MSNBC’s Melissa Harris Perry: Detroit Is What Happens When Government Is Too Small

Republicans dream of not having to pay taxes. If the Repubs were able to build a city government they dream of, it would look like a cross between Detroit and West Virginian coal mine company town.

 

I didnt insult you, I know you are smarter than this.

Yes, its true. The car companies were held hostage by the unions. They either gave in, or they moved the plant to Mexico, where there are no unions. Turns out, they did both.

No, Its not some conservative montra, its the sad truth.

 

Thats a lie, and complete bullcrap.

There are no republicans in destroit.

The last republican mayor was in 1957, before destroit imploded.

 

What would republicans have done any different than democrats to get around the loss of industry and deindustrialization, which cause all the loss in revenues, racial tension, crime, etc... I can see the same thing happening in areas that are republican dominated and used to be extremely profitable from agriculture, and once that main source of revenue was extinguished so was the prosperity. Short of turning the place into an adult playground, what options does that city have for the future, in it's present state? It's the same problem we are having with the nations economy. Lack of revenue created by good paying jobs. Until that is corrected it is just as much a symptom created by the republican party as the democrats. They are both contributing factors in the demise of this countries ability to survive. They are just going about it from different angles to keep the sheeple divided with their own ignorance.

 

What you got in Detroit is the product of the Democrat dream, not some imaginary dream that you claim Republicans want.

 

Black Power !!!!

 

Sounds like the two party scam this country has been plagued with since the 1970's. Neither party has clean hands in this economy. Their joint efforts have created a bigger more intrusive, arrogant government, produced record borrowing/debts, all but destroyed the middle class or the ability for small businesses to thrive, deregulated the banks, and offered the most ridiculous schemes to increase corporate welfare to protect the monopolized too big to fail masters. And now it is all coming to a boil.

 

Detroit was dead long before 2007.

 

Yep, Yankee republicans freed them, exploited them for all they were worth, and then abandoned them once they were no longer any use to them, and this is the product of that exploitation. So what is your point?

 

Both you and I will have to agree to disagree on this thread.

 

ALL of that stuff started under Reagan. Detroit entered the point of know return sometime in the 1980's, and never recovered. Industrial decline, hostile take overs, predatory lending/fraudulent mortgage & savings and loan scams have been standard operational procedures since the 1980's.

Again their key source of revenue was extinguished, and nothing could or did replace it. So what is the real point here?

 

no, what killed Detroit is the fact that they were building (*)(*)(*)(*)ty quality gas guzzling cars in the 70s when Japan invaded with well built fuel efficient vehicles that consumers actually wanted.

That is fact

GM went from 60% of the us car market to like 20% in a matter of years.

The truth is that isn't the fault of any form of government. It's the fault of the automakers themselves. Hell with a 60% market share no government policy was going to make or break GM. They were literally making money as fast as they could collect it. But they failed to see the shift in consumer wants and so their sales dropped and when their sales dropped they still had all the lavish costs to keep paying and so their profit level took an immediate nosedive which meant suddenly they were paying a LOT less in taxes.

Now eventually of course to they had to downsize which led to fewer employees which led to less tax base.

National policy, short of not allowing ANY imports, wouldn't have changed this a single bit. The only thing that would have changed anything is if the big 3 would have recognized and adapted to consumer wants and needs a LOT sooner.

Blaming left or right politics for Detroit is stupid.

 

Thats all bullcrap. Poor people from all over the country flocked to detroit back in the day, because Henry Ford offered jobs for 5 bucks a day.

My point is Detroit has basically been run by Black Panthers for 40 years. You wanna blame racial strife on republicans, but they dont exist in detroit.

 

And you honestly believe those laws were followed? You don't know politicians very well, do you?

 

True, I think all politicians are lying, cheating rats. The problem is, I have to side with whichever rat is willing to somewhat run things in a direction I think is the right way.

Based on your statement though, it is hard to ignore the democrat influence, not only on Detroit, but also entire states, like CA, for example.

We either "accept" the ridiculous corruption within all government and get behind someone, or we need to make some changes.

 

Well since you mentioned it, Lets ask look at who was responsible for all that, in the late 70's.....







[video=youtube;3U_QhauNzFg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3U_QhauNzFg[/video]

So you go right on pretending.....

 

my bad, i forgot some of you tools have to blame EVERYTHING on left vs right.. Ill just take my sensible posts to another thread.

 

Adapt or die.

Detroit was a one trick pony...it made cars...it never adapted to a changing economy, a global econony wherein it had to compete with car manufacturers globablly...

As alluded to already...Detroit produced notorious junk in the 70's and 80's and expected consumers to smile while waiting in the repair shop...meanwhile paying a forklift operator the equivalent of a physician intern...and funding their retirement pension, healthcare to boot.

Detroit never adapted...car manufacturers could not adapt to changing consumer needs and they faced huge pension liabilities from retired auto workers getting 80% of their pay and full medical benefits....while producing nothing.

It was an unsustainable pipe dream....and Detroit never adapted.

Auto plants closed....people and businesses fled...the tax base shrunk..and the municipal government was unable to sustain a public sector pension liability....again....

retired workers getting 80% of their pay and full medical benefits...while producing nothing..


Get it through your thick skulls....progressives....

the days of a guy tightening a lug nut for $30.00 an hour and full medical benefits...and a pension offering 80% of their pay and full medical benefits...are dead & gone....

The American economy has to adapt or it will die....cities which offered a non-union option for manufacturers...cities which offer tax incentives for manufacturers to move there...cities which switched to a service based economy...
will survive...

The dinosaurs like Detroit who still believe more Unionization is the answer....more regulation and higher taxes for corporations is the answer....more tax revenue...is the answer...to sustain an unsustainable pipe dream...and guess what...Detroit and cities like it...are going extinct.

Adapt or die...

your choice.

 

Well, you don't "have" to side with anything, if you don't want to. I, for one, get tired of voting for the lesser of two evils. It's like stacking piles of crap up less than the other and saying 'Well, this pile only has 19 piles of crap, it's a lot better than 20 piles'. Nothing's going to change as crap is still being piled up. So rather than adding 20 piles every election, 19 piles are added. It's still piling, maybe not as fast as the other, but it's still growing nonetheless.

The reality is people can't afford anything, this country is in more debt than they have any type of wealth, and the answer to this is always 'More spending'. Then, even if you bring down to it's simplest terms and say 'Max out all of your credit cards and tell me if you feel wealthy or not', someone will say 'It's a lot different than that'. Maybe the complexities are different, but the same reality holds true. If you spend more than what you bring in, you're not going to be able to pay for the things you got. Thus, it's either you borrow more money, and attempt to find ways to make that money work to create some form of revenue to pay off the debt you've accumulated, or you file for bankruptcy.

Detroit & Stockton are two cities that filed for bankruptcy, I'm waiting to see which city is next. If I had to guess, I'd say it'd be nearest to me, Baltimore.

 

It might help if you didnt deny reality when posting.

Detroit didnt build cars people didnt want, they built cars people could no longer afford to drive, cause jimmy carter ran the economy into the garbage.

 

Whether or not the laws were followed, they are in place. It's up to those responsible for upholding the laws to do such; if not then elect politicians who'll make sure they are enforced.

 

You wish

Good economies do that, bad economies tend to leave behind the exploited class with no other options but to stay.

Not any more, once they bled that stink hole for all it was worth, they took the profits and abandoned ship. The remnants remaining are shooting in the dark, because they haven't got a clue what they are doing. Republicans were smart enough to get the hell out of Dodge, while the getting was good, because they knew there was nothing left to salvage.

Like I said the place should have been scrapped out over 20 years ago to get as much from the debris as possible and the rest dozed under. Other than that the only reason people are still holding out is they don't have anyplace else to go, even if they could afford too.

 

just google Detroit + corruption. Just more chicago style politics by democrats lining their pockets and depositing millions in their off shore accounts while giving the sheeple free stuff for their votes. All it takes some to be happy is a place in the ghetto, some kraft mac and cheese and a free cell phone. Throw in a flat screen to watch msnbc on and they are in heaven

 

[video=youtube;6I5BQcqihnE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6I5BQcqihnE[/video]

 

Lol, we had a Plymouth Volare station wagon (same car as the Dodge Aspen). Biggest piece of crap to ever roll on wheels.

Still, cars today aren't significantly better. Some things are, but not all. They still start having major issues at around the 80-100K mark. Foreign cars are no exception. I've owned a lot of cars and trucks over the years and with the exception of those years/models of notorious poor quality, they've all been more or less the same in terms of quality, durability, etc.

The problem is that Americans tend not to abide a bad experience with anything. Unfortunately, nothing is perfect and there will always be mistakes or problems, especially with complex mechanical devices. Chrysler took a big hit with their quality issues in the 70's and I'm not sure they've ever fully recovered. I also don't believe they haven't actually gotten their act together to some degree as their products are absolutely on par with about every other offering out there. In fact, the most reliable, longest lasting, least problematic vehicle I've ever owned is my 1994 Dodge Ram 2500 diesel 4x4 pickup. I've had to have it in the shop twice since owning it. One for a recall issue and one for a wear item that I am not equipped to fix myself. It now needs a new transmission at 175K miles, but anyone that knows trucks knows that ALL of the big diesel pickups will be replacing automatic transmissions somewhere between 80-120K (it's just the nature of auto trannies and high torque diesel engines), so 175K has been pretty darn good. Yep, I'll happily pay $5,000 for a transmission and torque converter (for a heavier built aftermarket brand) because I know my Dodge will still be going strong another 175K or more.

We also have owned Honda, Nissan, BMW, Mercedes and Toyota vehicles. Guess what? They don't last any longer than the Fords, Dodges or Chevies we've owned. Some have been junk and some have been pretty good, and that's mixed between "domestic" and "foreign" brands (as if there really is such a thing anymore any way). The only thing the BMW or Mercedes gave us the others didn't was maintenance costs about 3 times higher.