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Subject: Fwd: Interesting and Revealing Statistic


    The United States is ranked 3rd, from the Top, in Murders -

Subject: Detroit: Socialism's Theme Park

 

 

Hang on!  Chicago and Illinois are not far behind.

 

Government Motors Is Alive And Detroit Is Dead         07/19/2013

Bankruptcy: The fundamental transformation of Detroit is complete, as socialism's theme park succumbs to government run amok, a reminder that government isn't the solution to our problems but their cause.

The wisdom of President Reagan's words have been lost under an administration that believes government is the entity from which all blessings flow. So has Margaret Thatcher's observation that the problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money.

Last Oct. 13, President Obama boasted in a weekly address about the bailed-out auto industry that, "We refused to throw in the towel and do nothing. We refused to let Detroit go bankrupt. I bet on American workers and American ingenuity, and three years later that bet is paying off in a big way."

Less than a year later, the American auto industry is indeed surviving, bolstered largely by Ford that refused government assistance and foreign transplants located in right-to-work states. Even General Motors has been forced to pay the free market some lip service, lest its customers go elsewhere, even as it accepts Chevy Volt subsidies.

Detroit, however, is dead, and unions and government killed it. Michigan recently became a right-to-work state, but it was too late to save a city that had become beholden to unions. As the United Auto Workers helped destroy the auto industry in and around Detroit, it's no accident that Mercedes-Benz decided to build its flagship SUV in a shiny new facility in Vance, Ala.

Labor overhead was an albatross around Detroit's neck. Until recently, total pay and benefits for a full-time worker at the Big Three averaged $140,000 a year vs. $80,000 for their foreign competitors. Add an estimated $2,000-plus per car for retiree health care and pensions for the Big Three, and you wonder not why Detroit failed, but why it didn't fail sooner.

Detroit's response to a declining business climate was more taxes, fewer city services and bloated pensions for workers in the only growth area — government.

The city's $11 billion in unsecured debt includes $6 billion in health and other retirement benefits and $3 billion in retiree pensions for its 20,000 city pensioners, members of the public sector unions that helped bring Detroit to its knees.

In the face of government incompetence, it was the people of Detroit who went on strike. Detroit lost a quarter-million residents between 2000 and 2010. A population that in the 1950s teemed with 1.8 million is struggling to stay above 700,000. Much of the middle-class and scores of businesses also have fled, taking their tax dollars with them.

Detroit is the rotten fruit of uncontested progressive socialism. In 1960, Detroit had the highest per capita income in the U.S.; today, it's the poorest of our large cities. An estimated 78,000 of the city's homes are unoccupied, and in 2011 half the occupiers of its 305,000 properties did not pay any tax. Some 40% of the street lights do not work.

Detroit has 264,209 households, and 91,204 — or 34.5% — get food stamps. Only 54.3% of Detroit residents participate in the labor force. This is how America is beginning to look. If we continue down President Obama's path, America will become Detroit, only with a press to print money.

Indeed, the scary part is that Detroit is what Obama wants to fundamentally transform America into: a place where wealth is redistributed, not created, and where government picks winners and losers in an economy in which we all ultimately lose.

Speaking at Ohio State University in May, he told graduates not to listen to "voices that incessantly warn of government as nothing more than some separate, sinister entity that's at the root of all our problems."

Detroit didn't. We should.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrFvAiQDuEo&feature=related

Sent: Sunday, September 18, 2011 7:59 PM
Subject: Burger King in Detroit



 

Burger King in Detroit   Proof that the Detroit school system works! 

Subject: More On Detroit's Collapse- Unthinkable

Many years ago I made several trips to Detroit, over a period of several months.. The C & O's Northern Regional Offices were in the GM Building.

Detroit was prosperous, a relatively clean town. You could get off the train and walk anywhere you wanted in town. It was the epitome of the working man's dream... good jobs for you, your sons, daughters and grandchildren.., virtually into perpetuity.

To learn what has happened to this once thriving city is a shame.... most of it is due to mismanagement, failure to realistically look at common sense issues and the perpetuation of "something-for-nothing mentality.

DETROIT’S COLLAPSE
To understand what is going to happen to America 's health care delivery system, we must first understand what has happened to Detroit . Detroit is dying. Yes, I know that there are lots of books on "The Death of. .. ." That word sells books. But Detroit really is dying. It is the first metropolis in the United States to be facing extinction. We have never seen anything like this in American history. It is happening under our noses, but the media refuse to discuss it. To do so would be politically incorrect.

Two factors tell us that Detroit is dying. The first is the departure of 900,000 people – over half the city's population – since 1950. It peaked at 1.8 million in 1950. It is down to about 900,000 today._
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detroit#Demographics) In 1994, the median sales price of a house in Detroit was about $41,000. The housing bubble pushed it up to about $98,000 in 2003. In March 2009, the price was $13,600. Today, the price is $7,000. Check the price chart.
(http://garynorth.com/public/6259.cfm)

There has never been a collapse of residential real estate values of this magnitude in peacetime history, anywhere. Detroit is dying. We are unfamiliar with anything like this. The media are silent. The powers that be are not interested in reporting on this, because readers might ask the obvious question: "How did this happen?" Obvious questions tend to lead to obvious answers. Detroit has been killed by flight out of the city.

The 2008 Clint Eastwood movie, Gran Torino, dealt with this problem. Eastwood plays an 80-something Korean War veteran who will not leave the neighborhood. His children keep bugging him to sell and move into a retirement home. He will not hear of it. He is alienated from them and from his immigrant neighbors: Hmong refugees from South Vietnam . The Hmong have trouble with the Blacks. Every group is essentially trapped in a neighborhood, with the gangs running the show.

There is no surge of buyers to take advantage of fabulously low prices in Detroit . Can you imagine buying a home for cash for $13,600 in 2009 – a house that had sold for $98,000 six years earlier – and losing half your money? It's incredible. The Wall Street Journal recently ran one of the most creative stories I have seen in years.

(http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125390841258341665.html) .

The journalist told the story of the history of a 5-bedroom home in Detroit , from the land purchase to its recent sale. It was built by one of the most influential man you have never heard of, Clarence Avery. Avery was on the Ford Motor Company team that conceived of implementing an assembly line for Ford's factory. He copied the idea from a hog-slaughtering operation.

His home was a very nice home for the time. The journalist located his daughter, now age 91. She said that she always thought the home was the best home she ever lived in. As recently as 2005, the home sold for $250,000. It was purchased by a woman who was lent $200,000 to buy it. It was financed by a subprime loan. The asking price was $189,000. Where the other $61,000 went, the woman has no idea. She defaulted. The deteriorating house was bought by a Christian organization that is renovating it. The house sold for $10,000. This is simply inconceivable to anyone who is unfamiliar with Detroit since 2005.

Nothing like this has ever happened. How can we conceive of a lender lending $200,000 to a woman to buy a $250,000 home offered at $189,000? How can we conceive of a fall in price from $250,000 to $10,000? This is the sign of a dying city. This does not happen in a normal environment. Even with the mania created by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, in conjunction with Alan Greenspan's Federal Reserve, nothing like this has happened anywhere else. If you had predicted anything like this in 2005, you would have been dismissed as a crackpot on crack. You would not have been taken seriously by anyone. Yet it has happened.

The city planners, the Federal government's subsidy defenders, and the welfare state aficionados are all discreetly silent about Detroit . The city funds its schools with property taxes. Property taxes have collapsed as sources of revenue. An honest property tax system will generate less than ten cents on the 2003 dollar. Last week, the school board announced the closing of one-quarter of Detroit 's schools. The city is out of money. The central agency of propaganda by the government is in the process of closing up shop. This is not "anti-business as usual." This is collapse!

The American public does not perceive what is happening in Detroit . When a city simply shuts down from the effects of government mismanagement, the media say nothing. Detroit has become the poster child of government regulation, welfare systems, and a population that has given up hope.

The media say nothing because they are caught in a dilemma. If they say that the local government's welfare programs are not really to blame, what does that leave? The unmentionable issue: 82% of the city is Black. So, that means blaming white employers, who discriminate, despite 40 years of Federal anti-discrimination laws. But the main non-employers today are the region's auto companies, and two of the three are partially owned by the U.S. government. One – GM – is mainly owned by the retirement fund of the United Auto Workers. So, the media are not about to blame the auto companies – not now. That leaves that other politically incorrect issue: the rate of illegitimacy, which is in the 80% range. That social phenomenon represents a moral collapse, but the participants were all educated by the tax-funded schools. Who ya gonna blame? The media pundits cannot decide, so they simply ignore the collapse. " Detroit ? Never heard
of it."

The lesson of Detroit is this: the "experts" do not see a collapse coming. They assume that next year will be like today, give or take 3%. They do not believe that anything as complex as a city can collapse. So, they believe that things will continue, as they always have. Taxes need not be cut. Spending need not be cut. Schools should be allowed to educate. Tax-funded welfare programs should be increased. When it comes to tax revenues, "there's always more where that came from." And then, overnight, the system collapses.

The assumptions were wrong. Real estate prices collapse, indicating an irreversible flight of capital from the city. The ability of the government to collect taxes collapses.

CASH FOR CLUNKERS: TRADE IN AMERICAN; BUY FOREIGN

By DICK MORRIS & EILEEN MCGANN

Published on DickMorris.com on August 10, 2009

The only part of the stimulus program that is working, the cash-for-clunkers
program is, in reality, a subsidy to foreign car companies, proving that
Barack Obama is the best president Japan ever had.

The Department of Transportation reports that the ten leading trade-ins are
all American branded cars while six of the top ten new cars purchased - and
four of the top five - are foreign. So the United States Senate is about to
pass additional funds to subsidize the trade-in of American cars and the
purchase of foreign cars.

DOT reports that the following are the ten top trade-ins, all American:

Ten Top Trade-Ins Under Cash for Clunkers

1. Ford Explorer
2. Ford F150 Pickup 2WD
3. Jeep Grand Cherokee 4 WD
4. Jeep Cherokee 4 WD
5. Dodge Caravan/Grand Caravan
6. Chevrolet Blazer 4 WD
7. Ford Explorer 2 WD
8. Ford F150 Pickup 4 WD
9. Chevrolet C1500 Pickup 2 WD
10. Ford Windstar FWD Van

And the top ten new car purchases, subsidized by the American taxpayer, are
mainly foreign vehicles:

Top Ten New Car Purchases: Cash for Clunkers

1. Toyota Corolla
2. Ford Focus FWD
3. Honda Civic
4. Toyota Prius
5. Toyota Camry
6. Ford Escape FWD
7. Hyndai Elantra
8. Dodge Caliber
9. Honda Fit
10. Chevrolet Cobalt

It is a violation of the World Trade Organization rules to enact a public
subsidy program and skew it toward only domestically produced products, so
the Congress has no choice but to extend the program to all comers. No
choice, that is, but to not spend the money in the first place.

Cash for Clunkers will do wonders for the Japanese economy, but its impact
on the US job situation is problematic. This unintended consequence is a
great illustration of what happens when the blunt tool of government subsidy
is applied to the fine tuning of a free market economy. Government planners
keep getting it wrong. That's why socialism is such a bad idea.

So Obama can boast of a great success in taking American cars off the road
and replacing them with foreign cars. Great going!

Here is an article from the Canadian press with their view of the Obama
administration. I keep wondering why our own press continues to be either
oblivious or enabling when it comes to what is happening. I also wonder
why there is no outcry from the general population or even rebukes from
reasonable and thinking politicians.


"A shallow, manipulative and egotistical amateur who is in over his head"
The Canadian Press.



http://www.thecanadianpress.com/about_cp.aspx?id=104
Obama's White House is Falling Down
By Daniel Greenfield Thursday, June 11, 2009

In the sixth month of his presidency, Obama has turned an economic
downturn into an economic disaster, taking over and trashing entire
companies, and driving the nation deep into deficit spending expected to
pass 10 trillion dollars.

Abroad, Obama seems to have no other mode except to continue on with his
endless campaign, confusing speechmaking with diplomacy. It is natural
enough that Obama, who built his entire campaign on high profile public
speeches reported on by an adoring press, understands how to do nothing
else but that.

Ego driven photo op appearances and clueless treatment of foreign
dignitaries

While the press is still chewing over Obama's Cairo speech, this celebrity
style coverage ignores the fact that Obama's endless world tour is not
actually accomplishing anything. Instead his combination of ego driven
photo op appearances and clueless treatment of foreign dignitaries have
alienated many of America 's traditional allies. Those who aren't being
quietly angry at Obama, like Brown, Merkel or Netanyahu, instead think of
him as an absurdly lightweight, as Sarkozy, King Abdullah or Putin do.

While his officials carry out their dirty economic deeds, Obama responds
to any and every crisis as if it were a Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland
musical, with a cry of, "Let's put on a show." Thus far Obama has put on
"shows" across America , Europe and the Middle East . And what the adoring
media coverage neglects to cover, is that Obama's shows have solved
absolutely nothing. They have served only as high profile entertainment.

Neither alienating America 's traditional allies, through a combination of
arrogant bullying and ignorance, nor appeasing America 's enemies, has
yielded any actual results. Nor does it seem likely to. Islamic terrorism
is not going anywhere, neither are the nuclear threats from North Korea
and Iran . While Obama keeps smiling, the global situation keeps growing
more grim.

At home, if Obama was elected as depression era entertainment, the charm
of his smiles and his constant appearances on magazine covers appear to be
wearing thin on the American public. Despite the shrill attacks on Rush
Limbaugh or the Republican Enemy of the Weak-- the Democratic party of
2009, is polling a lot like the Republican party of 2008. The Democrats
have suddenly become the incumbents, and the only accomplishment they can
point to is lavish deficit spending, often on behalf of the very same
corporations and causes they once postured against.

The European Union Parliament's swing to the right cannot be credited to
Obama, though doubtlessly some European voters seeing socialist economic
crisis management on display in the world's richest country decided they
wanted none of it, but it is part of a general turning against federalism.
And Obama's entire program is dependent on heavily entrenching federalism
at the expense of individual and state's rights. Yet that is precisely his
achille’s heel with independent voters who are polling against more taxes
and expanded government. And no amount of speeches by Obama can wish away
his 18 czars or the national debt he has foisted on generation after
generation of the American people.

That leaves Obama with a choice between socialism and the independent
voter. And thus far he has chosen socialism.

Obama's tactic of hijacking Bush Administration era policies on the
economy and the War on Terror, and exploiting them as trojan horses to
promote his own agenda, have left him coping with a backlash from his own
party, as well as general Republican opposition.

His Czars are meant to function as the bones in an executive
infrastructure accountable to no one, but a lack of accountability isn't
just another word for tyranny, but for incompetence. A functional chain of
command is accountable at multiple levels if it is to function
effectively. Obama's White House by contrast is in a state of
over-organized chaos, the sort of organized disorganization that
undisciplined egotistical leftists naturally create for themselves,
complete with multiple overlapping levels of authority and no one in
charge but the man at the top, who's too busy doing other things to
actually be in charge.

Dennis Blair as National Intelligence, who collaborated with the Muslim
genocide of Christians in East Timor , trying to muscle out the CIA to
create his own intelligence network, is typical of the kind of chaos being
spawned by every chief in an expanding government bureaucracy working to
make sure that all the Indians answer to him. Similarly the National
Security Council wrestling with the State Department, highlighted by
Samantha Power getting her own specially created NSC position to butt
heads with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, illustrates the state of
conflict and chaos in American foreign affairs. A state of chaos so
pervasive that incompetence has now become commonplace, and no one can
even be found to double check the spelling of a Russian word that is meant
to be the theme of American's diplomatic reconstruction with Russia , or
to pick out a gift for the visiting British Prime Minister.

The death of Chrysler at the hands of Fiat and the UAW

Meanwhile on the economy, Obama exploited the ongoing bailouts,
transforming them from bailouts into takeovers meant to shift the balance
of power in what had been a democracy and socially engineer not only
corporations, but the lives of ordinary Americans. But the public's
patience with corporate bailouts is at an end, most Americans were never
happy with them to begin with, and want them to end. The death of Chrysler
at the hands of Fiat and the UAW might look like a victory in the union
ranks, but it doesn't play too well outside Detroit . And tacking on CAFE
standards that will kill the pickup truck and the SUV will badly erode
Obama in the swing states, if exploited properly in 2010 and 2012. Despite
the constant media barrage, orchestrated out of the White House, the
public is growing disenchanted with the performance of Obama and the
Democrats.

With unemployment booming and the economy dropping, the jobs aren't there
and the spending is out of control. Republicans today are polling better
on ethics and the economy, than the Democrats are. That shows a trend
which is likely to register in the mid-term elections in 2010, in the same
way that the EU parliamentary elections served as a shock to the system.

In the opposition, Republicans are free to embrace the rhetoric of change,
to champion reform and push libertarian ideas about the size and scope of
government. In turn all Obama has is his celebrity fueled media spectacle
world tour. A charade now serving as a parallel to the depression era
entertainment that functioned as escapism in a dour time. But before long,
it may be Obama that the American public will want to escape from.

A shallow, manipulative and egotistical amateur who is in over his head

Obama has tried to play Lincoln, Reagan, JFK and FDR-- but in the end he
can only play himself, a shallow, manipulative and egotistical amateur who
is in over his head, and trying to drag the country down with him. Obama's
White House is falling down and while the flashbulbs are still glittering
and the parties are going on in D.C. and around the world, Obama and the
Democratic Congress may be headed for a recession of their own.

(click to enlarge)