Reading time: 2,394 words, 24 pages, 6 to 10 minutes.
The most important information is often what the ass media do NOT tell us. Such is the case with Detroit’s bankruptcy.
The City of Detroit on July 18, 2013 became Amerika’s largest city to declare bankruptcy. I might add, “so far” because Detroit won’t be the last. There will be more to follow. I don’t waste my time with TV news but I suspect Detroit was conveniently forgotten the day after the news broke. However, this is a lot more important than you’re being told and for a number of reasons.
Zero Hedge reports, “The current plan (for now rejected by creditors) means a 90% loss for muni-worker retirees, 81% loss for unsecured creditors, and a 75% loss for secured creditors…”
The bankruptcy proceedings will be closely watched by other states and municipalities saddled with steep pension and retiree health costs. As more retirees are thrown into poverty and more health care costs borne by them, the U.S. economy will also suffer. Not a single news report I’ve read has mentioned this economic effect. This will continue the Stealth Depression I’ve been warning you about since 2007.
Detroit’s talks with the White House went nowhere and there doesn’t appear to be any possibility of a bailout. After all, the Federal government is broke, too. Jim Sinclair said, “Now that Detroit has been turned down from the Federal government on their final request for a bail out why should the many municipalities on the brink hold off?” In other words, this likely will be the beginning of a tidal wave of bankruptcies with more creditor and bondholder losses and more retirees thrown under the bus thus further damaging the U.S. economy.
Many reasons have been given for Detroit’s plight but we’re never told the REAL reason. The video below from a brain dead Union activist blames Detroit’s population decline on the building of the interstate highway system. Supposedly, highway construction enticed jobs away from the city and encouraged people to live in the suburbs.
However, if that were the case it would have affected ALL Amerikan cities. Why would this have affected just Detroit? It’s bullshit. It’ doesn’t explain how Detroit declined from Amerika’s 4th largest city to 18th.
The REAL reason for Detroit’s plight is deliberately ignored by the leftish ass media; the damage inflicted by half a century of Detroit’s socialist Democrat mayors. Look at the list of mayors beginning in 1962 below from Wikipedia.
How many Republican mayors do you see?
Jerome Cavanagh – January 2, 1962 – January 5, 1970 Democratic
Roman Gribbs – January 6, 1970 – January 1, 1974 Democratic
Coleman Young – January 1, 1974 – January 3, 1994 Democratic
Dennis Archer – January 3, 1994 – December 31, 2001 Democratic
Kwame Kilpatrick – January 1, 2002 – September 18, 2008 Democratic
Kenneth Cockrel, Jr. – September 18, 2008 – May 11, 2009 Democratic
Dave Bing – May 11, 2009 – present Democratic
When the socialist Democrats began their unbroken reign over Detroit in 1962, the city’s population stood at 1.8 million. Today, Detroit’s population has fallen by more than half to barely 700,000. In 1962 when the Democrats took over, Detroit was at its peak; not only was it the major auto manufacturing city in the U.S. but also the Amerikan music capital.
By driving the rich from the city with confiscatory taxes, bad governance and corruption; by destroying its capital base and robbing Peter to pay Preston’s social entitlements, the socialists have slowly and finally bankrupted Detroit. However, you won’t hear the leftish ass media admit that. In fact, in the following news reports from the following major ass media you will hardly find any mention of Detroit’s Democratic mayors and you will find NO connection with the socialist Democrats and Detroit’s plight.
BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation)
CBC (Canadian Broadcorping Castration)
Not even FOX News supposedly a right wing news media mentions it.
ONLY the New York Times mentions the word Democratic (once) and then only to call Detroit “a Democratic city where more than 80 percent of residents are black” thus playing the race card to divert our attention from Detroit’s disastrous socialist politicians.
Washington Post although in another article feebly attempting to explain the causes of Detroit’s decline, they mention ‘Democrat’ once as an aside and only in parentheses.
Incredibly, not even the alt news blogs below mention the Democrats running and ruining Detroit:
It’s indeed sad when even the alt blogs don’t get it and these blogs are all over the political spectrum. Keep reading.
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You read it here first. This is how the presstitude propaganda machine works. What’s important is NOT what they tell us but what they DON’T. You’re not supposed to know the truth. Move along folks; nothing to see here.
However, there are glimmers of hope. Of the hundreds of reader’s comments in the articles above, there are dozens of mentions of ‘Democrat’ and ‘liberal’. Many of us are not as stupid as the Power Elite believe us to be.
The heartbreaking photos of the decline and fall of Detroit below are courtesy of the Huffington Post.
Graffiti covers an abandoned building February 24, 2013 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by J.D. Pooley/Getty Images)
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An abandoned boat filled with trash sits on Conant Street in Detroit, Michigan, on Sunday, April 9, 2006. Detroit eliminated bulk trash pick up three months ago due to budget cuts. (Photo by Jeff Kowalsky/Bloomberg via Getty Images
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A City of Detroit fire station that was recently closed is seen February 24, 2013 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by J.D. Pooley/Getty Images)
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The abandoned Detroit Public Schools book depository
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Barbed wire blocks the entrance of the abandoned Michigan Central Station on May 2, 2013 in Detroit, Michigan. The station was opened in 1913, closed in 1988, and has fallen into disrepair since. (Photo by Ann Hermes/The Christian Science Monitor via Getty Images)
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Two abandoned apartment buildings burn on Waverly Street in the declining Detroit enclave of Highland Park. Last year the Detroit Fire Department received 27,000 calls. (Photo by Lucas Oleniuk/Toronto Star via Getty Images)
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Shuttered Packard motor car company plant in Detroit.
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An abandoned home is seen on February 24, 2013 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by J.D. Pooley/Getty Images)
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The abandoned First Unitarian Church, in Detroit, Michigan on July 21, 2012. (Photo By Raymond Boyd/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
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This Oct. 24, 2012, photo shows a broken streetlight base on a sidewalk east of downtown Detroit. When the World Series was broadcast that week, television viewers saw vibrant crowds and skyline shots of the city. Yet beyond the hot dogs and home runs, Detroit is struggling to cross home plate. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
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The General Motors world headquarters building is shown near an abandoned building March 30, 2009 in Detroit. (Photo by Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)
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Exterior of abandoned house in Detroit, a familiar sight in many neighborhoods.
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In a July 31, 2012 photo, a trashed strewn street is seen in east Detroit. Abandoned lots, alleys and neglected parks in Detroit used to be a favorite destination for discarded tires and trash. But over the past few months they have become dumping grounds for the dead. At least seven bodies have been found in some of the most desolated haunts in a half-empty city. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
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The abandoned General Motor’s Fisher Body Plant.
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Part of the Brewster-Douglass housing project site is shown in Detroit, Friday, March 18, 2011. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
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Aerial photograph of the Michigan Central Station’s Beaux-Arts facade in Detroit, Michigan.
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The Evil of Socialism
“Socialism only works in two places: Heaven where they don’t need it and hell where they already have it.”
– Ronald Reagan
I’ve never made any attempt to disguise my contempt for lazy, brainless Socialists although I try to tolerate Socialism in the young because they don’t know any better (yet). It’s been said if you’re a conservative at age 20 you have no heart and if you’re still a socialist or liberal at age 40 you have no brain. Beware; there are a lot of Zombies out there.
If you’ve read some of my previous political rants you also know I lump together socialists, liberals, communists and Marxists. They’re simply different points on the ‘left-of-center’ spectrum ranging from stupid to complete idiocy. For an in depth discussion, you can see How Human Nature Trumps Ideology.
“The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they’re ignorant; it’s just that they know so much that isn’t so.”
-Ronald Reagan
And, should you assume I’m right-wing or conservative or Republican; nothing could be farther from the truth. I am an anarchist; your worst nightmare if you’re a true believer of any sort especially ideological. I won’t bog down this discussion as I’ve already covered this, but for further details you can see why I Am an Anarchist.
There is another important reason Detroit’s bankruptcy is significant and you probably won’t hear this anywhere else either. The connection between socialism and poverty has long been a contentious issue. It was a ‘chicken or egg’ argument. In other words, which came first? Does socialism breed poverty or does the existence of poverty encourage the rise of socialism?
Allow me to digress a moment. We humans have difficulty determining cause and effect; by neglecting to determine root cause we often try to solve effects. Furthermore, we often mistake correlation for causation. This can be the logical fallacy known as “post hoc ergo propter hoc” which is Latin for “after this, therefore because of this”. In other words, just because B follows A does not mean A causes B. There could be another factor connecting A and B.
Take this silly example; whenever I see a fire there are usually fire fighters present. Consequently, I conclude (erroneously) that fire fighters cause fires because the opposite; fires causing fire fighters is absurd.
However, the mistake I make in this example is mistaking correlation for causation. There is no direct causal effect between fires and fire fighters. There is, however a correlation. The missing element in the relationship is the alarm. Fires produce an alarm and the alarm summons the fire fighters.
It is even more difficult determining cause and effect given fuzzy economic and historical circumstances. History seems to indicate, and socialists want us to believe that poverty encourages the rise of socialism. After all, if you’re poor, then you’re more likely to vote for a politician or embrace a system that promises you something for nothing. Again, for a more detailed discussion you can see How Human Nature Trumps Ideology.
Poor Russians embraced communism. However the water is muddied because not everyone wanted to be a communist. The White Army fought the Red Army and lost. Communism was forced on the entire population by a dictatorship.
Poor Cubans were exploited by American interests so the Cuban revolution ousted the American puppet dictator. Sinking further into a shared poverty could not be entirely blamed on socialism as they relied on a declining Soviet Union and were economically strangled by an American embargo which continues to this day.
North Korea was poor when it turned to Communism. However, it’s difficult to determine whether its continued slide into starvation would have happened regardless and how much was caused by being allied with poor China and also the West’s embargo.
The Jewish Kibbutzim, originally a combination of socialism and Zionism peaked and began to decline more than two decades ago although they still contribute about 10% to Israel’s GDP. However, there are so many factors to consider such as the early need for defense, the establishment of the state of Israel, increased privatization, suppression of innovation, the introduction of modern media, etc. that it difficult to pinpoint cause and effect.
Other socialist states and movements such as Scandinavia and Venezuela each have unique and myriad factors that make it difficult to determine the cause and effect of socialism and poverty. Scandinavians are not poor but Venezuela; despite its oil wealth is sinking into poverty. And so the debate continued; does socialism contribute to poverty or does poverty encourage the rise of socialism.
And then along comes Detroit to provide us with the answer. Detroit is an uncomplicated example. When the socialists took over in 1962, Detroit was one of the largest and per capita richest cities in Amerika. That was a time the Japanese were still making junk and most Amerikans drove cars made in the U.S.A. That was a time when the GM CEO allegedly said, “What’s good for General Motors is good for America.” Therefore, it CANNOT be said that Detroit embraced socialism because of poverty.
However, now the Washington Post says, “Detroit has the highest crime rate of any major city, and fewer than 10 percent of crimes get solved. The average response time for an emergency call is 58 minutes. Some 78,000 buildings are abandoned or blighted and there are an estimated 12,000 fires every year. About 40 percent of the city’s streetlights don’t work.”
“High crime and blight are driving even more residents out of the city. It’s also driving down property values, which means many residents have stopped paying property taxes. The city collected about 68 percent of the property taxes owed in 2011. Both of those things put a further strain on Detroit’s finances.”
Now do you see why the ass media has conveniently blacked out further coverage of Detroit’s bankruptcy? Now do you see why there’s barely a mention of half a century of Detroit’s Democrat mayors?
Detroit has answered the “chicken or the egg” question. The answer is BOTH. History seems to indicate that poverty encourages the rise of socialism and Detroit proved that socialism leads to poverty.
This also sheds further light on countries such as Cuba and North Korea. They were poor when they adopted socialism/communism and consequently sank into deeper poverty. Socialism is evil. It does NOT work.
Let’s see what the brain dead socialists say about this!
You won’t hear this anywhere else. You heard it here first.
Gerold
July 21, 2013
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Gerold's Blog 
Democrats threw the working class “under the bus” when Bill Clinton signed NAFTA. Detroit, a city of 3 million people, not only ran out of other people’s money, it ran out of other people. Detroit now has about 750,000 residents.
Workers had to leave and seek employment elsewhere. Nonworkers, welfare recipients, retirees, prostitutes, freeloaders, drug dealers, and other non taxpayers, were left behind
Matt,
So true, yet so sad and we haven’t seen the end of it yet.
– Gerold
Good piece Gerold. I would suggest that the reason for so many Democratic office holders was simply due to the high concentration of union members in the jurisdiction. I believe the collapse of the manufacturing sector was due to the shift from engineering background CEO’s running these companies to the bean counting MBA’s taking over the reins. Key focus then became pennies and dollars and not quality products which led to the inevitable rejection of big 3 products by a majority of consumers. In short greed killed them just as greed killed the stock market in 2007.
All too true, Fred! I was biting my tongue not saying anything about the union mentality only because it takes two sides; one to demand, the other to cave in.
You’re also right about the quality of cars going downhill when the “car guys” were replaced by accountants who “know the price of everything and the value of nothing.”
You say, “In short greed killed them just as greed killed the stock market in 2007.” That’s karma in action.