Let Detroit Go Bankrupt, but only the Black inner
city, not the rich, white suburbs. The lines were drawn by Republican Governor
Rick Snyder’s appointed Emergency City Financial Manager. The lines were
carefully drawn, creating an island, similar to the island drawn by the broken
levies around New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. The people of inner-city Detroit are crying, reaching out for help. Retirees who were the Brave Firefighters, Police and Teachers -- are having their pensions ripped away with Hurricane-like forces, and we see these retirees pleading with their Republican Governor, begging him NOT to steal their promised pensions.
Yet, Republicans across America are patting Governor Snyder on the back and urging him to say NO. Don’t help Detroit. NO. Rip away their Pensions. Let them Suffer. Let them starve! It’s their own DAMN fault. They are greedy. They were in Unions. They voted for the wrong city leaders. Cut them off. That’s what they get. That’s what they deserve.
George Will, the Republican voice, said
this loud and clear on Sunday Morning with George Stephanopoulos. Why is George
Will saying this? Because this is part of the Republican Strategy for 2014 and
2016. Their plan is to say “To Hell with Minorities and their Vote. WE Don’t
Need Their Stinkin' Votes!” Instead, the Republican Plan is to stir up their White Voter base. I’ve
heard this over and over on HATE Talk Radio. “We need the 3% of White Voters
that voted for George Bush and didn’t vote for Romney to vote in 2014 and 2016."
Here is what George Will said on Sunday
Morning with George Stephanopoulos:
"You can't solve the problems because
the problems are cultural. You have a city that's 139 square miles.
You can graze cattle in vast portions of it. Dangerous herds of
feral dogs roaming there. You have 3% of 4th graders reading at the
national math standards. 47% of Detroit residents are functionally illiterate.
79% of Detroit children are born to unmarried mothers. They don't have a
fiscal problem. They have a cultural (black) collapse."
Katrina vanden Heuvel: I find that really insulting to the people of Detroit. I
think there is a serious discussion to be had in this country about the future of cities in the time of
de-industrialization. But in many ways, Detroit has been a victim of Market
Forces... Retirees and Workers should not bear this. And this story should not be
hijacked to be about greedy, fiscal public unions and fiscal irresponsibility.
George Will: (Heaves big sigh) ... What did (the people
of Detroit) vote for? For 60 years they voted for incompetence, malcontents.
Steve Rattner: So what do you want to do? Leave them in the circumstance
you just described, or, in the spirit of America try to help people who are
less fortunate, whether victims of natural disaster or reach out to help them,
for not a lot of money in the scope of things. (A couple billion vs trillions
to Banks/Wall St.) Or your scenario, leave them all sit with feral dogs.?
Katrina vanden Heuvel: Hobbsian Anarchy.
Right Wing Hate Radio and Right Wing Hate Blogs are ALL Bragging about their buddy George and you should see the Racist Comments spelling out their hatred for minorities and their love of their hero George's True Meaning. (see link)
Here's the Video:
Back in the day, a friend of mine told me to never play the blame game. When you are blaming someone, it is like you are pointing at them. But while your index finger is pointing at them, your other fingers are pointing back to you. Quite often, there are many more reasons why something turned out the way it did. So to blame minorities for the problems of Detroit, you CAN make a list just like George Will did. But, on the other hand, there are many other reasons that he did not mention.
ReplyDeleteFor example, for the past 39 years, the State of Michigan has been granting property tax abatements to all industrial manufacturers who promised to create some jobs and make some token equipment purchase or build additional buildings. In most cases, only a small percentage of the jobs were created, much of the equipment was rendered obsolete, and the companies often moved out after the abatement period expired, and in many cases, the company would have made the improvements anyway without the tax abatement. Meanwhile, cities such as Detroit bore the brunt of the loss in property tax revenue.
From 1993 to 2002, Michigan was under the control of Governor John Engler. And just to show you where his true allegiance laid, Engler was president and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers from 2004 to 2011. When Engler left the governor’s office, he raided the rainy day fund of ALL of its money, just so that it appeared that Michigan was solvent when he left. This left a hole so big in the Michigan economy, that Michigan is still reeling from its effects today.
Beyond this, there are many macroeconomics effects of not diversifying Michigan’s economy. With all of its eggs in one basket, that is, with Michigan relying heavily on the auto industry, when that industry collapsed, all of the Detroit region suffered. And when the nation was going through a Great Recession because of the housing bubble, Detroit was going through a Great Depression, which meant that Detroit’s property tax revenues plummeted.
I could go on, and I wish that someone with a handle on the statistics would bring them up to the national discussion to tell George Will to stop blaming minorities.
Very Wise Comments Da Tiger. I'm going to post your comment as a Guest Voz Blog Post.
ReplyDeleteThere are some hurts that we experience that can be forgiven but we won't forget them. See the link below for more info.
ReplyDelete#hurts
www.inspgift.com