Detroit had a lot of flight from the city into the suburbs. Issues with the automobile industry affecting the economic health of the city. Houses were abandoned because no buyers existed. Having people return, fix up houses and do urban infill is beneficial for the city. Detroit is a perfect example of the dangers of being a one industry economy. Poor policy choices bringing a city to the utter brink. San Francisco should take note of what not to do.
Discussion
Interesting perspective. I’m not talking about having people return and fix up houses. I’m talking about people returning and squatting in houses they cannot afford to rent or buy. You honestly think that issues with automobile industrials caused the housing collapse? GM received government cheese to right their boat, have you checked Ford stock lately? Corporations and their profit margins along with cheap global labor are to blame. AI and automated manufacturing are going to make this measurably worse. What is the answer? UBI? Depopulation? We can’t all be royalty, princess. I can’t help but see your opinions as a rendition of “if the peasants can’t afford bread, let them eat cake. “
Far from a princess. I was speaking specifically about the situation in Detroit, the causes of which go back to the 1960’s. The housing crisis did have an effect on Detroit. From my understanding it was more like a layer of snow on a snowball that had been rolling downhill for quite some time.
Lol. Just a good natured jab. I’m concerned that there are lots of snowballs all starting to roll downhill. Great analogy. I travel extensively in the US and I see the socioeconomic ladder eroding from the bottom up. I know there are few easy answers if any at all, but every conversation is a little piece of the big picture. I appreciate our dialogue.
I too see a lot of snowballs rolling downhill and have for some time.
I’m willing to go into more detail on contributing factors in Detroit if you’d like. I don’t feel like taking the time to go down that rabbit hole if you’re not interested.
I am interested. I think the mode of failure can always be discerned with in depth analysis. Let’s take a trip down the Detroit rabbit hole. 🐇
I was writing a very long post. Went to double check a fact and fell down a rabbit hole of conflicting facts and timelines that need reconciling to have a chance of coming up with a cohesive timeline. Ah history.
I will quickly say everyone can agree that the exodus of the white middle class from Detroit to the suburbs in the 1960’s that was hastened even more by the 1967 riots was the inflection point of Detroit’s downward spiral. But trying to unravel where the snowball started keeps leading me further back in time.
My power has gone out due to bad storms. So this will have to wait until I don’t need to conserve power on my devices.