>> AIG was insuring some of Detroit's bonds. When AIG went bankrupt, the bond agency lowered Detroit's bond rating , because its insurance was no good. Detroit had to enter into a draconian revision ( higher priority for the Wall Street bhe ond company to a casino revenue stream to the City) against its interests of its contract with the Wall Street bond company/parisite in order to avoid bankruptcy/receivership/in Michigan: Emergency Financial Manager. The Emergency Financial Manager acts as a financial dictator in cutting City jobs and stealing tax money for Wall Street. << Comment Without a doubt Detroit faces trouble. The issue was if this trouble was the result of racism because the controllers and executors of all major countries in America are white. Detroit has lots of financial problems, currently dealing with a $300 million structural imbalance - as it is called, and calls on swap termination agreements totaling $400 million. Standard and Poors stripped Detroit of its investment grade rating affecting $2.4 billion of limited and unlimited tax general obligation bonds, along with its pension certificates. Changes - downgrade, in bond and credit worthiness can trigger a call demand. That is what happened. Detroit is involved in some complex swap agreements, specifically the Detroit Retirement System Fund issuing $948.5 in bond obligations back in 2006. Involved in this agreement were AG, UBS and SBS Financial Products. It is true that that the termination agreement triggers a call for a large payment, of which Detroit does not have. The agreement was to tie payment to the Casino revenue stream which amounts to roughly $180 per year. The agreement in place releases this revenue stream after $4.2 million a month is paid. $4.2 times 12 months equals a little over $50 million a year. Whether these actions are the result of racism and racist because the executives in the financial architecture are white and Detroit is majority, black with black politicians was the issue raised. Without question, the city of Detroit has faced stiff opposition and white supremacist opposition by the state bureaucracy and some of its neighboring political jurisdictions. On the other hand it is a fact that bonds for the entire state of Michigan were downgraded during the same period. Defining the problem defines the solution. If the problem is white executives and white supremacy, the solution is removal of white executives and replacing them by non-whites and ending whites supremacist attitudes and actions towards Detroit. Defining the problem defines the solution.
**** >> A big part in this set-up is the years long project of portraying the elected officials of the City,Mayor and City Council, as so bad that the masses will accept a non-elected financial dictator to "clean up the mess" of these oh so foolish people elected by the citizenry. Whatever, faults they have, they are no worse than the dozens of white men who exclusively ran Detroit City government for so many decades. It is no coincidence that once the City Council became majority Black and women the forces that shape public opinion turned them into a bunch of fools in the minds of so many suckers and naive ones among us. << Comment Detroit City Council has been majority black since 1977, which ushered in the following representatives. Erma Henderson Maryann Mahaffey Nicholas Hood II Clyde Cleveland Jack Kelley David Eberhard Kenneth Cockrel, Sr. William G. Rogell Herbert McFadden, Jr. Two years later Chrysler went bankrupt in the bond market and had to be bailed out by the feds. The point is that this is the economic and political juncture marking a transition or restructuring in the form of capital, which would go on to write the agenda for the world total capital in the 1990’s. The rise of the non-banking financial architecture is a phenomenon of capital rather than racism. Without question, the election of blacks throughout city government was of history making significance for all of America. Blacks representing the black masses is the gage for the degree to which desegregation was shattered. There is and was no other gage. Period. Once the ideological concept of racism is thrown away, it becomes obvious that blacks conform to the ethic history of America, no different from the emergence of the ethnic Italian or ethnic Irish politician. As Italians were grouped together in neighborhoods, at a certain point in their quantitative density, Italian politicians are elected to office. Blacks are no different in their quantitative density. Segregation meant the black politician could not go national. The election of Obama alters history and closes out a chapter in American history. The manipulation of public opinion is not against the black representatives as black, inasmuch as Detroit is going to remain black for the near future. The manipulation of public opinion is an attack against the proletariat itself. Defining the problem defines the solution. The American proletariat is female across the board. This new proletariat, which took shape in the post 1977 period, characterizes all of American society and is not peculiar to Detroit. What is being attacked is the proletariat. What is being debased is the lack of political consciousness of the proletariat. For a moment, forget the color factor. What is wrong with the politicians is the political consciousness of the masses that elected them. The evolution of the black political representative, which had to take place based on all black unity, has completed its historical course. Blacks are going to be elected in Detroit. The question begins to shift to class and questions of economic stratification. Different economic strata of the proletariat faces and express different demands. The issue facing every section of the Detroit proletariat is not black politicians "are no worse than the dozens of white men who exclusively ran Detroit City government for so many decades." The issue is the slow hard fight to educate the proletariat in class outlook, fortitude and the role of government in implementing the demands of the working class. Equality has been won. At least all the equality that can be won under capitalism. Every economic stratum is more than less equal within itself. The reason white men exclusively ran Detroit city government for so many decades is a product of the European ethnic composition of Detroit during these decades. In 1820 Detroit was roughly 95% white and 5 % black. In 1960 the city was 70% white and 28% Black. In 1970 55% white and 43% black. In 1980 34% white and 63% black. In 1990 21% white and 75% black. In 2000 12% white and 81% black. Keep in mind that the City Council became black in 1977 or during the period when Detroit became majority black. I am not at all convinced that one can produce a shred of evidence to indicate that industry fled Detroit to escape a black population. Forty years ago there was a neighborhood around every factory. The taxes were high on the factory; the property value was valuable because it was near a factory. The factory hired two or three thousand people. Everyone was consuming and producing. The factory owners were consuming and producing and people who worked in the factory were consuming and producing. Then speed up occurred in the late 1960s and early 1970's. The shift of industry to the South accelerated but was steady since the 1950s. Industry had been fleeing South to take advantage of cheap labor and protection by the Taft Hartley Act and its "right to Work" laws. In fact I would say that racism against blacks in Detroit did not cause industry to shift to low wages areas in the South and then Mexico. In addition the rise of the multinational corporation in the post WW II years was not driven by racism but seeking to circumvent protectionist regulations of various national states. There is a strong impulse amongst the Detroit voters for a ward system rather than citywide general election for City Council because they feel the representatives are not responsive in the face of economic decay and cut back of city services. Those demanding more from City officials are neither fools or suckers. The city’s proletarian masses are not fools and suckers to demand their interest be represented. Every major city in America is cutting back on government services. Actually every state. Something deeper than racism is taking place. Without question, both major newspapers and all major television stations convey an ingrained white chauvinism. Short of revolution there is no possibility of this changing inasmuch as white chauvinism is wedded to anti-communism as American history. Defeating the latter is the key to defeating the former. To complete the picture of flight from Detroit the following information might be useful In terms of flight, white flight between 1970 and 1990 was not to the suburbs but to the Sunbelt. In fact, the region population fell between 1980 and 1990 by 200,000 - from 5,200,000 to 5,000,000. Then region - metro, population rose from 5,000,000 to 5,357,000 between 1990 and 2000 and remains the same as of 2008 (5,354,000). Between 2000 and 2008, Detroit population fell by 40,000. The suburb population actually fell along with Detroit’s population count: by 3,000 or remained the same. WL. . This email was cleaned by emailStripper, available for free from _http://www.papercut.biz/emailStripper.htm_ (http://www.papercut.biz/emailStripper.htm) _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
