Lisa Benson for July 21, 2013

A once mighty proud city…undone by unions.

The Democrats ran that city into the ground and if it wasn’t for the Republicans in the House, this whole country could be bankrupt.

Decades of disinvestment in American manufacturing fostered largely by conservatives has destroyed the heart of many of the big urban centers. Detroit being just one example.

I agree with you.Can’t figure out why you folk always think “a good health plan” is part of your employment package.And the better the job the less you need the employer to provide it.Doesn’t make sense to me.

If universal health care bankrupted the car companies, it will bankrupt the country as well. When something is free it gets abused, the sheep don’t understand that somebody along the line has to pay for it. Both parties are corrupt so don’t start with the Dem/GOP garbage.

There was nothing wrong with this country that couldn’t have been fixed with some modest and well placed tariffs starting back in the early 1980’s. This would have greatly expanded the USA tax base and leveled the playing field somewhat on imports.

Instead, we pursued “free trade” which was really a war on the working middle class. You can’t compete with countries that pay their workers a couple of dollars a day (or less) and have a living wage for your own people.

Of course the Detroit (the city) bankruptcy is just an effect of Detroit’s (the mfg entity) failure to compete in an unfair biased market.

BTW: Repubs and Dems are equally guilty here ..

As a Canadian looking into the USA; from the outside. The USA = Rome and that empire fell. There is going to be a fire sale and it will be Detroit, Windsor is already looking at buying the tunnel. My overall thought is, what if China buys that whole city?

I don’t think it is fair to blame Unions for the bankruptcy of Detroit anymore then I think it is fair to blame the car companies i.e. Boardrooms. These were two economic players in Detroit but there were many others.

I think Detroit should be looked at as an example of what happens when a population dependent on handouts doesn’t lower their expectations of care when the people paying the bills can’t afford it anymore.

California – This will be you in just a few years.

The tax rates and crime got so out of control that many with the opportunity to leave the city did so. But the Needy just kept demanding their services and care and the government was slow to reduce their staff in response to a declining tax base.

California is doing the same thing. Many with the ability to leave the state with the ability to make a living in a place with a lower tax base are choosing to do so. California continues to make their social services attractive to the needy and chases away all of those who would support their welfare state.

Atlas is shrugging everyone. The people who work and pay their taxes are tired of being looked at as a cash cow for every sob story that isn’t willing to go out and work to support themselves.

We, as a society, make far too many excuses for those who aren’t working. Yes the job market is depressed but there are jobs out there – In today’s economy you might have to work 2 jobs to support yourself but that is a far better alternative then being dependent on a state or municipality that is running out of money.

We should take care of those who CANNOT work: The profoundly handicapped, the aged, and the very sick. But 2+years of Unemployment insurance and SSDI have made it far more attractive to sit on the couch and assume that someone will take care of you.

Old1953 is on the mark. In 1950, I could ride the streetcar todowntown Detroit for a nickel. Then the car companies paid the city costs + a bonus to tear up the tracks and sell the streetcars to South America. Documented at the Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library.. the town since has had no functioning public transportation but great freeways plowed thru historic neighborhoods.

@Adrian Snare – I disagree with your statement that starts “The better the man does…”. In this country the Liberals would like to make it the exact opposite.

The liberals look to rob those that are successful to pay for the needs and wants of those that haven’t done as well.

There is an anti-wealth and anti-success sentiment in this country that fills me with the urge to defacate.

The Liberals point to the Paris Hiltons and the other trust fund babies and say – That is the average wealthy person in America – They inherited their wealth, they don’t deserve it and there are others who need that money.

You can come up with many ways to justify looting but it is still looting at the end of the day.

Part of the rage against Obama care that you are seeing in this country comes from people who feel they are being fleeced every step of the way to pay for another group of people that are quite happy to use the government to take their living from those who have done better then they.

Also lets be honest about what Obama care really is. It’s robbing young people to pay for the health care of the elderly. You can say that you are giving young people something in return (Health care) but they really are paying more then they are getting in return.

One more transfer of wealth from the Young to the Elderly – A voting block of cleptomaniacs: Medicare, Social Security, Drug Benefit, and now they want more.

Please, people this has nothing to do with Democrats or unions. The elected officials were criminals. The former mayor, the pension fund manager, and several others have been indited for embezzlement and fraud, and racketeering.

JIm Pallas,same exact thing happened in Los Angeles, when they did away with the “red cars”, and built freeways at the behest of oil and auto companies pressure. The result was a destroyed environment, including the agricultural base of orchards, dairies, etc, and of course, the air quality.

But, the real secret to cities going bankrupt is simply the fact the didn’t match tax bases (small increases over many years) to meet future obligations, then, they paid corporations huge benefits to locate there, then, after the tax breaks expired, and subsidies, the corporations moved the jobs to other states, or countries. That left the cities on the hook for what “capitalists” did to them!! (No, communism and socialism on their own isn’t “better”, but a mix of all, when “capitalism” isn’t actually FEUDALISM, works.)

Back again to California depopulation, between 2010 – 2012 the population went from 37.2 – 38 million people.

@Quipss – You obviously miss the point.

If you want to voluntarily give away your earnings to support others then go for it. That is your right. But it is looting to insist that others do so.

And it is the epitome of nerve to assume that if they didn’t give it to the elderly then it would be used for less noble purposes.

My hunch is – If those young people were allowed to keep their income rather then support everyone’s granny then they would raise families, buy a house, grow a garden that beautified the neighborhood and improved the quality of the food their family would eat.

The Senior group is the wealthiest group in this country and yet they continue to harvest the hard work and industry of the struggling younger generations.

Obamacare is just one more way for the seniors to reach into somebody else’s pocket.

@Quipps – As for machinery

I’m an engineer by training. I’ve been involved in the creation of many machines that allow 1 man to do the work of 30 or 500 (that is not an exageration).

Technology is here to stay and it continues to improve all the time. Not only is there nothing we can do about that we should embrace that. Consumers are able to buy products for much less because it doesn’t take as many people or hours to bring a product to market.

Everybody benefits EXCEPT the guy who isn’t willing to improve his job skills to take advantage of that technology.

Wow, you SURE showed me up there with that thoughtful reply…

@r2varney – Those other 49 guys can be better deployed in the economy doing something more productive then digging a ditch. This assumes that they are willing to use their minds to develop new skills. Which is apparently a big assumption because there are many out there that spent two years laying around on the couch waiting for THEIR job to come back – The one that can be done for half the cost somewhere else.

The people who invest in the companies that employed those overpaid workers expect the board and CEO to optimize their profits on their investment. Thats the way capitalism works.

I stand under the same Sword of Damacles. Tomorrow they could invent a computer program that designs products and tests them and delivers them to market. Then my Engineering skills are obsolete. Long before we get to that point though, I will have learned how those boxes work and become the best at improving and maintaining said boxes.

You are better off r2. You buy products more cheaply, the companies do less damage to the environment for the same unit of production, you have a broader selection of products. Don’t be a Luddite. It won’t look good on you.

@Mrs1wing – I went back and looked at the picture and I had to agree with you. It’s been a long time since I read the book but it was one of the most realistic – end of days stories I ever read.

Randal Flag

We could become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dubai. Quickly, before the current administration engineers their third term.

I think that sums it up well. Thank you.

I have to disagree. While I don’t agree with all their points (nor all the Republicans) I think the Democrats do want the country to be strong. They just define ‘strength’ differently than you.

Detroit was sent downhill with mindless, do what they’re told, robots, taking over in the plants. Hmm, that’s exactly what’s happened to the Republican Party with neocons and “TEA party” types taking over. (And too bloody many Democrats are getting just about as bad!)

Fair enough way to put it as well. I’ve never quite understood why there’s such animosity in this regard between the two parties. Both value business and both value America. The bracket rating doesn’t really matter. Or maybe that’s just me.