Detroit is bankrupt.

[Ben in LA]

Lots of opinions and finger-pointing about this. Since I work nights and am about to go to bed, I'll check replies (if there are any) later on.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...riday/2552819/

Discuss. And I already know the "Democratic-controlled" and "Unions-caused-this" blame will be thrown around. Go Red Wings.

[eccentricBlue]

What's to discuss? You and I cannot spend money we don't have so why does the gov't do it like its ok? If a company consistently loses revenue and continues to increase union benefits, than the resulting outcome should come as no surprise to anyone. This whole "too big to fail" nonsense is a sham and will come to a head once the discussion is if the US gov't is too big to fail. The only difference will be that there is nobody around to bail them out.

Out of control spending and corruption has its consequences.
On a side note, I fully believe that the FED should be audited & investigated.

[trish]

A good company will pass the costs of producing a quality product on to consumers willing to pay for it (a bad company will skimp on materials and produce an inferior product). In some democratic governments (ours) people demand quality products (superior military, police protection, pothole free highways, access to medical care etc....half the tea party is on disability!) but refuse to pay for them. Collect some fucking revenue.

[eccentricBlue]

While the first half of your response is spot on, the second half only demands higher taxes. In the case of the Detroit automakers, they consistently lost money year after year while already producing an inferior product. Do you expect people to pay more for a domestic chevy Malibu when they could buy a comparable imported Honda civic for less? I remember hearing a staggering statistic that something like $4k+ per GM vehicle goes directly towards pensions. Add in all the other union negotiated costs and your vehicle's origional sticker has largely ballooned.

But back on subject, our ever intrusive & inept government has proven over and over again how good they are at fucking up a wet dream. If paying more into the system by way of higher taxes is your solution than your living in a dream world. Politicians constantly sell us utopia while delivering us places like Detroit.

If you want to backhand the Tea Party, please do not forget about the much larger population of those suckling from the teet of the government. One sided slander only lessens the credibility of your position.

[trish]

If you want to backhand the Tea Party...

Why would I want to when I already did? I swear the more conservative a person is the more likely they're shout something like, "GET YOUR GOVN'T MITS OFF MY MEDICARE," (true tea-bagger signage).

[eccentricBlue]

What does anything you just said have to do with my previous post?

[Ben]

Lots of opinions and finger-pointing about this. Since I work nights and am about to go to bed, I'll check replies (if there are any) later on.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...riday/2552819/

Discuss. And I already know the "Democratic-controlled" and "Unions-caused-this" blame will be thrown around. Go Red Wings.

America is the richest nation on the planet. This shouldn't happen.
One of the crucial things we have to do is end the offshoring of jobs. We need to control capital. And that means ending these harmful free -- or corporate -- trade agreements. I mean, I'm an old-fashioned conservative in that respect. I think real conservatives would oppose these corporate agreements. Conservatives used to rail against corporate power. Well, that was over a century ago.
I support raising taxes on, well, the super-rich and corporations. And, of course, capital controls.
If governments don't have revenue they don't have STREET LIGHTS and public parks.
And look at Camden, NJ. And laying off police officers. I mean, this is the richest nation on the planet.
http://globalgrind.com/news/camden-p...ficers-details
Moving capital abroad will continue to cause undue harm.
And here Noam Chomsky articulates the harmful aspects of neoliberalism:

[95racer]

Should have happened years ago. Detroit blames everyone but themselves. Now the fine people of Detroit don't want live in the mess that they have created so they're moving out into the 'burbs and doing their best to bring those cities down also.

[flabbybody]

When you buy a bond issued by a city it promises to collect property taxes from its citizens and pay you back with interest at a future date. When this promise is broken the explanations become irrelevant. The financial mechanism used to fund essential services of life has been compromised. Who would lend money to a deadbeat? In New York we expect police to come quickly and trains to run, but who pays for that if people stop buying our bonds ?

[robertlouis]

And when the population drops by more than 50% but the city area is unchanged, as happened to Detroit, the authorities can't collect the taxes necessary to sustain the services so they start borrowing.

Difficult to see any way out of that. Detroit is one of the US cities that I know well and I feel sorry for the people at local level who've been doing their level best to improve things against impossible odds.