Detroit

[BLRider]

Re: Detroit

But where you're at...is really pretty nice.

Agreed, nice and remote.

[rlovebk]

Re: Detroit

Some of the short-sighted threads on here crack me up. Like the one about gas/oil. This year we are on track to have 80% of our energy produced here in the US.
Detroit lost a ton of $ in the downturn. Much of it was lost due to investments/banking. So those folks with those signs have a point.
Then the big 3 had huge systemic financial and other issues. People would blame it on the unions, the guy on the line. He/she does their job, make 50-70K per year. They are only as good as the products/materials/design/etc. of what is sent down the line to them to build.
They did not design the vehicles or spend heaps of money on all kinds of stuff that had nothing to do with the core business or pay themselves out-sized salaries with bonuses and stock-options and spend themselves right into a hole.
No they came to work each day, gave back pensions and other benefits they had negotiated to try and do their share to save the Co. The money changers, CEO's, Wall Street, etc. took them and us for a ride.
You ever tried parring back your spending when your income sinks by 50%? It is not easy. Especially when you have obligations, bills, payments, credit installments, etc. What do you pay? What do you not pay?
This is not just liberals running amok wrecking Detroit. It is the policies we have allowed to fester and destroy a once proud and good city and state. The big 3 are now 2; Chrysler is Fiat, and GM is making a come back and it is better then if it were owned by vulture capitalists that would have sucked the last bit of life out of it, like they did Hostess. Or owned by China.
I would hope GM pays some of that 10 bil. they short-changed tthe US taxpayer on. But I wont hold my breath. They (Corp. guys) will "Invest" it, as usual, and some will glide into their own accounts.
I hope Detriot regains its place. I hope they recover. The damage done it will take generations. This is America, this is OUR country, and it matters not that it is liberal or what have you. These folks are our fellows, and we should wish them every success.

[tshank123]

Re: Detroit

Look I dont like the money changers either, but go with me on this for a minute. If you ran a business, and promised to pay your employees more than your revenue could support, and then came to me for a loan to pay those people, how is it my fault that those people aren't getting paid when you go bankrupt? I know its not the employees faults per say, however they elected these politicians that ran that city into the ground. They made promises they couldn't keep, the same as our federal government is doing to us. This is just showing us where the rest of the country is headed.

[rlovebk]

Re: Detroit

Yes. I can not disagree with that at all, except that one of the reasons they (city gvnmnt.) are in the condition they are in is due to buying these securities that were supposed to be safe. They were actually buying sub-prime stuff and then when the poop hit the fan we did 2 things: We bailed the financial folks out, we also did not prosecute any of them for the fraud they had perpetrated on unwitting investors, including many of these pension funds. To me this was wrong.
Poor management of resources and capital is rampant in Corps and Gov. right now.
The cities and GM are 2 different entities that were both poorly managed. One is doing much better at recovery then the other.

[garrcass]

Re: Detroit

http://www.mrcolionnoir.com/gun-talk/detroit-police-chief-james-craig-on-citizens-carrying-guns/#more-3684

Sent from my LG-D800 using Tapatalk

[SSFT]

Re: Detroit

My head office is located in Detroit, sad to see that

[b.lee]

Re: Detroit

[b.lee]

Re: Detroit

[JonnyX2]

Re: Detroit

[JonnyX2]

Re: Detroit

[JonnyX2]

Re: Detroit

[JonnyX2]

Re: Detroit























At the end of the XIXth Century, mankind was about to fulfill an old dream. The idea of a fast and autonomous means of displacement was slowly becoming a reality for engineers all over the world. Thanks to its ideal location on the Great Lakes Basin, the city of Detroit was about to generate its own industrial revolution. Visionary engineers and entrepreneurs flocked to its borders.

In 1913, up-and-coming car manufacturer Henry Ford perfected the first large-scale assembly line. Within few years, Detroit was about to become the world capital of automobile and the cradle of modern mass-production. For the first time of history, affluence was within the reach of the mass of people. Monumental skyscapers and fancy neighborhoods put the city’s wealth on display. Detroit became the dazzling beacon of the American Dream. Thousands of migrants came to find a job. By the 50's, its population rose to almost 2 million people. Detroit became the 4th largest city in the United States.

The automobile moved people faster and farther. Roads, freeways and parking lots forever reshaped the landscape. At the beginning of the 50's, plants were relocated in Detroit's periphery. The white middle-class began to leave the inner city and settled in new mass-produced suburban towns. Highways frayed the urban fabric. Deindustrialization and segregation increased. In 1967, social tensions exploded into one of the most violent urban riots in American history. The population exodus accelerated and whole neighbourhoods began to vanish. Outdated downtown buildings emptied. Within fifty years Detroit lost more than half of its population.

Detroit, industrial capital of the XXth Century, played a fundamental role shaping the modern world. The logic that created the city also destroyed it. Nowadays, unlike anywhere else, the city’s ruins are not isolated details in the urban environment. They have become a natural component of the landscape. Detroit presents all archetypal buildings of an American city in a state of mummification. Its splendid decaying monuments are, no less than the Pyramids of Egypt, the Coliseum of Rome, or the Acropolis in Athens, remnants of the passing of a great Empire.

[JSNate]

Re: Detroit

Great posts, Johnny! I live about forty miles from the city. Over the years, I have spent a lot of time in Detroit and I can still see its beauty and remember very well the contributions it made to the world. Your words express the logic I have always understood as the true reason the city is in its current state. It is common for many in the state of Michigan to jump on their political bandwagon of choice and further polarize society. The hard reality of what caused the decay lies in your post. Nothing more and nothing less.

[orangefinger]

Re: Detroit

these pictures are amazing , thank you for sharing

[St00pid Fx-1]

Re: Detroit

A real shame, those were some beautiful buildings at one time.