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Detroit, R.I.P.

By: Michael Barone
Senior Political Analyst
10/28/09 5:55 PM EDT

Chrysler headquarters is shown in Auburn Hills, Mich., Wednesday April 29, 2009. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Two pieces illustrate the sad fate of my home town of Detroit. Reuters reports on the auction of houses and vacant lots in Detroit. Some are being snapped up by speculators, but many others seem to attract no buyers at all. Detroit was once America’s premier homeowner city. Now land in much of the city is literally worthless.

Unfortunately, some people like the young would-be buyer in the Reuters piece, are looking for government to come to their aid. And, as this Detroit Free Press article makes clear, that’s not very likely. Detroit is a premier example of what happens when ordinary people depend on big units—big government, big business, big labor—for their sustenance, and when the leaders of those big units ignore the economic reality that you’ve got to produce things customers will value. General Motors and Chrysler have gone through bankruptcy and are now largely owned by the government and the United Auto Workers, and there’s not much hope for those left behind.

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Reader Comments

All comments on this page are subject to our Terms of Use and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Examiner or its staff. Comment box is limited to 250 words.

Grace O'Malley

Oct 29, 2009

Detroit
Saginaw
Flint
All have the same common denominators, and all the same outcomes.
Kalamazoo and Lansing are not far behind anymore. Been through some areas of Grand Rapids lately?
Sad, sad, sad for me and my state.

Oct 29, 2009

Mike, nothing I've read yet about Detroit tells me how Greenfield Village has fared over the years. I fondly remember days wandering around the exhibits when I was much younger. (I escaped from Detroit after both my ex and I had our degrees.)

{^_^}

renoman

Oct 29, 2009

hmmmm hmmmm hmmmm what political party runs Detroit? nuff said!!!

Tough Luck

Oct 29, 2009

What political party runs Detroit?
You mean what party runs Michigan?
Are we that small minded , remember
EVERY election we hear we need Michigan
and Ohio to win the election.
Then the parties walk away and worry
about the rest of the country.

Why not move half the US government
agencies in DC to Michigan? too Cold?
too tough?

Jeff

Oct 29, 2009

Unlike Michael Barone, I was actually born in Detroit. As Michael Barone's Wikipedia page points out, he was actually born in Highland Park, and is thus a "native of suburban Detroit." (I got a laugh out of that one.)

Detroit shows what happens when your export businesses lose in the struggle for survival. Sadly, America today does not have good role models of how to turn things around and start winning. Our electronics industry is rapidly following automotive out the door.

To paraphrase a famous author: "I have seen the future, and it is Detroit."

Amanda B.

Oct 29, 2009

Greenfield Village is alive and well. I was there this summer for a wedding. It's in wonderful shape, busy, and well-kept.

Oct 29, 2009

Thanks, Amanda. I was wondering. (Born in Huntington Woods. Escaped the area in '68. My marriage started a major riot in Detroit. Well, sort of. It was coincidence, actually. That should have been my sign that the marriage was not made in heaven.)

{^_-} Joanne

bobc

Oct 30, 2009

And here is where some stimulus money went:

This factory in Coventry, England, will produce electric trucks under a joint venture backed by U.S. stimulus funds.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33495737/ns/us_news-the_elkhart_project/

bobc

Oct 30, 2009

Does anyone think it is odd, that our elite politicians think we need electric vehicles, when they are telling us they would like to be able to control our thermostats to save electric?

All while they deny us our own resources of oil, gas, & clean coal...please do not tell me there is no such thing as clean coal.....I've heard it before!

say what?

Oct 30, 2009

You guys need to get Murtha to reloacte there. Maxine Waters too while you're at it.

Irish Arkie

Oct 30, 2009

For another, and very interesting, view of Detroit as a homesteading opportunity, see this story from The Urbanophile:

http://theurbanophile.blogspot.com/2009/08/detroit-urban-laboratory-and-new.html

Money quote: "This piece also highlights one absolutely crucial advantage of Detroit. It's possible to do things there. In Detroit, the incapacity of the government is actually an advantage in many cases. There's not much chance a strong city government could really turn the place around, but it [i.e., unlike Detroit's] could stop the grass roots revival in its tracks."

Greco9

Oct 30, 2009

I grew up in Suburban Detroit and left the day after I graduated high school 25 years ago. I have always been proud of my hometown and it pains me to see this once great city die a slow death. I can only pray that the American Dream that is Free Market Capitalism will not perish in her wake.

jacobite

Nov 1, 2009

I can't devote a lot of time to web-surfing, so I don't know what has already been commented on. I'd like to see Mr, Barone comment on the "Curley Effect", which I'd re-name the "Coleman Young Effect", on big-city politics. Detroit's death-spiral begain when Young took office and began systematically driving out white people by withholding city services (e.g., ending the STRESS program as a favor to one of his major constituencies -- criminals) and blatantly staffing local govt with incompetent bros. I lived in Warren at the time and it was obvious to all what he was up to. But Detroit had long been run by Democrats; you gotta understand that party affiliation wasn't what made the difference.

markit8dude

Nov 1, 2009

My mother was born in Detroit almost 78 years ago. She'd spoken of the 'safety' of the city and being able to go into Tigers Stadium for free during the 9th inning.

She and my dad moved away from the Motor City years ago though have always kept track of it from afar.

She's very sad by its dour state. Though it's been a long time coming.. for decades.

Yes, this housing bubble contributed. Though as the 1st poster had already mentioned. Detroit, Saginaw and Flint are long gone..

NPJacques

Nov 3, 2009

Jeff:

Either you don't know what you're talking about (which your Wikipedia quote suggests), or you're being intentionally misleading. Highland Park isn't a "suburb"; it's a town wholly enclosed within the Detroit city limits. (Hamtramck's the other one.)

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Detroit, R.I.P.

By: Michael Barone
Senior Political Analyst
10/28/09 5:55 PM EDT