeing anything mentioned about the riots and racist attacks by blacks against whites. That more anything led to white flight to the suburbs.
Detroit's predicament has two very simple, predictable causes:
1) Economic shifts that hit "one trick pony" cities harder than those that are more economically diverse
2) Mismanagement by local government.
On part 1, Detroit was a one trick manufacturing pony. That kicked ass in the 50s and 60s when Europe and Japan were still rebuilding from WW2 and China's manufacturing was still under communist lockdown. The Big 3 were the not just the biggest dogs on the porch, they were only dogs ion the entire neighborhood. Let the good times roll, happy days are here again, and this will all last forever....until it doesn't.
Japan emerges as serious player in the auto market in the 70s, thanks to OPEC and various oil crises, Big 3 market shares go into decline, etc etc. Europe regains their manufacturing edge, and both the Eurozone and Japan begin doing direct investment on American soil...just not in culturally locked Detroit.
This leads to (2) Local government mismanagement. Pledges made during the good times must be honored, lest local politicians get bounced from office, but tax revenues are falling. No sweat, raise taxes AND promise more stuff. Yippee, reelection won, but wait, super rich Detroiters are moving out and revenues are falling again. No sweat, raise taxes AND promise more stuff. Uh oh, now upper and middle class Detroiters, white AND black are moving out, and revenues keep falling. No sweat, now not only raise taxes some more, but blame all the people who left for their insolence, blame whitey for something, blame the enemy party, state government or the freaking White House, AND promise more free stuff! Lather, rinse, repeat ad nauseum.
When you have a solid lock on virtually all automotive manufacturing for an entire nation plus that nation's share of global automotive exports, you are ballin' and can be profligate with your spending. But then came the 1970s and every year after...and US, i.e., Detroit, dominance of the automotive manufacture market declined and did so substantially. And when the foreigners and new American manufacturers set up new shops to regain market share, they did it in new areas with much lower legacy costs, right to work laws, etc, further distancing Detroit from the good ole' days. And at almost no point until ruin was already upon them, did the government of Detroit do much else besides raise taxes, blame some external force and promise more free stuff to the lowest income quintiles.
Plenty of Democrat AND Republican led cities have done the same thing. Detroit is just the biggest example.
I was in Washington, DC in 1984, when it was very down.
Look at 'er now!
Just look at 'er now!
S'like centrally controlled diversity!
See where fascism works!
See it? Do you see it?
What a wonderful place to live.
I was there to pick up my big check ($107,000) from successfully suing the Air Force, and my hometown Senator staff guy showed me through the new Senate Building. He apologized that the building was very dirty due to the fact that the janitors there were paid much less than the minimum wages of law, because the Senate wasn't required to pay the minimum wage.
There were a lot of concrete bumpers being installed around the White House at the time, when taken on a tour of the White House.
You just punched a hole in your own argument. Detroit is a RUST BELT city. Seattle, San Jose, Denver, are not Rust Belt cities. When the economy went belly-up in many areas, those who could work went elsewhere. Many who couldn't do better stayed. Obviously, home values and home prices drop.
Seattle, San Jose, other West/West Coast cities, they attract many people, particularly because of the tech industry. Alot of people actually want to move to Denver. There is a reason the cost of living in those cities are very high. Alot of people want to move to those cities. And thanks to the geography of the West Coast, not as much land to work with, therefore, that makes the price surge. Tech industry in combination with a high demand for the west coast and not alot of room equals high prices for rent. Contrast this with alot of Rust Belt cities that are losing alot of people and there is alot more room to expand.
You cannot blame Democrats for that. Accusing me for cherry picking only says you can't refute me, but you don't like what I had to say.
I can vouch for Denver. The amount of construction here is insane and I hope it can be sustained. The weather here is amazing which a lot of people don't know about. Our roads are a mess but it is being addressed. I moved from San Diego almost 20 years go to the Denver Metro area. No regrets at all, I just miss the ocean which I visit from time to time.
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.
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.
