Presented: A vision of Socialism Lite. Won’t it be fun when we get to the real thing? When the elites—who are wiser than us—relieve us of the awful burden of making our own decisions. All will, by force of law, be equally dismal—but equal!
Oh, and before you mention poor management of the car companies, pay attention to that 0% figure—the amount the unions gave of their political contributions to non-Democrats.
Maybe I’m just depressed because of Harry Reid’s Christmas present—yet another mandated government program that will require—by force of law!—that I hand over more of my money for something else that I do not want.
As a native Detroiter myself, this was very distressing, but not unknown to me.
I think blaiming all of the mayors , especially the early ones, is a bit misguided, as the real hand on the toilet handle belonged to Coleman Young. Subsequent mayors were less “successful” than Young only in that they weren’t as good at playing the race card, and Kirkpatrick was fool enough to actually get caught being a crook. I can only hope that Dave Bing can salvage something out of this wasteland.
I saw it first hand last summer, as I still have family in the area, and we like to take in a Tigers game at Comerica when we go back. This year, we had dinner first in Mexican Town (great if you’re lucky enough to zip in straight from the freeway). We took a shortcut from there to Comerica, past the Michigan Central station (shown several times in your video) and the old Tiger Stadium.
That really broke my heart, as I have fond memories of both (for obvious reasons for Tiger Stadium, but in addition, my Dad used to take me down to the station to feed the pigeons—I remember it as a bustling, vibrant area).
The whole area looked like what I might imagine Berlin looked like in 1946. They were tearing down parts of Tiger Stadium, so of course it was a pile of rubble, but it looked just like the surrounding area.
Because we allowed plenty of time for dinner, we got to the park much ealier than usual. Unlike previous years, the “locals” hadn’t cleared out yet, since we were so early. Walking through Grand Circus Park, got to observe some drug deals.
It’s sad, not only because of what’s happened, but because it’s hard to see a way out for the city.
Do the socialists and UAWer’s even understand what they’ve wrought? I see no evidence of them ‘wondering what went wrong’, but then I’m far away – on the best coast.
And the next question. How soon will Chicago look like this? Or is some other metropolis next on the list? Maybe the district of Columbia? This is beyond sad.
49er,
Your comment went to spam. The new updates are extremely touchy, and I can’t see why. Nothing in your comments seems objectionable. Perhaps the term “UAW”?
Hi –
I lived in DC for four years (1986-1990), first in Adams Morgan and then in SW down by the waterfront.
Without massive federal subsidies, DC would be far worse than Detroit. The violence when I lived there was largely concentrated in SE, where, when I was looking to buy a place, no real estate broker from NW would go for any reason whatsoever.
The city is dysfunctional for the same reason that Detroit was/is/will continue to be: too few productive factors, too many distributive elements, too many government workers and not enough control over them to make sure that their jobs were actually needed and not part of some bizarre, byzantine corruption. Corruption was rife: janitors having 5-6 jobs with the school district, each one earning significantly more than I was at the time, with kickbacks part and parcel of how the system worked, while broken windows went unfixed and the bathrooms in grade schools were not far removed from open cesspools.
It always happens when there is no accountability, no effective controls, and local politicians have made a trip to Chicago to find out how this is supposed to work properly. But then they always screw it up trying to do it at home to ensure that they have jobs for life…
Usually by failing to at least get the streets plowed when it snows.
To understand the entitlement mentality that underlies the trends in the PJ-TV video about Detroit, presented as a forshadowing of [coming? — I hope to be optimistic] socialism, I strongly recommmend you read the book, “The Liberal Mind, The Psychological Causes of Polital Madness,” by Dr. Lyle Rossiter (an experienced forensic psychiatrist. It can be downloaded at: http://www.libertymind.com.
This is the only reference I’m aware of that explains, to the layman, the real underlying causes driving this.
I grew up in the burbs just outside Detroit & have a vivid recollection from a gradeschool field trip to some art museum or other there: the city bus had a Coleman Young campaign bumper sticker flanked by a bullet hole…and things have gone downhill from there.
The People Mover monorail took years to build & get working. Disney’s theme park monorails are basically the same & were built in a tiny fraction of the time & cost. Detroit’s “management” of that project serves as a good case study of government corruption, waste & ineffiency — which of course extends throughout the city.
John Opie,
Not long after you left, I took a year -ong sabbatical during which I tried my hand at selling. I sold home improvement among other things. My sales district included all of the District. My personal experience leads me to believe that the District was not — and still is not — nearly as violent as perceived.
My one and only scary encounter was on a block of Girard just off of 15th St. NW. Going by what the homeowner told me, it was a very dangerous place to live. He told me about his preacher not showing up for a meeting one day and later finding out he had been mugged on his doorsetep. Upon hearing that, I thanked him for inviting me over. When I left, he arranged an escort to my car. Oh yeah, he wanted security doors and windows.
Baltimore is far scarier on my opinion going just by the stories of other salespersons. OTOH, I’ve spent more than one evening in Baltimore’s west side along the Fulton and Munroe corridor — not the best part of town — and never felt apprehension.
It seems that Detroit isn’t the clear winner (or loser, depending on your perspective,) in the “How to destroy a once prosperous city” contest.
Here’s what is and has been happening in San Francisco
http://www.sfweekly.com/2009-12-16/news/the-worst-run-big-city-in-the-u-s
Thanks, Matt. Those evil initials left a bad taste in my mouth, too. i noticed it didn’t post right away and saved it to a notepad, but the hour was late and Morpheus beckoned so I’m just getting back to it now. Btw, holiday baking odors wafting through our home remind me to wish one and all a Merry Christmas – or whatever.
Depressing. The Russians did a better job of cleaning up after Chernobyl.