Posted on 07/20/2013 4:12:59 AM PDT by barmag25
On Friday, MSNBC’s Melissa Harris-Perry put forth a theory as to why Detroit inevitably went bankrupt — terminal lack of government.
We’ll do our best to explain.
While discussing Detroit’s downfall, Harris-Perry and former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean agreed that “you’ve got to have a government to run the place.”
Harris-Perry noted Detroit’s declining population, and in turn its tax base. The population of the city has declined dramatically over the last 10 years.
Mediaite’s Noah Rothman, who calls the MSNBC host’s assessment “delusional,” provides some analysis and facts:
Harris-Perry presents this fact as though former Detroit residents left – estimated in 2011 at one resident every 22 minutes — on a whim without making a cost/benefit calculation as to whether to continue to reside in a city with one of the highest violent crime rates in the nation with a poverty rate of a staggering 40 percent.
Furthermore, since Detroit’s population has fallen below 750,000, it was not legally allowed to collect income taxes from its residents until Gov. Rick Snyder and the state’ legislature reduced that threshold to 600,000 two years ago. The city’s population hovers today around 700,000 residents.
(Excerpt) Read more at theblaze.com ...
It's worse than that. You need to think BIG, like Obama does. He clearly wants to destroy all suburbs and return the money to inner cities.
Spreading the Wealth: How Obama is Robbing the Suburbs to Pay for the Cities, Stanley Kurtz, 2012
It's all part of his plan to destroy whitey and pay reparations.
Moreover the inevitable consequence of single-party government for four or five decades.
I know how to fix Detroit and make the real estate there worth a fortune.
Make it a true free enterprise zone with NO TAXES on income for say 30 years.
Dump the big $ retirement for all the old city employees under the bankruptcy and give them pennies on the dollar.
Instate an honest poll tax per person for city upkeep. The poll tax would flush the refuse away and keep them OUT.
Businessmen would be desperate to locate there...it would be like the gold rush.
There’s actually a thriving underground economy in Detroit. One off the books businessman told me that he would love to go legit to advertize and grow his business but he just can’t afford the taxes and regulations.
He pointed out that its not bad for the big guys like Ernst & Young, JP Morgan, Compuware, and the Casinos who do just fine in Detroit, but the little guys simply can’t afford thousands of dollars per year just to stay legal.
A note on the Casinos, they’ve got a history of lobbying for regulations that crush the little guys like street vendors, bar owners, and restaurants.
Big businesses are doing fine in Detroit. There are some big players downtown. Its the little guys who can’t operate.
Another issue is our governor’s fixation on green tech. He doesn’t want any factories stinkin up the place. I know if I were governor I would be in competition with Rick Perry to see who could pull in the most business.
Families on my dad’s side worked in the office and on the assembly line for Ford in Detroit for decades. They got out and actually sold their property after the riots.
That's how my relatives survived communism in Poland. And while their city was a drab, crumbling, concrete wasteland, it was in better shape than Detroit.
That tells you something, doesn't it?
Exactly. They should make Detroit a free economic zone. Run the unions out. Watch how fast it turns around.
Herman Cain suggested making Detroit an “Economic Opportunity zone” for a period of time but so called conservatives suddenly discovered that they wanted fairness and threw tantrums.
All I know is that conservatives better get over this pointless anger and become builders again.
The population has declined because it’s turned into a toilet.
It’s a symptom not a cause.
“Instate an honest poll tax per person for city upkeep. The poll tax would flush the refuse away and keep them OUT.”
Well, your choice of words, poll tax, would never pass muster with the courts. And, I’m not so sure I want to “flush the refuse away”. Where are they gonna go? I know I don’t want them down here in Texas. The folks that have a modicum of ambition and self respect have left Detroit long ago for places where their hard work and decency is appreciated (aka Texas). So, I’m thinking the country would be better off to declare places such as Detroit, Chicago, East St. Louis, East LA, Oakland, parts of DC, NY, etc, you get the idea, as free-fire zones, fence these places off and provide the occupants with all the dope, ammo and guns they want and just let them have their way with each other.
it is without a doubt corruption and possibly mob influences...
remember that during prohibibtion al capone would not even mess with detroit...
Look here miss harris-perry... wat cha gonna do when dey ain’t no more stash?? Dat time is almost here... wat cha gonna do... pray to che you pos.
Better yet, distribute city owned property to the pensioners as a settlement for what they are owed. Even though they are actually unsecured creditors, giving them real estate and other ownership interests in the city's assets is better than nothing. Obviously the pensions are unsustainable, and can't be paid by the bankrupt city. Just like any other bankrupt organization however, its assets may be used differently and made valuable by others.
The pensioners will be motivated to make their property valuable, and since real estate can be inherited, their descendants will be motivated to work to improve the city they will collectively own real estate in.
And you’re going to do nothing but be angry.
They’re on track for that. They’re going for regional government and the stupid voters approved a tri-county, regional taxing authority last year.
I am already doing many things to help my country... and State... and local governments and helping friends who share their love for America. I go to work everyday and help people. I am doing plenty and anger is just something I feel when I think about how evil rules over us. You paint with too broad of a brush my friend.
LLS
Detroit cannot be saved by its current population. Detroit cannot be saved by Democrats getting elected, promising the municipal unions higher wages and benefits in exchange for votes.
The only way Detroit can be saved is with a infusion of talented and hungry people who are willing to turn a dessert into a paradise without the intervention of government.
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