General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: all I can tell you about Detroit is those complaining have never worked there [View all]kwassa
(23,340 posts)or from fascism or democracy or Democrats or Republicans ...
The decline comes from two things:
1) The decline of the American auto industry, reducing all auto employment.
2) American auto companies moving auto production out of Detroit to other places, thereby destroying the economic base of the city. The auto companies did this themselves. They are the culprits.
Detroit had the great defect of being essentially a single-industry town dependent on a very large American business sector that went into decline. Other rust belt cities had similar declines, though Detroit's was worse, as American heavy manufacturing moved offshore. Can we talk about the steel industry?
Bad city management can add to the problem, but no city can survive when the economic base disappears. There is and was no plan B in Detroit, and there will be no rescue without new businesses that create new jobs. Where will this come from?
I was born in Detroit, but lived in the suburbs. My dad worked for GM as a mid-level manager for 30 years, and we moved a couple of times around the country to work for far-flung GM divisions. He ended his career at Cadillac, at the Clark Street plant in Detroit, where armed guards had to walk employees to the parking lots because it was so dangerous. That was almost 30 years ago.