Detroit Becomes Largest U.S. City To File Bankruptcy

[DPoS]

Might be a good time to buy-to-rent in Detroit. Especially if the USD tanks as that will mean that inland production will go up (imports gets more expensive). The bankruptcy might lead to better financial control and federal money/ local tax breaks etc

If I was in the US and wanted to start up a production facility, Detroit might be a likely location.

From the bottom the only way is up.  

Globalization / NAFTA at work here folks..  hope you took advantage of the high puchasing power during the transition since it washes away quickly

There is no reason to rebuild fallen old cities in america...  none..  the infrastructure is spent.  Small old towns can get revitalized if they are in good locations (near good farms or energy producing areas)

You are seeing the 4th turning at work.  Sucking the wealth out of the Empire as the Elite pack up and shift to control the next superpower.


It actually would be good if America did combine north, south and central together and created the Amero..  as long as they break away from the rest of the world since it would have all the resources it could ever want.  Wages and buying power wouldn't be as bad as it would be continuing with full on globalization

[LeslieDilley]

Detroit was literally a case-study in financial mis-management at the governmental scale...

[notme]

Might be a good time to buy-to-rent in Detroit. Especially if the USD tanks as that will mean that inland production will go up (imports gets more expensive). The bankruptcy might lead to better financial control and federal money/ local tax breaks etc

If I was in the US and wanted to start up a production facility, Detroit might be a likely location.

From the bottom the only way is up. 

Please explain how an overburden of debt will tank the USD.  I see debt as deflationary since interest sucks dollars out of the economy.  Defaults will erase uninsured savings (don't keep more than the FDIC limit).  Made in the USA will return, but there will be few jobs.  Robots or 3-D printers are cheaper in the first year than human labor for many tasks.  Even further excess labor supply will lead to wage cuts.  Productivity per worker will boom as robots and software replace people.  Humans will still be needed for most construction (although people are 3-D printing skyscrapers now), robot maintenance, customer service, engineers, programmers, and highly delicate work (although this can be aided by machines).  Of course, there will still be demand for creative types to entertain and enlighten us.

[vokain]

Might be a good time to buy-to-rent in Detroit. Especially if the USD tanks as that will mean that inland production will go up (imports gets more expensive). The bankruptcy might lead to better financial control and federal money/ local tax breaks etc

If I was in the US and wanted to start up a production facility, Detroit might be a likely location.

From the bottom the only way is up. 

Please explain how an overburden of debt will tank the USD.  I see debt as deflationary since interest sucks dollars out of the economy.  Defaults will erase uninsured savings (don't keep more than the FDIC limit).  Made in the USA will return, but there will be few jobs.  Robots or 3-D printers are cheaper in the first year than human labor for many tasks.  Even further excess labor supply will lead to wage cuts.  Productivity per worker will boom as robots and software replace people.  Humans will still be needed for most construction (although people are 3-D printing skyscrapers now), robot maintenance, customer service, engineers, programmers, and highly delicate work (although this can be aided by machines).  Of course, there will still be demand for creative types to entertain and enlighten us.

and the better off we'll be in the long run

[justusranvier]

This is What Budget Cuts Have Done to Detroit ... And It's Freaking Awesome

The language of budget cuts, austerity, and sequestration seem to dominate the media's landscape these days, instilling fear into Americans of vital government services being cut and chaos ensuing if governments aren't allowed to spend and borrow infinitely. Conservatives decry supposed cuts to the military-industrial-complex, and liberals bemoan that without government welfare transfer programs, there would be social Darwinism. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) even blamed the Benghazi scandal on — wait for it — budget cuts and the sequester.

Leaving aside the details on whether the U.S. budget is actually shrinking, one needs to look no further than the city of Detroit to find the spontaneous order, civic cooperation, and peaceful market forces that take over when government simply isn't around.

Detroit is absolutely bankrupt. The city faces a cash shortfall of more than $100 million by June 30. Long-term liabilities, including pensions, exceed $14 billion. Michigan Governor Rick Snyder wants to bail out Detroit's city government even further. Thanks to the financial situation of Detroit, emergency services like police and fire departments are being severely cut short. 911 is only taking calls during business hours. Homes have been abandoned making parts of the city look like a ghost town.

If our public servants are right and wouldn't dare lie and try to scare us, then chaos, anarchy and lawlessness should reign in Detroit now, right? Well, not exactly.

Dale Brown and his organization, the Threat Management Center (TMC), have helped fill in the void left by the corrupt and incompetent city government. Brown started TMC in 1995 as a way to help his fellow Detroit citizens in the midst of a rise in home invasions and murders. While attempting to assist law enforcement, he found little but uninterested officers more concerned with extracting revenue through traffic tickets and terrorizing private homes with SWAT raids than protecting person and property.

In an interview with Copblock.org, Brown explains how and why his private, free market policing organization has been so successful. The key to effective protection and security is love, says Brown, not weapons, violence, or law. It sounds a bit corny, yes, but the results speak for themselves.

Almost 20 years later and Detroit's financial mess even more apparent, TMC now has a client base of about 1,000 private residences and over 500 businesses. Thanks to TMC's efficiency and profitability, they are also able to provide free or incredibly low-cost services to the poor as well.

The reasons TMC has been so successful is because they take the complete opposite approach that government agencies, in this case law enforcement, do. Brown's philosophy is that he would rather hire people who see violence as a last resort, and the handful of Detroit police officers who actually worked with Brown in the earlier years and have an interest in genuine protection now work for TMC. While governments threaten their citizens with compulsion, fines, and jail if they don't hand over their money, TMC's funding is voluntary and subject to the profit-loss test; if Brown doesn't provide the services his customers want, he goes out of business.

This means that Brown is not interested in no-knock para-military SWAT raids, "officer safety" as the highest priority, bloated union pensions, or harassing people for what they have in their bloodstream. TMC works with its customers on the prevention of crime as well rather than showing up after the fact to take notes like historians.

The heroic Brown and TMC are a great example of how the market and civil society can and do provide services traditionally associated with the state far better, cheaper and more in tune to people's wants and needs. I have always believed policing, protection and security are far too important to be run by the state — especially in age of militarized Stormtroopers — and Brown is helping show why.

Law enforcement isn't the only "essential government service" that the private sector is taking over and flourishing in. The Detroit Bus Company (DBC) is a private bus service that began last year and truly shows a stark contrast in how the market and government operates. Founded by 25-year-old Andy Didorosi, the company avoids the traditionally stuffy, cagey government buses and uses beautiful vehicles with graffiti-laden exterior designs that match the heart of the Motor City. There are no standard bus routes; a live-tracking app, a call or a text is all you need to get picked up in one of their buses run on soy-based biofuel. All the buses feature wi-fi, music, and you can even drink your own alcohol on board! The payment system is, of course, far cheaper and fairer.

Comparing this company's bus service to say, my local San Francisco MUNI transit experience, is like comparing the services of local, free-range, organic farms in the Bay Area to the Soviet bread lines.

Not surprisingly, the city government, which has no time to protect its citizens, does manage to find the time to harass peaceful citizens in this spontaneous, market order. Charles Molnar and a couple of other students from the Detroit Enterprise Academy wanted to help make benches for the city's bus stops, where long-waits are the norm, equipped with bookshelves to hold reading material.

Detroit Department of Transportation officials quickly said the bench was "unapproved" and had it taken down. Silly citizens, don't you know only governments can provide these services?

The TMC and the DBC are just two of the larger, more visible examples of the market and voluntary human cooperation reigning in Detroit. "Food rebels," running local community gardens, are an alternative to Big Agriculture and government-subsidized factory farms. Private parking garages are popping up. Detroit residents are using Lockean homesteading principles to repurpose land amongst the rubble of the Fed-induced housing bubble. Community events like Biergartens and large, civic dining gatherings (with no permits or licenses!) are being organized privately. Even Detroit's artists are beginning to reflect this anarchic, peaceful movement in their artwork.

Detroit's city government may be in shambles financially, but the citizens of Detroit are showing what happens when people are given their liberty back. For centuries, libertarians have been arguing for strict limits on state power, the benefits of private, civic society, and the bottom-up, spontaneous order that arises where free markets and voluntary interactions dominate. Perhaps we shouldn't be so scared and sicken with political Stockholm Syndrome the next time politicos fear-monger over budgets cuts.

[Kluge]

This is What Budget Cuts Have Done to Detroit ... And It's Freaking Awesome

Oh, yeah... TMC is definitely a great example of freedom really turning things around. Just look how far down violent crime rates have dropped since the free market stepped in in '95. You'll see how poorly the national average, which still suffers from the national quasi-military police force, has fared over time.



(2012 was a particularly bad year, up from '11, which was up from '10 -- sorry the graph doesn't have an appropriate amount of data... best I could find.)

Data before '99 is allegedly available @ www.cus.wayne.edu/content/presentations/LeadDetroitCrime.pdf but I can't load the damned thing. FBI data seems to suggest the rate was 880.8 in 1995, but that seems too low for me to believe even when trying to make a counter-point.

[niothor]

Unfortunately when it comes to evaluating the number of crimes , I think Detroit stands even worse , why?

In a normal country , when you know somebody will take action , people tend to report thefts rapes crimes...

In my beautiful country in easter europe , because we know once you're getting something stolen there are 0.001% to get it back and it's a waste to wait 4 hours to fill a report most of people just curse the thief and that's is. Same stand for women raped that are afraid to seek protection from an incompetent police force.

So , knowing how things go around here I sincerly doubt those numbers show even 1/5 of the actualy thing going around there.

[worldinacoin]

There are so many cities in the USA, one down doesn't really matter, if a state is down, then it will be real news!

[DPoS]

They still have 4 major sports teams so money is still flowing in some circles.  Maybe they just slice off the rotten part

[Raize]

There are so many cities in the USA, one down doesn't really matter, if a state is down, then it will be real news!

Keep your eye on Illinois then. Almost every major company there has fled to other states.

[DPoS]

There are so many cities in the USA, one down doesn't really matter, if a state is down, then it will be real news!

Keep your eye on Illinois then. Almost every major company there has fled to other states.

Chicago is ran by the same types that siphoned the last of the Soviet Empire..  selling the parking meter rights for 75 years to private owners than promptly spending the cash grab in a few years... 

pinata economics is what i call it

[TheButterZone]

Put your hands up for Detroit.

[Kluge]

Put your hands up for Detroit.

[Walsoraj]

Only a matter of time before Robocop. 

[DeathAndTaxes]

Might be a good time to buy-to-rent in Detroit. Especially if the USD tanks as that will mean that inland production will go up (imports gets more expensive). The bankruptcy might lead to better financial control and federal money/ local tax breaks etc

If I was in the US and wanted to start up a production facility, Detroit might be a likely location.

From the bottom the only way is up. 

Please explain how an overburden of debt will tank the USD.  I see debt as deflationary since interest sucks dollars out of the economy.  Defaults will erase uninsured savings (don't keep more than the FDIC limit).  Made in the USA will return, but there will be few jobs.  Robots or 3-D printers are cheaper in the first year than human labor for many tasks.  Even further excess labor supply will lead to wage cuts.  Productivity per worker will boom as robots and software replace people.  Humans will still be needed for most construction (although people are 3-D printing skyscrapers now), robot maintenance, customer service, engineers, programmers, and highly delicate work (although this can be aided by machines).  Of course, there will still be demand for creative types to entertain and enlighten us.

Because we have >100% of GDP in federal debt when you combine state and local governments it is closer to 150%.  The only way you get out of that is the magic of inflation.  100% inflation (over say 15 years) means debt (which is not indexed to inflation) to GDP gets cut in half.

[halfawake]

Is anyone really surprised by this?  Detroit has been a ghost town for years.  You can buy actual houses there for $5,000, but why would you want to?  People strip the houses for copper there and probably get away with it.  The city has been abandoning large portions of what used to be part of the city just because a) no one lives there any more and b) it can't afford to keep them up.

The only thing that surprises me about this is that it took them this long to declare bankruptcy.

[Behemot]

Any chance to buy a few blocks and declare independency on federal govenrment?

[Kluge]

Any chance to buy a few blocks and declare independency on federal govenrment?

Go for it. You can recognize the government as equally as they recognize you, and probably won't see official action for years, unless you're murdered... then it'd take a decade at least.

[Behemot]

I am unfortunatelly not sure about that. I know some things are more free there in US than here in Europe (some not on the other hand), but I guess by avoiding taxes, all their fascist registers etc., not recognizing SS homeland security forcers and other crap, I'd meet the SS homeland security forces sooner rather than later and probably end in some concentration camp special detention center.

[Kluge]

I am unfortunatelly not sure about that. I know some things are more free there in US than here in Europe (some not on the other hand), but I guess by avoiding taxes, all their fascist registers etc., not recognizing SS homeland security forcers and other crap, I'd meet the SS homeland security forces sooner rather than later and probably end in some concentration camp special detention center.

As long as you aren't transmitting or receiving money outside your own country, I can't imagine they'd ever notice you. Just fire off some shots every now and then, set up road blockades with threatening graffiti and a barbed wire fence around the perimeter, and the police'll declare it too dangerous to patrol.


I mean - yeah, you'll probably eventually either be gunned down or imprisoned by federal forces, but YOLO. (or -- wait... so you should duck responsibilities and live a short, irresponsible life because you're mortal? I've never understood "YOLO"....)