Posted on 01/25/2011 7:16:08 AM PST by SeekAndFind
No place in America better symbolizes the ruination brought by Democrats than Detroit. The city has been run by Democrats for decades, while its economic life has been in thrall to the unions, which drove up wages to unsustainable levels, ruining the American auto industry.
The UK Guardian has published a selection of stunning photographs taken by Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre, showing the ruins of once grand buildings in the Motor City. It is heartbreaking to see -- almost as if a war was fought there.
Actually, there was, but it was a political war won by Democrats and unions, with the results starkly obvious to all not blinded by ideology. If President Obama has his way with over-regulation, union bailouts, borrowing and spending, and "spreading the wealth around," he can do for America what the Dems have done for Detroit.
Detroit in ruins: the photographs of Yves Marchand and Romain MeffreIn downtown Detroit, the streets are lined with abandoned hotels and swimming pools, ruined movie houses and schools, all evidence of the motor city's painful decline.
The photographs of Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre capture what remains of a once-great city and hint at the wider story of post-industrial America
Gallery of Detroit in Ruins here :
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/gallery/2011/jan/02/photography-detroit?intcmp=239
Isn’t it amazing what havoc socialism and social programs can do. The dopes keep doing it over and over again and you know what that proves - insanity.
If Germans or Japanese lived there, Detroit wouldn’t be in its present condition. It would be a lot safer too.
Talk about a post-Apocalypse view of a once-thriving city.
In 20 years Detroit will be the epitome of urban farms. That’s what they need to do, viz. raze the entire city and then farm the land.
Might free trade also have something to do with this?
There are new German and Japanese automobile plants popping up across Alabama and Georgia. Hyundai in Montgomery and now KIA in West Point.
It would be nice if the Republican Response to the SOTU address could be Paul Ryan’s voice, over the slideshow of Detroit, with periodic statements reminding people what Democrats do when they hold power for too long.
RE: If Germans or Japanese lived there, Detroit wouldnt be in its present condition. It would be a lot safer too.
Just 65 years ago, Germany and Japan were in ruins and Detroit was a thriving city and one of America’s most prosperous.
Kinda makes one wonder... Who the heck won the war?
Germany is more socialist than the United States. Somehow Germany manages to thrive. Why is that?
Free Trade had nothing to do with this. It was the Unions forcing the price of our vehicles up, severely lacking a quality ethic that the rest of the World wanted nothing to do with. This is why nonunion foreign manufacturers are gaining a foothold. They build them at less cost, and consumers have a better product.
unions killed this city
Put a fence around it and let the savages have it.
Toledo is next. It’s already being called “Little Detroit”.
It wasn’t just the unions, it was also the Democrats playing the race card when ever there was an attempted to fix the city.

Culture dies when Democrats have power.
Cumulatively, the photographs are a powerful and disturbing testament to the glory and the destructive cost of American capitalism
Maybe they should take a look around their own country at places like Birmingham and Liverpool to see how much damage their toxic brew of socialism and unlimited Third World immigration without assimilation has wrought on the UK before blaming Detroit's woes on capitalism.
Reminds me of an old Laurel & Hardy flick (”Helpmates”). :0)


A - Get Tough On Drugs
B - No.
C - Yes.
The people of Detroit have lost immeasurable treasure in these buildings, but even more in the attitude that’s been fostered which allowed Detroit to rot. The buildings are corpses of the human spirit that no longer lives in Detroit, killed by Democrats and their labor unions.
Germany survives solely because of Free Trade. They are a 70% service based economy and only 29% manufacturing based. They are not Socialist, they have tightly controlled welfare and very limited numbers of people drawing money off of the Government. They call themselves a Democratic Republic. Their overall economic policy and government is quite Conservative. Their Legal system is also something to be admired. Criminals are promptly PUNISHED and there is no drawn out appeals system in their courts. Criminals are dealt with swiftly and harshly! They also have a direct "Pay as you go" system of Government. If the money is not there, it does not go!
The sticker says: “God ****** On Drugs”
I can’t read the word after God.
The only problem I have with your idea is that the ghetto’s will just move to another city and it will start all over again. We need to do something about the people that cause our big cities to get into this condition. That is the big question. What do we do with all these people, people that really don’t care about our country.
German culture embraces a work ethic, not so for the inhabitants of Detroit. Detroit is filled with victims with an entitlement mentality they were taught by Democrats. They’re waiting for “Obama Money” to come and save them. Until then, they’re more than happy to trash anything Daddy Government gives them because they know more will be on the way.
Give California another year, and it will be giving Detroit a run for that title!
"Convenience. That was a dirty word in Germany. German efficiency is much vaunted, but really, what Germans are excellent at slavishly following an infinitely complex protocol of rules and regulations. This is excellent for keeping the trains on time, but its not the same as efficiency, because everything breaks down in the face of the smallest element of chaos. In a system of such casual Kafka-esque bureaucracy, no wonder Germans are so offended by the idea of not playing by the rules, even when those rules are absurd. For an American like me who has returned from abroad, then, the biggest culture shock is American convenience "Unevenly Distributed: How Online Pizza Delivery Makes America The Best Country In The World http://www.gearfuse.com/unevenly-distributed-how-online-pizza-delivery-makes-america-the-best-country-in-the-world/
Washington, DC’s Union Station looked pretty much like that before being beautifully refurbished. Of course, that station has the benefit of being on Capitol Hill and on the increasingly popular DC/NY corridor.
Looks like
Get Tough
On Drugs!
Two thoughts upon seeing the photos.
One is the quote by Rush: “Being liberal means never having to say you are sorry.” Detroit was devastated by liberalism, but who continues to get blamed? Republicans!
The second is an opportunity for Detroit to make money off of the blight: Make it available for Hollywood to use in movies with apocalyptic themes. Absolutely nothing would have to be added to the sets!
Looking at the 9 Stages of Civilization, (primarily Democracy's) we are between the 8th and 9th stage, somewhere between Complacency and Dependency. The last stage is of course “Tyranny”. The average age of such a civilization is around 200 years. Our age is 235 years.
There is no reversing this process once it hits the 7th stage. (”Apathy”) Even great Civilizations that have lasted for more than 200 years, repeat this process within themselves. (Rome, China, etc,)
Hiroshima 1945

Hiroshima 2010

That we allowed our cities to be destroyed is a national embarrassment.

Africa isn't thriving.
Germany does not call themselves a Democratic Republic. That was the name of the former East Germany. Technically Germany is named the Federal Republic of Germany.
Correction: Its a powerful and disturbing testament to the glory and the destructive cost of American CRONY capitalism (aka "Government Intervention" in the private business sector")
The only reason nanny-state Socialist countries can afford to spend money on "social programs", is because they are relieved of the responsibility to spend money for their own defense. The American taxpayer provides that umbrella for them.
Click my screen name and at the top of the page, read this:
In Defense of Capitalism
EXCERPT: “Only capitalism operates on the basis of respect for free, independent, responsible persons. All other systems in varying degrees treat men as less than this. Socialist systems above all treat men as pawns to be moved about by the authorities, or as children to be given what the rulers decide is good for them, or as serfs or slaves. The rulers begin by boasting about their compassion, which in any case is fraudulent, but after a time they drop this pretense which they find unnecessary for the maintenance of power. In all things they act on the presumption that they know best. Therefore they and their systems are morally stunted. Only the free system, the much assailed capitalism, is morally mature.” ~ Dr. Ronald H. Nash
There's all the further you need to read.
Obviously current Detroit is the fault of white people. /heavy sarc
Detroit was the best place in the world to grow up in during the 50’s and 60’s.
I was on the East-Side, near Detroit City Airport.
It is staggering to go back there and see what the Left has wrought.
Well, it was refurbished as a result of the Union Station Redevelopment Act of 1981, a public-private endeavor signed by Ronald Reagan.
I remember using Union Station in the 70's. It was terrible. Carter had managed some kind of bicentennial development effort, outfitting the Main Hall with a recessed pit to display a slide show presentation. This was officially the PAVE (Primary Audio-Visual Experience), but was sarcastically referred to by us who used the station as "the Pit."
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