POLITICS: Living Large - Nation's Poorest City Spends Big

Detroit. A major industrial center of the nation, being home to the Big Three Auto Companies, is sinking deeper and deeper into debt. The mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick, and city council members are using money to inflate their payrolls, give themselves and their staffers special benefits, while cutting budgets for neccessary departments.



The sad thing is, he was reelected for a second term in 2005, despite his bankrupting the city (from a large surplus) and several scandals.

It's absolutely disgusting that the nation's poorest city would be willing to sink itself further into debt, just so that the people running it can have some benefits that the vast majority of its residents cannot.

Here's an image comparing Detroit with both New York City and Chicago.


All I can say is this is political corruption and greed at its pinacle.

Related News Links:
www.wsws.org
www.usatoday.com
www.detnow.com

[edit on 3/29/2006 by cmdrkeenkid]

[edit on 29-3-2006 by Thomas Crowne]

You really have to look at this from another point of view.

That view being, it's no ones fault but the voting citizens of Detroit. They obviously want these corrupt and greedy city council members directing their lives. If so, more power to them.

BTW, thanks for the chart. That's really hard hitting!

[edit on 28/3/06 by Intelearthling]

I think blaming it on Detroit voters is only part of the problem.
Detroit has been in financial hot water before. But, the state of Michigan and the Federal Government came to its aid.
I don't think that aid will be seen this time. Michigan is in the poor house...and we have part time, overly-well-paid legislators that probably make City Council look like church mice.

You've got uniformed city workers thinking they should get medical insurance for free. Residents who don't pay their water bills or property taxes. A crumbling infrastructure.


[edit on 28-3-2006 by DontTreadOnMe]

A lot of people, businesses, cities, states and nations are into deficit financing.

It's the official Bush 'economic development' strategy too, if you hadn't noticed. Much plugged by certain economists.

Sucks IMO. A good way to lose your soul, never mind your assets.

You can't put the whole state in the same boat. The East side and the thumb area has been doing bad for a long time. However West Michigan is doing well. Sure there has been some bad events, but the good out weighs the bad. Right now Grand Rapids is working on the Grand River Project a $1.7 Billion Devlopment that will bring jobs to the area, and lets not forget about Medical Hill.

Maybe it's because West Michigan is Republican and the East is control by the Democrats. In 50 years if one way doesn't work maybe its time to try a new way and a start would be getting rid of Governor Granholm.

This part of the state is fairly depressed. I thought the poor economy was state-wide.
The problem is, Detroit will vote to re-elect our in-over-her-head Governor. And, like the mayor of Detroit, she could get a second term.

As far as putting the whole state in the same boat, how else are statistics done? If the west side of the state is doing well, how widespread is it? Is Kalkaska booming?

I don't mean to meander off-topic, but the financial health of Detroit has a great deal to do with the fiscal health of the state.

Originally posted by DontTreadOnMe
As far as putting the whole state in the same boat, how else are statistics done? If the west side of the state is doing well, how widespread is it? Is Kalkaska booming?

Yeah, exactly... Sure, parts of the state are doing well, but when you take the state as a whole it's entirely in the dumps.

Which goes back to the point I made earlier.

How can Detroit hope to get any money from Lansing when the state is floundering?
What would be the ripple effect is Detroit goes bust? Would it go into receivership?

Originally posted by soficrow
It's the official Bush 'economic development' strategy too, if you hadn't noticed. Much plugged by certain economists.

You're the first person to bring up President Bush. Could you provide us with facts to back up your claims?

I watched a piece on Detroit and it's mayor a couple months ago and it's scandalous past goes back to the Clinton era.

Originally posted by soficrow
A lot of people, businesses, cities, states and nations are into deficit financing

Well, that may well be. But other entities and people doing this doesn't justify the way Detroit is heading down the toilet.
And, blaming the Oval Office doesn't work. Unless you want to lay blame on the administration that first started federal handouts to cities.
Detroit has been in a downward spiral since about 1965.

Is a domino effect, cuts on budgets, bad city management is starting to put pressure on local governments.

Yes perhaps Detroit has bad management, but they are not the only city and is many states that are starting to feel the financial burden of not having enough federal funding to take care of the needs of the population.

Is a domino effect when the states are left on their own, what is going next, more taxes at local level to fix things.

But the federal government can sit back and claim that they are giving tax brakes to Americans.

Things are starting to get very bad for states all over the nation.

Our county has already raise the taxes on properties and also has added more taxes to us citizens to keep with the city spending.

Because is the only way to get money.

Wait!!

Have we become so entangled with the federal government that we think the federal government SHOULD continue to bail out cities and states?
Don't you see that continues to make local government beholden to Washington? It is eroding states rights further?

I think at some point this local government welfare needs to stop. The federal government needs to go back to its original intent.
I would rather pay more local taxes and less or no federal income taxes.

Originally posted by DontTreadOnMe

I would rather pay more local taxes and less or no federal income taxes.

Yes I know what you mean but guess what it ain't gona happen, we get suck by the federal government and then by the states.

Yes I feel that we should be giving more to the states we live but Uncle Sams gets his cut too.

You do have put some blame on the voters. New York (my town) was an absolute cesspool that many had written off as dead in like the 70s....fortunately things got turned around with new leadership and it's now one of the safest cities in the world with sky-high property values and a vibrant city center.

[edit on 3/29/2006 by djohnsto77]

Originally posted by Intelearthling
I watched a piece on Detroit and it's mayor a couple months ago and it's scandalous past goes back to the Clinton era.

Actually, Mayor Dennis Archer was doing a great job to bring Detroit's stature up. He was making major reforms and even got the city into having a surplus of money. While I'm not saying this has anything to relate to Clinton being in office (n fact, I don't think there's any relation), I just wanted to point out that not everything and everyone was corrupt. Still though, all his hard work went to nothing in the end. I believe his reason for not running for office again was that he was sick and tired of all the corruption.

Originally posted by Intelearthling

Originally posted by soficrow

deficit financing. ...It's the official Bush 'economic development' strategy too, if you hadn't noticed. Much plugged by certain economists.

You're the first person to bring up President Bush. Could you provide us with facts to back up your claims?

deficit financing: The practise of spending more than you make; Deficit spending is the amount by which a government, private company, or individual's spending exceeds income over a particular period of time, also called simply "deficit," or "budget deficit," the opposite of budget surplus.

PTS: They're raising the U.S. debt limit again!!!

U.S. NATIONAL DEBT CLOCK

The Outstanding Public Debt as of 30 Mar 2006 at 04:55:01 AM GMT is:
$ 8 , 3 7 2 , 3 4 4 , 8 4 7 , 9 6 2 . 0 7

The estimated population of the United States is 298,911,193
so each citizen's share of this debt is $28,009.47.

The National Debt has continued to increase an average of
$2.43 billion per day since September 30, 2005!

Originally posted by soficrow
It's the official Bush 'economic development' strategy too, if you hadn't noticed. Much plugged by certain economists.

Not quite sure if you're trying to say something negative about Republicans here, because the Mayor of Detroit is a Democrat.

Originally posted by cmdrkeenkid

Not quite sure if you're trying to say something negative about Republicans here, because the Mayor of Detroit is a Democrat.

No. I was very clear. I was referring to deficit financing as a personal, business, and/or government strategy: "Sucks IMO. A good way to lose your soul, never mind your assets."

.