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

The gap has shrunk considerably in build quality. There is virtually no difference today. But in the 70s-90s it was night and day

 

last American made car I owned was a 2006 Jeep Wrangler, did ok for first 5 years then started having one electrical issue after another. Now compare that to my wife's 2003 Honda Accord which has had to have had 1 fuel injector module replaced in 10 years and over 100 K miles. I traded the Jeep in on a Honda CRV. Both the Accord and the were built in Maryville Ohio by American workers. Chrysler still has major issues, not just the one I owned but wifes co worker had a fancy Chrysler mini van that lived in the shop. I can't speak for Ford and GM but I was considering a Hybrid Escape when I bought the CRV but liked the CRV better

 

Oh and the gems Detroit put out! The ford probe, the reliant k ,Chevy Monza, Plymouth cricket, olds delta , geo metro. The automakers should have been ashamed. This is called Karma. This is what happens when you sell junk to Americans for over thirty years.

 

no, It started under Jimmy Carter.

 

On the other hand, I have a Lexus, an F250, a Mustang, a Focus, and a Chevy Silverado, all 2007 or later, and all pretty fair quality. No real issues on any of them. I mean all manufactures have their issues, but comparing my wife's Rx400h to my son's Mustang GT convertible in terms of quality isn't near as laughable as it would have been 10 years ago.

 

It had nothing to do with quality, and everything to do with skyrocketing gas prices and long lines at the pump.

 

oh clearly that played a big part, but it was also about quality. When the big three finally did get into the gas mileage game, they did so with pure garbage which only made the problem worse.

 

You're assumption that I'm falling for the two party scam is misplaced and well off the mark. However, I understand the embarrassment Detroit must be to the spread the wealth around crowd who are blaming everything and everyone else for the progressive policies resulting in the current Detroit debacle.

 

Did you see the post about Ed Schultz?

It could be that some of them are reading offbeat news sources that are actually reporting it as FACT. Schultz may have listened to some weird source (or lying source) that said Detroit has been Conservative for many years.

It is sad, alright. The libs are really being used by somebody. I think I know who, but folks wouldn't appreciate the proposition.

 

Theyre telling straight up lies, and they work for George Soros.

So does obama, mccain, graham, hillary, schumer, rangle, waters etc....

 

Don't knock the Geo Metro. You could drive it for weeks on a one tank of gas, in fact I miss my Metro...

 

Ethnic cleansing? I think not, culture cleansing maybe. Is that necessarily a bad thing? Purging this nation of the Gangsta culture and welfare queens that seem to dominate some urban areas wouldn't be the worst thing this nation could do...

 

Ah, you mean the Canadian built Suzuki? LOL

 

I don't care, I liked that car...

 

I'm just saying that car was not a product of Detroit.

Did you have the 58 HP 3 cylinder or did you step up the luxury of a 4 banger? LOL

 

Obama has made sure we will all be driving those soon.

 

Well no wonder it didn't suck! I've hated Detroit products since '76. I'll drive them, but simply because to me a car is a car.

I had the 3 cylinder, it has surprising pep, it was a fun car.

 

My friend had a 3 cyclinder Suzuki Swift. Let some air outta the tires and its a monster in the sands outside of Yuma...

 

Really? That's odd I have a 400 HP Lexus hybrid in my garage right now. It's actually more powerful and faster, as well as more efficient than the non Hybrid version of the same vehicle. It's a 2011 model vehicle.

I also have a 500 HP mustang in my driveway as well as Ford HD truck that gets 8 MPG all built since 2008.

Please try to convince me that Obama is out to ruin cars LOL

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LOL nice thing about those cars is if you got em stuck somewhere a couple guys could roll it over, or move it or whatever.

 

Uh, no Mrs. Perry, I don't think what happened in Detroit is the result of government being too small.

 

Nixon went to China, Ford carried on, Carter stirred the pot, Reagan/Bush deregulated the banks, stuck in the ass of mom & pops, deindustrialized the majority of the nation, trickled on the nation with corporate welfare out the wazoo, opened the door for corporate predatory lending & savings and loan scams, then Clinton carried the torch with more deregulation and the NAFTRA con designed by a republican congress lead by Newt (who also created the corporate welfare programs that brought us the Obama phones), then Bush almost drove the nation into a depression, so to not be outdone the two party scam under Obama has just about brought the nation to bankruptcy, and everybody since Reagan has kept and used the same economic wiz kids who brought us deregulation, bank scams, the housing bubble, and bailouts for all of the above.

Both parties "ARE" the problem.

 

Detroit is no different than a lottery winner that ran out of money and has no visible means of support. The democrats in charge there are idiots no doubt about it but they didn't create the situations that destroyed the city to begin with, but they certainly didn't do anything to change the inevitable or soften the blow. More cities are going to fail just a matter of time.

 

Here's some more smoke and mirrors for you...

The new hybrids are all the buzz in eco-freak territory because they get 42-45 MPG!!!

Well, la-tee-da...in the early 90's I could buy a Honda Civic Vx that had an EPA rating of 55MPG...and it didn't have any electric motors powering it.

Earlier than that, back in late 70's and early 80's VW made a diesel Rabbit. Friend of mine's dad had one...that damn thing got 65+MPG.

What ever happened to THAT motor technology? Why is it that 45MPG today, with tiny engines and helper electric motors touted as so awesome? That's no increase, they're still behind in mileage compared to less complex vehicles from 20+ years prior!

 

Lol, sounds like my highschool buddy's Datsun B210. It was a total POS, but we couldn't kill that damn thing. We would push in the clutch, stomp on the accelerator and literally let it scream as high RPM as it would go then dump the clutch, and it never blew up. Tear assing down the road at 55MPH and he decides to go "4-wheeling", zooom, off the road we went into the woods and dunes....yeah, the poor suspension was slapping the rest of the car to pieces from bottoming out, but it never broke. We rolled it up on its side one day doing slides on dirt roads by slamming on the emergency brake, so we hopped out, pushed it back over onto its wheels and off we went.

The poor thing actually got traded in on a new Nissan 4x4 pickup (which went straight from the dealership to the woods, lol). The truck lasted about 2 years before it was sent to the junk yard. My buddy was not known for taking care of his vehicles.

 

Well we can see what Republican State and local governments do now, and that might give you an indication of what could have prevented Detroit's decline if somehow they magically had Republican governance for the past 50 years instead of Democratic governance. They could have held the line on public employee pensions and retiree healthcare, they could have taken advantage of their location near the US's largest trading partner, Canada, and try to make a business friendly environment that would attract a mix of businesses and offer tax breaks to attract new manufacturing and business from other parts of the country, and they could have offered a safe environment by instituting some Guliani style law and order.

I'm sure there are other things to add to the list, but you get the idea, In the real world, the Democrats who actually welded power the last 50 years did none of these things. And let's face it, if you had been a citizen of Detroit, you would have voted against, and opposed any of these Republican ideas... right up until you moved to the suburbs and left the city to die.