New Crowder: The death of Detroit
posted at 9:03 pm on December 21, 2009 by Allahpundit
Portrait of an American nightmare. All his points are well taken, especially about the unions, but I’m wary of drawing too many broadly applicable lessons from Detroit for the simple reason that no place else — outside of Ramadi, say — looks like it. Other American cities have been dominated by the left for decades too, from Berkeley to D.C., and none have the Hiroshima-after-the-blast feel that Motown does. (Democrats currently outnumber Republicans on the New York City Council 46-3.) What Detroit reminds me of, in fact, is a photo set I once viewed online taken in and around Chernobyl by a girl touring the area on her motorcycle. It’s a fascinating gallery, in case you’ve never seen it; follow the link, then compare it to the ghost town Crowder’s walking through here. Horrifying.
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I’ve lived in both the city of Oakland and the suburbs Detroit, and now I live in Richmond, CA–the trifecta of the top 3 murder rates in the country! Both Oakland and Richmond definitely have these “bombed out” areas in them. And Berkeley ain’t the greatest in spots, either, and kind of ignores the homeless problem so you can’t walk 20 ft in downtown without running into someone selling the Homeless Times newspaper. Still, for the most part the houses in these areas of California are at least occupied, even in the worst neighborhoods. The weather is better, which helps, and there are still plenty of places to work within a short bus ride. Detroit is abandoned, no jobs because there are no places to work anymore in the city. Everything is outside the city, and driving distance, so why remain in the city anymore?
JoelD on December 22, 2009 at 2:14 PM
Why indeed. It’s not the 50% unemployment rate so much as it is the utter lack of quality of life.
highhopes on December 22, 2009 at 2:26 PM
Recently read that Whitehouse is traveling about RI supposedly listening to the people in the various towns and neighborhoods. I have mental pix of his driving down rte 95 in his escorted auto, taking the off ramp nearest to the discussion venue, listening, blah blahing to make everyone feel better,then retracing his steps to Providence and then to Newport. Bet he doesn’t ride through the blighted areas of Central Falls, Pawtucket, Johnston,East Providence, southern Cumberland, parts of Woonsocket,south Providence—I could go on, but you see my drift.These used to be working class neighborhoods with cultures and ethnic customs of their own. These folks had jobs, families, church affiliations and pride–above all pride in who they were and what they had achieved. Many were immigrants or first generation Americans from all parts of the world and-let me stress this–all colors. Along comes the Great Society and the benevolent politician with rental laws, subsidized housing, forced busing , AFDC, SSI–all of which were good intentioned but like most of these programs, poorly thought out, abused and eventually corrupted. But I’ll bet Mr. Whitehouse doesn’t even ride through these places with drug dealers in plain sight, gangs lurking in the playgrounds and the devastated and vandalized parks, the damaged grave stones, the churches and public buildings with bars on the windows et al. But—I suppose his solution even if he knew would be more of these hapless programs. It’s the only solution they know. Of course, I don’t have solution either so I should shut my mouth. But I know enough to realize that the present approaches do not work and if a mere citizen notices that, why can’t they.
jeanie on December 22, 2009 at 2:26 PM
Detroit is a liberal dystopia.
Mike Honcho on December 22, 2009 at 2:28 PM
I have lived near Detroit for 45 years. I think it all started with Coleman Young-the dirtiest politician ever. Hoping Dave Bing can do something for Detroit.
Bullhead on December 22, 2009 at 2:34 PM
Unless and until the foundational principles of the culture are God-based, you are wasting your anger on lashing out at liberalism. What is liberalism? It boils down to man making himself to be God, and removing the limits that we used to accept as our way of life. You can rail against the policies and corruption for years, but the common denominator is the demand for moral ‘freedom’ and the ideal of consequence-free living.
Our esteemed Allah finds such God talk beneath him. But time will reveal the truth, and in Detroit, it’s pretty clear what’s happening. But most will say it’s much more complicated than that, it’s geo-political/eco/racial/liberal blah blah. Those are symptoms, not the disease. Man’s arrogance is the issue, and it leads to all of these problems.
leftnomore on December 22, 2009 at 2:45 PM
Welcome to America 2030, crown jewel of the third world.
Blacklake on December 22, 2009 at 2:50 PM
That was really good!
Crowder is getting better and better.
iamse7en on December 22, 2009 at 2:54 PM
There are a whole slew of cities screwed into poverty by liberals. 8 of the top 10 as a matter of fact. Buffalo, NY (2nd), Cincinnati, Ohio (third on the poverty rate list), Cleveland, Ohio (fourth on the list), St. Louis, Missouri (sixth), Milwaukee, Wisconsin (eighth), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (ninth), Newark, New Jersey (10th).
Logboy on December 22, 2009 at 3:00 PM
Is Dearborn the next Kabul?
bcre8v on December 22, 2009 at 3:10 PM
All I know is that it is Bush’s fault.
James on December 22, 2009 at 3:49 PM
I was in first grade when busing came to Denver. I was one of the students bused to an intercity school. I am perfectly willing to blame the hell hole I was bused into on racism. It is imposable to believe that educating the
studentsvictims was the purpose of the curriculum.My parents moved before the end of the school year.
Slowburn on December 22, 2009 at 3:52 PM
I grew up in Saginaw. The virus of liberalism that infected Detroit has spread outward to Flint, my hometown and westward. The only place with effective antiviral therapies is the west side of Michigan (Grand Rapids area). West Michigan should become the 51st state.
There’s a reason I fled to Indiana. I’m glad. My home has actually increased in value in the past 6 years I have lived here. I’m never moving back to my home state unless, God forbid, certain situations surrounding family members still living there arise.
New state slogan……Michigan: The state that hope
forgotdestroyed.Dr.Cwac.Cwac on December 22, 2009 at 4:23 PM
Sorry, but the UP has had dibs on that effort for at least three decades. The Upper Peninsula: the land Lansing forgot.
Yoop on December 22, 2009 at 5:27 PM
I am a native Michigan resident, white 57 yrs old registered Republican born and raised in the Detroit city limits. I remember well when my father moved his family (8 kids and a wife) to rural michigan in 1964. It was all about white flight. When the schools became desegregated in the 60′s it was no longer safe for white families to live, work, worship in the neighborhoods. By 1970 (Coleman Youngs administration) Detroit had become a hot bed of Crime, prostitution and drugs.
I remember white Detroit well. The Ford Rotunda, the GM corporate office, Hudsons Downtown and the Vernors and Faygo pop plants as well as Lay’s and New Era potato Chips and a host of “snack food” companies. Detriot could boast not only of being the home to the big 3 Auto Co’s but also the home of Twin Pines Milk, Abso Pure Water C0. and Strohs Beer. Detroits proud history also included 6 or 8 major radio stations WJR being the largest (and only one left) as well as major Television stations with local stars Howdy Dooty, Soupy Sales, Milky the Clown, and many others being produced in Detroit. Detroits infrastructure was second to none with a huge train depot downtown, and a state of the art Bus Terminal with local routes moving 10′s of thousands of people 24 hours a day. 20 and more story professional buildings a Federal building, County and State offices all located near Grand Circus Park. Detroit also housed literally a hundred Movie Houses some grand like the Fox theatre and the Grande Ball Room, and the East Town. Detroit also hosted (downtown) The Detroit Tigers, Lions, at Tiger Stadium also the Pistons and Red Wings. Detriot was also the home to 100′s if not thousands of “mom & pop” corner grocery stores, supplied from importers all over the world through Detroits “Eastern Market”. Detroits streets and neighborhoods were filled (much like New York or Chicago) with people of all colors and persuasions and had vibrant Mexican, Irish, Polish, Italian, Greek and (referred to then) negro enclaves. Detroit of the 40′s 50′s and part of the 60′s (until the 67 riots) was a vibrant and safe place to live and work. What happened to Detroit is a sin against man.
Although it is an easy thing to point fingers and lay blame one must do so if we are to assess what actually happened to this once marvelous City. Truly Detroits near demise was POLITICAL. It was brought about not by Corporate greed but by racist liberal Democrat policies. Lyndon Johnson’s “Great Society” paved the way and instituted a clear path to failure. GM, Ford, Chrysler, and the 100′s of major Corporations had no other choice but to pick up and leave Detroit as the social costs (city, state, federal taxes)along with the heavy costs of the city’s infrastructure (sewer, water, garbage, etc.) shifted to the businesses away from the general population who were told they no longer were expected to “pay their fair share” as this was a tab owed to them for being born black or under priveleged.
I do not seek to over simplify a complex and multi generational problem nor do I seek to blame a specific race for what happened in Detroit. It is boundlesly obvious who have been affected by national, state and local malfeasence. Democrat wrong headedness and social programs gone awry.
Tonynoboloney on December 22, 2009 at 5:28 PM
given that you were the one who started to hurl insults…amusing, but typical for a liberal wacko.
see what I mean? let me guess, you’re another ‘tolerant’ liberal racist.
this is supposed to show what again?? yeah you are just such a hero, so good, so ‘tolerant’ so understanding..I’m sure you feel quite good about yourself.
now go away, and get a life.
right4life on December 22, 2009 at 5:43 PM
so tell us about your racist grandfather, and his ‘successful’ integration plan…what city was it??
and tell us about how brave you are again, and how you’re not afraid of the big bad city, and the rest of us conservatives cower in the shadows of your brilliance!!
and then tell us again, how black people are just waiting for you to save them HALLELUJAH!
you pathetic little piece of trash.
right4life on December 22, 2009 at 5:46 PM
I lived in the Detroit area for 15 years, and longer than that in Michigan. The 1967 Riots were the beginning of the end for Detroit and it just got worse from there. I’m not sure how a city recovers from something like that without a vibrant economy and other things that draw people downtown to live, work and play. Detroit has not had much downtown scene (other than Joe Louis Arena, Ford Field–with the (sigh) Lions and Comerica Park) for decades. The casinos haven’t helped much.
I don’t think it was politics that killed downtown Detroit. I think it was just the continued decline of the US car industry which was the primary cause.
Jimbo3 on December 22, 2009 at 6:06 PM
Parts of NYC resembled this in the early 90s. Without Giuliani’s stewardship of the city, this story could easily have been told about NYC.
h0mi on December 22, 2009 at 6:29 PM
Tru dat. State of Superior representin’, yo! Maybe this will lead to the 52 stars on the uniform in ST-TNG “The Royale”.
Dr.Cwac.Cwac on December 22, 2009 at 6:38 PM
Witness the power of Jesus’s love.
crr6 on December 22, 2009 at 6:44 PM
you’re right..I should have said racist piece of trash..
now what about your hero grandfather again…tell us the city…that he integrated…
you know I think all you’ve said is a bunch of BS. put up or shut up.
right4life on December 22, 2009 at 7:10 PM
WOW… I had recently heard that homes were going for a $1.00, and I had heard about the blocks and blocks of homes that were torn down.
And they still blindly follow the unions, follow Dem’s..
WOW
reshas1 on December 22, 2009 at 7:10 PM
oh you can dish it out but you can’t take it sonny, no surprise there.
talk about looney tunes, that little story of yours is laughable.
oh yeah you’re real tough on a message board. big man on HA!!
sounds like you’re just desperate for my attention. its rather obvious you don’t have the intellect to argue issues…people like you are crr6 are just desperate for attention…otherwise why would you be here? you cannot argue issues, you and your ‘friend’ don’t have the intellect, its painfully obvious.
right4life on December 22, 2009 at 7:13 PM
Just as good as ‘tolerance’ on the left-wing, apparently.
A certain phrase by Ghandi comes to mind about now.
Dark-Star on December 22, 2009 at 7:15 PM
Another pot-meet-kettle moment. See that face reflected in your monitor? It’s the face of someone who’s no better at all than the anonymous person he’s spewing at.
(With the obligatory right-wing ranting and raving.)
Dark-Star on December 22, 2009 at 7:17 PM
why are you talking to me again? you have said nothing that has made any sense at all in this thread.
I know you think you are just SO clever, but you’re just a legend in your own little deluded mind…
right4life on December 22, 2009 at 7:19 PM
Why are you talking to me? Oh, that’s right, because you’re a sad sack ‘conservative’ who’s the mirror-image of a left-wing loon.
Pot, meet kettle, again.
Dark-Star on December 22, 2009 at 7:22 PM
you started talking to me first…and this isn’t the first thead…apparently you are some sort of cyber stalker…
really now? then why is it that I can make you look so stupid, so easily?
keep following me around…I know it excites you.
right4life on December 22, 2009 at 7:26 PM
oh and do try to come up with some other expression, its so lame…you’re getting rather boring. but then dull people usually are…
right4life on December 22, 2009 at 7:27 PM
Yay! More projection! I’ll say this much, notright4life, you are consistent if nothing else.
Dark-Star on December 22, 2009 at 7:30 PM
just curious, are you as fat are you are stupid?
right4life on December 22, 2009 at 7:33 PM
again, if I’m such an idiot, then what does that make you, given that I make you look like a blathering idiot…not that you need any help…
right4life on December 22, 2009 at 7:34 PM
and I’m still waiting for some signs of intelligence from you in ANY thread….don’t worry, I won’t hold my breath!
right4life on December 22, 2009 at 7:37 PM
More projection…
Good, because you’d be unable to distinguish them, hold your breath until you died, and make your family very sad. Even an idiot like you has family.
Seriously – you are nothing but a useful idiot that is tolerated by the majority of HA’s regulars, in the manner of a ‘guard dog’ who sics itself on anyone who doesn’t tow the party line. If by some chance you actually decide to read my posts instead of spout off, Google’s your friend.
Dark-Star on December 22, 2009 at 7:46 PM
Amazing. I wish he would have hit on the fat-cat UAW leadership, like their golf course.
http://michellemalkin.com/2008/12/16/money-pit-the-uaws-gold-plated-golf-course/
njpat on December 22, 2009 at 7:53 PM
lame and repetitive, but its the best you can do, obviously.
I do when I need a good laugh. I see a pompous full-of-himself fool who really has nothing to offer.
just as in this thread, nothing you said added anything to the conversation. but then I’ve never seen you say anything in any thread that has added anything to the conversation.
why are you here? other than to stalk me that is?
right4life on December 22, 2009 at 7:55 PM
oh that was an example of your brilliance!! that was SO witty, you get a cookie for being a clever lad!!
I can see why you are so full of yourself…oh yeah…
get some professional help.
right4life on December 22, 2009 at 7:58 PM
FTFY.
Keep a mirror by your computer, then. Should have a laugh riot 24/7.
Who’s stalking who, troll? You aren’t worth stalking. I’m responding to a blithering wingnut who’s latched on to me like a leech.
Dark-Star on December 22, 2009 at 7:59 PM
shouldn’t you be doing your homework? does your mother know you’re on a message board? its rather obvious you’re a pimply-faced teenager.
right4life on December 22, 2009 at 8:03 PM
The only thing that is rather obvious is that you are another asshole making foolish assumptions.
‘Homework’ will be chef practice for the family tomorrow, and I happen to be 21. Left acne behind a few years ago, and the pettiness characterizing teenage life longer than that, only to run into it again when I became interested in politics.
Dark-Star on December 22, 2009 at 8:07 PM
More incorrect assumptions from an @$$hole.
Dark-Star on December 22, 2009 at 8:08 PM
Wow, you really brought back some memories there Tony. You did leave out Bill Kennedy, Captain Kangaroo and Dr. Dimento. I was born in Dearborn and spent most of my youth living in the Downriver area. I saw the riots of ’67 up close and personal. I remember my mom driving to the A&P store amidst a convoy of halftracks and National Guardsmen. As a child, I always wondered why Black people hated us so much. It wasn’t till later in life that I realized they were constantly being told by their parents, teachers, ministers, politicians and everyone important in their life that we were the reason their life wasn’t better than it is. So when the US embarked on the Great Schemesociety, essentially paying them to do nothing but sit home and get fat having babies, they slowly started to bear out the old idea that when you just give somebody something without them working for it, they don’t appreciate it. As a matter of fact, they generally start to get the idea that you’ll give them more if they complain. Look at all the rathole public housing projects, (of which I grew up in one in River Rouge), and how they deteriorate so fast as opposed to a home people work for years and pay dearly for. This is how a society breaks down, and if’s there’s anyone out there who thinks Detroit society has not broken down, please don’t respond to me, you’re too stupid to form a thought.
The saddest thing about Detroit is that it really is a window into America’s future. Now our Marxist president is trying to revive the thinking that the outcome of everyones life should be the same, regarless of how much you toil and sweat to make it better. He is literally trying to destroy capitalism by making us all poor and starting over…with something else. We are living in the early days of some very evil times.
Bikerken on December 22, 2009 at 8:46 PM
Apparently you haven’t figured it out yet, so I guess I’ll spell it out for you.
I couldn’t care less what you “think”.
If I told you what city it was you’d just obfuscate and lie and distort. Because that’s what you do.
The fact is, his plan was wildly successful, and was used as a model for desegregation plans in other cities. In fact, he was eventually hired by a southern school district as a sort of “super” superintendent to oversee their school desegregation plan. Several of the magnet schools he created have ranked in the top 100 nationally.
But of course, you don’t care about that. You make accusations, and when you’re proven wrong, you squirm and lie your way out of it. Many other posters here have already figured out you’re a waste of time. Even your fellow conservatives hate you. Buzz off.
crr6 on December 22, 2009 at 8:53 PM
Dark Star: you might try to sound intelligent, even if you have to quote someone with brains. Are you living in a house in Detroit? Did you go to school in Detroit? Were you murdered in Detroit? Is Detroit now infested with zombies?
donbury on December 22, 2009 at 9:17 PM
Crowder is brilliant.
jediwebdude on December 22, 2009 at 10:42 PM
New York City was headed that way,but Guiliani Time saved the city.No one can spin that sh*t.
theTarCzar on December 22, 2009 at 10:56 PM
NYC hasn’t suffered from the corruption of the mayor’s office, along with the unions, mafia, democrat party, state government and the empowerment of all of them by the U.S. government, along with the closed shop of the teachers union in the schools and the closed shop union stranglehold of the entire state
flytier on December 22, 2009 at 11:43 PM
I hate to be the one to bring this up but that last shot at 12:54 struck me as kinda racist, the Obama sign under the watermelon sign.
Dollayo on December 23, 2009 at 3:29 AM
obviously you do, or you wouldn’t have responded.
let me spell it out for you. what your grandfather did is not de-segregation, or integration, it was BUSING. which is another FAILED scheme by our government. people like your grandfather thought they could FORCE things upon people, because they knew what was best for the rest of us. people like you and your grandfather think you are so much wiser, so much better than the rest of us, and that we (no matter the color) cannot make it without people like you directing our lives.
Busing was abandoned as a FAILURE, get it?
in other words, its LIBERALISM. and its FAILED every time its tried.
Busing was a FAILURE, your grandfather’s schemes were a FAILURE. just like federal housing policy that created pruitt igoe, cabrini green and others a FAILURE…
your ‘ideals’ are failures, proven failures, socialism does not work.
right4life on December 23, 2009 at 7:37 AM
and she fails every time she tries…
right4life on December 23, 2009 at 7:39 AM
grow up you pathetic loser. you have no idea how pompous and ignorant you are.
and don’t try to pawn yourself off as ‘conservative’ you’re an embarrassment, you sound like comrade crr6, a socialist stooge.
right4life on December 23, 2009 at 7:44 AM
oh and the reason liberals don’t abandon their failed ‘ideals’ is because no matter how much your policies hurt those you purport to help, it gives liberals power over other people’s lives, and thats the only ‘ideal’ that matters to people like you.
right4life on December 23, 2009 at 7:46 AM
and of course crr6, the reason you won’t name the city, is because public education in that city is a FAILURE!
but of course to liberals, its a success, because the goal isn’t to educate, rather to indoctrinate, and turn out uneducated, easily led, socialist stooges.
so for liberals, public edukashun is a great success
right4life on December 23, 2009 at 8:12 AM
As for Crowder’s images, wow. Simply put, wow. I’ve never been there, and I hope I never have to go there. Detroit is the worst of the worst, but it shows on a grand scale what is happening to most of our cities in at least scattered pockets.
I mostly agree with Crowder’s assessment regarding a destructive combination of unions’ greed and liberal policies leading to the demise of Detroit. Unions 100 years ago were a very necessary thing; management was guilty of the same kind of gluttony, greed, and oppression for which labor is guilty today. It’s amazing how we’ve gone 180 degrees in 100 years! I should be careful saying such things; I’m unionized myself, and, based on my login, you can guess to which liberal, unrealistic, profession-destroying union I belong. I believe what I’ve said, though.
Back to Detroit, one problem was that it built itself around *one* industry; it put all its eggs in one basket. It also bought into the aforementioned utopian vision, a premise that someone who has had ONE DAY of economics classes can debunk. People didn’t like the racial tension that this vision only helped to promote, and they voted with their feet. When they did that, they incurred higher costs of living and needed higher wages to keep up. The unions surely answered that problem and have never looked back, even though they’ve further destroyed their crown jewel home in the process. Management couldn’t feed that kind of excess for forever if it had any hope of staying solvent, and so the jobs left Detroit specifically and the USA generally.
flutejpl on December 23, 2009 at 10:15 AM
To rebut AP’s premise about NYC: if Obama were fully to have his way with Wall St., or even if Love Client #9 Eliot Spitzer had been able to continue, the Big Apple would rot just as quickly as Motown has due to the same kind of tax base erosion, taxing for entitlements, minority tensions due to their disproportionate unemployment, and resulting spiraling from foot-voting. Such had already commenced in the 60s and 70s, but our national boom starting in the 80s poised the city for a renaissance under Guiliani. That boom couldn’t save industry as their unions had gone hard-core leftist, but it did save and give new life to service and banking industries. Bloomberg wouldn’t be able to do a thing about it if the banking industry gets federally regulated to the point of deciding to leave, though, just as regulations placed by Johnson had quite a hand in the start of Detroit’s death spiral.
flutejpl on December 23, 2009 at 10:24 AM
After “service and banking,” change “industries” to “sectors” so that “industry” implies machine-based manufacturing.
flutejpl on December 23, 2009 at 10:25 AM
Unfortunately, Anderson Indiana was another mid-western town that put all of it’s eggs in one basket. I worked there for GM – and it’s spin-off, Delphi Corp. – until 2006. It was a good ride while it lasted.
ReagansRight on December 23, 2009 at 2:51 PM
I don’t think it was solely the Unions, solely the Mayor’s office, etc.
I think it was a mixture of all these factors. Sadly Detroit has no one to blame but themselves.
asc85 on December 23, 2009 at 6:05 PM
Excuse me neocons, but let someone who knows about life in that hellhole called Detroit tell you THE REAL DEAL HERE!
BobAnthony on December 23, 2009 at 9:10 PM
Bad news… Detroit has leaked into the rest of Michigan. My suburban, UAW family members are full-fledged kookaid drinkers. They’ve spent the past 8 years getting 90% of their incomes by participating in the Job Bank…by delivering Meals on Wheels a few times a week! Debbie Shulusushsh can fact check all she wants…but the truth is that Detroit has run out of other people’s money, and the rest of the State is only a few steps behind! Liberalism is a destructive force and the Unions are a vicious, self-serving weapon. Yet look how those fools keep voting…Conyers, Stabenow, Dingell, Granholm…fools!
redwhiteblue on December 24, 2009 at 12:22 AM
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