Posted on 09/01/2010 9:31:43 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
A city does not die when its last resident moves away. Death happens when municipalities lose the industries and vital populations that made them important cities.
The economy has evolved so much since the middle of the 20th Century that many cities that were among the largest and most vibrant in America have collapsed. Some have lost more than half of their residents. Others have lost the businesses that made them important centers of finance, manufacturing, and commerce.
Most of America’s Ten Dead Cities were once major manufacturing hubs and others were important ports or financial services centers. The downfall of one city, New Orleans, began in the 1970s, but was accelerated by Hurricane Katrina.
Notably, the rise of inexpensive manufacturing in Japan destroyed the ability of the industrial cities on this list to effectively compete in the global marketplace. Foreign business activity and US government policy were two of the three major blows that caused the downfall of these cities. The third was the labor movement and its demands for higher compensation which ballooned the costs of manufacturing in many of these cities as well.
24/7 Wall St. looked at a number of sources in order to select the list. One was the US Census Bureau’s list of largest cities by population by decade from 1950 to 2000 with estimates for 2007. Detroit, for example, had 1.9 million people in 1950 and was the fifth largest city in the nation. By 2000, the figure was 951,000. The city was not even on the top ten list in 2007.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
I suspect the “lost population” of most of those cities didn’t move very far. They might not live within the city limits any more, but they’re still in the suburban metropolitan area, in most instances.
None of the cities listed in the example are what I would call thriving, but I wouldn’t call them dead, either. New Orleans may never be the city it was in the 19th and early 20th century, but Katrina cleaned out a lot of the dead wood and things are actually moving in a somewhat positive direction now—admittedly with a long, long way to go. Galveston took a hard knock, but it’s not going anywhere. He has a better argument with Detroit and Cleveland.
“Now...how many of these have now, and have had for quite a while, Liberal/Democrat leadership and governing bodies?”
So what about the cities that aren’t dying or dead and have Liberal/Democrat leadership? Do those liberals get credit for that as well?
I wish it were true that we could blame this all on Democrats but there are other forces that caused this.
It's so stupid it's funny.
“Man oh man, this thread is turning into virtual parade of strawmen.”
Sorry if recalling the things said in the past causes you to cry “strawman”.
The free traders got their way.
It’s all worked out quite well for America, don’t you think?
RE: there is little reason to live IN NYC. Everything can be done less expensively, more cleanly and with more future viability OUTSIDE of NYC. Wall Street is doomed.
With New York City’s living expenses ( e.g. commercial and residential rents ) and taxes going through the roof and the increasing use of high speed internet connections, is there any reason why New York would still be the financial capital of the USA in the future ?
Electronic trading can be done anywhere now, so what financial advantage would a company have to be PHYSICALLY located in New York City and pay its high taxes and rents ?
I am already seeing many firms slowly moving their operations to other states (and maybe even overseas ).
Can we add our own? I will nominate Duluth, MN. It has much going for it in the way of location (rail from the prairies/western coal fields meets international port on the Great Lakes), setting and natural beauty. Destroyed first by literal Communists, many of whom still live there, followed not surprisingly by gangbangers/welfare parasites. Has lost jobs and population consistently for the past 40 years. Hub of Rep. Jim Oberstar’s district, the poster boy for term limits.
All democrat cities...
perhaps TX is slightly republican
but all dead.
Quote; “We can’t compete. We can’t make good products. We don’t need a tax base.”
And could you swim with an anchor tied to your foot? Who can make anything with the union anchor tied around our necks. Let’s just hope the service sector unions destroy the service sector too.
With all due respect to northern Freepers,
My comment is:
1. BUFFALO,NY —Yankees
2. FLINT, MICHIGAN —Yankees
3. DETROIT, MICHIGAN —Yankees
4. CLEVELAND, OHIO —Yankees
5. HARTFORD, CT —Yankees
6. NEW ORLEANS, LA —Whodats
7. ALBANY, NY —Yankees
8. ATLANTIC CITY, NJ —Yankees
9. ALLENTOWN, PA —Yankees
So, who cares?
New York City has thrived as an "entertainment capital" of sorts for the last two decades, and this actually provides incentives for major corporations to maintain offices there even if they move their headquarters and operations elsewhere. Someone in a major U.S. corporation told me that this remains the case simply because so many of their top executives (including ones from foreign offices) attach a certain status to hosting meetings and events in New York City.
Heck, I think even NASCAR has an office in Midtown Manhattan.
You missed #10 .... any reason why ?
Flint and Detroit are not necessarily dead cities. They will be purchased for pennies on the dollar and incorporated into the expanding Dearbornistan.
But they have a dozen mosques. They’ll be fine.
Everything dies, baby that’s a fact
But maybe everything that dies some day comes back.
Put your makeup on, fix your hair up pretty
And meet me tonight in 8. ATLANTIC CITY
1. BUFFALO,NY
No Mention of Love Canal ?
2. FLINT, MICHIGAN
3. DETROIT, MICHIGAN
4. CLEVELAND, OHIO
5. HARTFORD, CT
6. NEW ORLEANS, LA
I don’t see how the Insurance industry really made a difference here. Again, I chock this up to liberal leadership increasing hand-outs, attracting thugs and miscreants to the area. Their arrival was heralded.
7. ALBANY, NY
Liberals destroyed this place.
8. ATLANTIC CITY, NJ
Gambling destroyed this place. Attracted roaches.
9. ALLENTOWN, PA
10. GALVESTON, TX
Environmentalism destroyed these places. Allentown wasn’t ever a great place to live - But there was a time when it was good to WORK. Like Connecticut (Where I reside). It’s a good place to work. Not to raise your kids.
The one lesson that you have failed to learn is that your typical free-trader spends most of his time warning others about the dangers of governmental interference in the market place. So how has that worked out for America? Want more of it?
I would add eliminating foreign language from gen. ed. requirements until the student has shown proficiency in English. There are far too many students out there who seem to have the mission in life to leave no infinitive unsplit.
Why do people not preview images? Someday you’re going to get a real surprise when some hacker inserts a child porn pic in place of the image you were trying to display.
I remember when they tried to outlaw “white flight” but found out that private schools popped up and they could not stop those.
bussing was a total failure and Brown vs Board only helped the incompetent teachers.
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