Lived in a downriver suburb of Detroit for 46 years. The city is a complete failure. It has a very small downtown area that people go to for work, sporting events, etc. and then go home. The rest of the city is awful. The local media is now in an uproar about a CBS Dan Rather report that covered the Detroit Public School systems failure. Detroit is at least a hundred years away from ever improving, because you can't ever say what the real problem is. It is not racial or political. It is cultural. And it is in deep. Generations of people (not all, of course, but the majority)who beleive everything is someone else's fault. Everything is owed to them. And what they don't get handed to them, they have the right to steal it.

Actually, it's a safe bet that those cars were built in the US in the South where they are RtW states.

Yank the cash away and watch how fast that culture changes.

Oh yes, I do know they were assembled in the US. But most of the parts come from Japan. I read the door stickers and
they provide that info.

As someone who graduated college in 2009, I can attest to that. What ticks me off is I did a lot of powerful internships that set me up with experience and connections post graduation (in Marketing, you either stand out or you wash out). Any other year I'd have had my pick of the litter in the market (and I worked DAMN HARD for that). But one by one contacts fell through. EVERYONE is either locked out, or can fill entry level positions with experienced people. Companies used to have positions just for entry level grads, so they could load the HR pipeline with legacy. Not anymore. Some days I feel like my degree was a waste of time, and no one should ever have to feel that way about education.

I'm just thankful my parents paid for my education. The rule in my family for several generations has been that the parents pay for the children, if those children agree that they'll pay for their kids. The problem now though, is all the kids that aren't as lucky as I am. The next market collapse? Student loans.

But Capitalism marches on, as it always will. I'm currently building one company in the energy sector while exploring another opportunity in gaming. Whats the worst that can happen, I loose my job?

When the child makes more money selling drugs, than their father working full time, everything quickly goes to sh&^.

That happened about 20 years ago in Detroit. Those drug dealing kids have grandkids of their own now. So you can imagine the values being passed along. The people who know better and either fighting the good fight against huge odds, or long gone.

Don't know you Mongo99, but I echo your words and appreciate your post. Kinda says it all. Wasn't China, or crap cars.
It was getting something for nothing. And the expectation that it will always be that way.

Wonder when that changed? From the American dream where hard work will get you there, to they owe me because I'm here.

An attitude created and nurtured by the politics that have ruled that city for decades. Politics in which individual responsibility is replaced by a culture that looks to government to fix everything wrong in the lives of people by taking from those who create wealth and giving it to those who create nothing. When this is seen as normal, when this is seen as expected, when this wealth redistribution is seen by those on the receiving end as a RIGHT that they do not even have to work for then Detroit is the result.

I do not know what you are talking about and I am not sure you do either.

I have known a number of hard working and proud people from Detroit who never took a dime in support in their lives. People who literally fought to save their neighborhoods and their families. I spent a lot of time in Detroit in the 80s and 90s when things were really bad. The city has been one industry town, that lost its major industry, like a lot of cities in America -- and a lot of pain followed.

And I'm sure you think Mongo, who lived there for almost 50 years, also doesn't know what he's talking about. But it's your right to be wrong.

Tarnsman, I have known many, many, many people from Detroit that have never taken a dime of help. They have fought very hard for their homes and communities. More than they should have to in this country. All too often, they are losing.

Ditto

Mongo99,
Thank you.

Ya, it's crazy to think that Detroit went from what Kiss sang about, to what we see now.