Posted on 09/18/2013 6:53:50 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
IN THE 1983 movie Dr. Detroit, the flamboyant lead character goes on a rampage warning of trouble to come. “I am talking about scorched earth, no survival, wholesale destruction…body-bags and fire!” he yells. That’s pretty much what has happened to Detroit over the last three decades.
Its population has shrunk by half to below 700,000. The wait for police response is five times the national average, and only 8 percent of crimes are solved. Roughly a third of the city’s 140 square miles is either unoccupied or dilapidated. About 40 percent of its tax revenue is directed to retirement or debt, and the city hasn’t been in the black since 2004.
Bankruptcy should have been declared years ago. The best experts say there is no way the city can ever crawl out of its predicament using conventional means.
In the short term, Detroit could sell assets. Kevyn Orr, the city’s emergency manager, says all assets must be potentially on the table. Experts consulted by the Detroit Free Press say the collections of the Detroit Institute of Arts—works by everyone from Van Gogh to Matisse to the original Howdy Doody children’s TV doll—would fetch some $2.5 billion. But that’s only one-eighth of the city’s projected long-term debt of $20 billion. Art experts say any sales from the museum would have to be spaced out over a long period.
“There are only so many billionaires that could absorb all of that material,” art appraiser Betty Krulik told reporters.
With a federal or state bailout effectively off the table because of the bad precedent it would set for other near-bankrupt cities, it’s time for truly creative thinking. Orr, Detroit’s emergency manager, makes clear what’s needed.
(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...
My father-in-law had an expression for this strategy: putting a new dress on an old whore. I won’t complete his saying out of respect for children who may want to read this. Use your imagination. The author cites the success of Pittsburgh. Well, Google “Pittsburgh city debt” and there goes that theory. Until the cancer is cut-out, treating the symptoms and not the cause is about all “selling Detroit” can accomplish. The old whore is still a whore.
Buying real estate in Detroit would be a difficult and risky investment, but there is plenty of it for sale. In some instances the asking prices seem higher than what one would expect, but they are in the range of what an "average" person could afford if they had the kind of risk tolerance needed to invest in distressed assets in a failing city.
In many instances the high prices asked for real estate in depressed neighborhoods deter re-development, since they, along with high costs to renovate the property due to municipal regulations make the investments unprofitable.
It is all part of the plan to turn the US more National Socialist. America has got to wake up.
Doing that would at least double the current value of the land I bet.
I like the idea, clean it out totally and then start fresh without any prior restrictions or contracts or deals.
Kind of like a “Reset” button.
This is one use of imminent domain that I might support. Here is fair market value for your home, now move! You are welcome back when YOU pay YOUR way back.
One heck of an opportunity to show what could be done if we could start fresh somewhere.
EXACTLY!
Bring back American JOBS.
Even in Detroit.
Stop selling everything to China.
RE: Turn it into a tax-free and regulation-free zone and watch what happens. Make it the “Hong-Kong” of the US (though HK is not actually tax or reg free).
Errr... there’s just one small detail -— The inhabitants of HK and the inhabitants of Detroit have different values, culture and education.
We occupied Detroit during the War of 1812.
Got the National Socialist out of Congress first. RINOS and Democrats
Tippecanoe and Tyler Too!
Had we lost that War it is probable that those areas would have reverted to Canada.
raze it
“I got dibs on the Red Wings.”
You just want to bring Lindstrom to Dallas.
I hear Omni Consumer Products is in the market to buy. . . .
Let Detroit work its way out of its problems with Wisonsin-style union policies and New York-style crime policies
ha ha ha ha ha ha. Are you serious????
They're a couple of hosers anyway.
“1983 movie ‘Dr. Detroit’”
There was supposed to be a sequel to that movie; the sequel’s title: “The Wrath of Mom”
I’m still waiting ...
Selling Detroit won’t solve the problem. Selling the art won’t solve the problem. Even giving Detroit billions of dollars won’t solve the problem. You have to “change” the people of Detroit. And I don’t mean exchange them with other people. Good, bad, right or wrong the people of Detroit are Americans. The first thing to be done is an honest examination and appraisal. In order to do that, the propaganda has to stop. The Democrats have to stop blowing smoke up the donkeys of the citizens of Detroit. Detroit is broke. The Democrats broke it. They are going to have to accept the responsibility before anything else can be done. That would be truly compassionate. I’ve never expected the Democrats to be perfect, but I think that it’s fair for us to demand that they be realistic. The Democrats need to stop the BS posturing about Detroit and start fixing the problems.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.