Detroit Symbolizes America's Decline
By Stephen Lendman
3-16-13
America's economy is sick. It's getting sicker. Coverup and denial conceal
reality. Census data say record numbers of US counties are dying. It's over
one in three.
It reflects population shifts and Depression conditions. America's decline
gets little attention.
Since 1981, 42 US municipalities declared bankruptcy. Ten did so in the past
four years. Expect more to follow. Hard times getting harder assures it.
Detroit once symbolized industrial America. Might Motown resembles a ghost
town. It's dying. It nears bankruptcy.
Fifty years ago it was America's fifth largest city. It's now 18th. In the
last decade, half the population left. It's America's ghetto. Its
neighborhoods are in disrepair. They're decaying and dying.
Half or more working aged residents have no jobs. Those with them have
low-pay part-time or temp ones. They don't pay enough to live on.
Poverty is extreme. It's increasing. Nearly two-thirds of Detroit's children
are impoverished. They're out of sight and mind.
Dozens of schools were closed. More closures are planned. Teachers were
fired. Kids aren't educated. Nearly half the population is functionally
illiterate.
Public services are eroding en route to eliminating them altogether.
One-third of Detroit's 140 square miles lies vacant or derelict. Heavily
blighted areas are increasing.
Tens of thousands of homes remain vacant. The median home price is $9,000.
Many are much cheaper.
Property crime is double the national average. Violent crime is triple. Many
areas aren't safe. Police are unapologetic. Go out at your own risk, they
warn.
In the last decade, half the force was laid off. So were hundreds of
firefighters.
More austerity cuts are planned. It's official policy. On March 1, Governor
Rick Synder declared a financial emergency. Appointing a financial czar
followed. He named bankruptcy attorney Kevin Orr.
He works for Cleveland-based Jones Day. His past experience includes
government service. In 1991, he was counsel for the FDIC's Litigation
Section.
>From summer 1991 - mid-1995, he was assistant general counsel for the
Resolution Trust Corporation's Complex Litigation and Bankruptcy Section.
>From mid-1995 - February 2000, he was in the US Justice Department's
Executive Office for United States Trustees. From February 2000 - January
2001, he served as Deputy Director.
At Jones Day, he's involved in business restructuring and all aspects of
bankruptcy. He played a lead role in Chrysler's 2009 bankruptcy.
Plants were closed. Jobs were lost. Wages were slashed. So were benefits.
Strikes were banned. Detroit's heading for the same abyss.
Claiming no alternative is false. It's a Big Lie. Making the city's rich and
corporations pay their fair share solves fiscal problems. It's true across
America.
Corrupt politicians complicit with corporate bosses want solutions imposed
on the backs of ordinary people. They want them bearing the burden.
Orr's now Detroit's Emergency Financial Manager (EFM). His powers permit
canceling union contracts, terminating pension obligations, cutting
services, ending others, selling city assets at fire sale prices, and
privatizing its operations.
Mayor David Bing implemented deep spending cuts earlier. He fired thousands
of workers. He outsourced vital services. Profiteers took full advantage.
Bing's got much more in mind.
Orr's in charge. His job is radically restructuring Detroit. Expect the
worst ahead. He'll do it on the backs of ordinary people. He'll fire city
workers, cut wages and benefits, erode vital services, and end others.
He'll hand over Detroit to bankers and other profiteers. Public resources
will be plundered. Doing so assures greater crisis conditions. Unemployment
will grow. Poverty will increase. Ordinary people will be left high and dry.
Public anger followed Orr's appointment. He's Black. Opponents call him an
"Uncle Tom." On March 14, they protested outside Cadillac Place. It's a
landmark downtown office complex.
Rainbow Push Coalition's Rev. David Bullock expressed outrage, saying:
"Theyre going to try to convince me that I should give up my right to vote,
and put the city of Detroit in the hands of the same man who said he wasnt
going to pass right-to-work."
"(He's) the same man who took away the earned income tax credit
.the same
man (who's) taxing our pensions. Never, never!"
National Action Network's Rev. Charles Williams II said:
"We're not worried about no Kevin Orr. Uncle Toms ain't nothing new. We've
had Uncle Toms for a long time."
Tom Barrow is president of Citizens for Detroit's Future. He said Michigan's
emergency manager law imposes diktat powers. It was created to oppress. It
passed in mid-December.
It's similar to Public Act 4. In November, voters rejected it by statewide
referendum. Governor Snyder and legislators ignored them. They have no say.
Draconian powers are authorized. They include appointing an EFM, undergoing
bankruptcy, accepting state-imposed consent agreement terms, overruling
locally elected officials, selling public assets, modifying or terminating
contracts, ending pension obligations and more.
Orr has diktat powers. What he says goes. Detroit residents are on their
own. They're out of luck. It's been that way for years. It's worse now than
ever.
Neoliberal priorities let vital needs go begging. Money power in private
hands assures it.
Finance is a new form of warfare. Economies are strip-mined for profit.
Communities are laid waste. Ordinary people are impoverished. They're left
out on their own.
Corrupt federal, state and local officials arrange things. They do so for
greater power and self-enrichment.
John McMurtry is a Progressive Radio News Hour regular. His "Cancer Stage of
Capitalism" explains. Its new edition expands on what he wrote earlier. He
discusses a money sequencing life destroying system.
Economies and communities are plundered for profit. Financial bosses are
more powerful than standing armies. They take full advantage.
Detroit is ground zero. It reflects what's wrong with America. It exposes
predatory capitalism's failure. It represents the worst of what's coming.
Ordinary people are out of luck. Greater pain and suffering will follow.
Democracy's nowhere in sight. Monied interests matter most.
Detroit's a microcosm of America. It reflects what's spreading nationwide.
It exposes venal priorities. Let 'em eat cake is dogma. Force-fed austerity
assures it.
America's criminal class is bipartisan. It conspires with Wall Street
crooks. It's allied with other corporate favorites. Wealth, power and
privilege alone matter.
Ordinary people are marginalized. They exploited. They're entirely left out.
Their lives are wrecked. They're deprived of enough to live on. They're
heading for neoserfdom.
They're on their own to fight back. Officials they elected are enemies.
Preventing them from getting away with plundering America is top priority.
Detroit's a good place to start.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at
[email protected].
Thé Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni and Dr. Kiiza Besigye Uganda is in anarchy"
Kuungana Mulindwa Mawasiliano Kikundi
"Pamoja na Yoweri Museveni na Dk. Kiiza Besigye Uganda ni katika machafuko"
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