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The Public Policy
They’re All Detroit Democrats Now
As they resist budget restraint and Wisconsin’s reforms, their ideal becomes a crumbling city where government accounts for 40 percent of available jobs.
(Page 2 of 2)
Adding to the building Democrat war with the Tea Party is the Democrats’ disgraceful antidemocratic conduct in Wisconsin. What they are doing has not yet been rightly recognized in the public commentary. The fleeing of the 14 Democrat state senators out of the state, shutting down the legislature in the process for lack of a Senate quorum, amounts to refusing to abide by the results of last November’s elections.
In those elections, the voters gave the Republicans a 20-14 Senate majority, along with the Republican state house majority. The Democrat response has been to shut down the Senate by refusing to serve. The Democrats seem to think they have a right to limit what the people can vote for. If the voters go too far, what the Wisconsin state senators are telling us is that they have the right to nullify the election by shutting down the legislative process altogether.
What they are doing is not at all analogous to a filibuster. The filibuster rules in the U.S. Senate were adopted by the democratic process through a vote of the elected representatives of the people. Shutting down the Senate by refusing to show up is not authorized by the democratic process. It is directly counter to it.
Governor Scott Walker’s position on collective bargaining for state and local government workers is to the left of FDR and former AFL-CIO President George Meany. The pay and benefits of federal workers are not set by collective bargaining. They are set by Congress through the democratic process. Most fundamentally the reason for that is that unions do not have the right to sit at the bargaining table as equals with the democratic process and the will of the people. The unions are not an aristocratic fourth branch of government with the right to veto democracy and the will of the people. They are rightfully subject to democracy and the will of the people, like everyone else. That is why even President Obama could recently announce a freeze on the pay of federal employees, without collective bargaining over it.
Collective bargaining for state and local government workers inherently involves conflict of interest, bribery, and kickbacks. The government unions use the money they get from the taxpayers to put friendly politicians in office, who then negotiate sweetheart deals giving away pay and benefits to state and local workers far in excess of what the average taxpaying worker can earn in the private sector. The government unions even use the taxpayer funds they get from their political benefactors to finance commercials and campaign activities to promote tax increases, as they are doing right now in New York City, which already suffers literally the highest tax rates in the world, outside effectively of North Korea and Cuba.
Note that what the government unions are fighting hardest for in Wisconsin is not the pay and benefits of their workers. They have already given in on that to what Walker is asking for. What they are fighting for is the institutionalized corruption that empowers them to enjoy taxpayer funds for their political machine. It is Walker who is offering the real benefit to state and local workers, by empowering them to be free to choose whether or not to pay union dues, an effective tax cut of as much as a $1,000 a year, rather than having the government take that money from them and deliver it directly to the unions. This is the most important reform in the whole package, on which the Republicans must not compromise.
But those who are being exploited today are not the state and local government workers. It is the blue collar taxpayers in the private sector who are forced to pay for government worker pay and benefits far in excess of their own, through what amounts to institutionalized government corruption. Rush Limbaugh framed the issue correctly for the public yesterday. Do you want to pay higher taxes to finance pay and benefits for government bureaucrats that are far higher than what you can get in the private sector? Don’t tell me the public supports that, and Republicans would be crazy to allow the left-wing extremist media to delude them into that.
To the contrary, it is time for the Republicans in Wisconsin to put an end to the Democrat party’s revolt against democracy. The Wisconsin Senate Majority Leader must opine that from all appearances the seats of the 14 long missing Democrat state senators are vacant, and submit new Senate quorum rules for a vote based on the number of seats that are occupied. If the antidemocracy state senators hiding out of state who are refusing to serve do not like it, they can come back to object in accordance with the democratic process. Otherwise, the Wisconsin Senate should then just proceed with state business.
The Democrat/Government Union Detroit Model
Where the hard left government unions and their Democrat party benefactors would take America can already be seen in harsh reality in the experience of Detroit, where they have ruled without question for over 60 years.
In 1950, the population of Detroit stood at 1.8 million people, and the city enjoyed the highest median income of all major cities in America. Over the ensuing decades in which the city’s politics was a competition solely among the government unions and the most extreme left-wing of the Democrat party, working people, the middle class, businesses small and large, and capital investment increasingly fled the city and its high taxes, oppressive regulations, and poor services. Today the city is a shrunken, hallowed out shell of its former self, with less than half of its former population at 871,000 people. Moreover, its median household income now ranks 66th among major American cities.
The city government itself is the second largest employer in Detroit, right behind the city’s public school system. In fact, of the city’s 25 biggest employers, the state, county and city governments account for 40 percent of all jobs. The city employs one worker for every 50 city residents remaining, compared to Indianapolis which employs one worker for every 223 residents.
This municipal socialism is not working. In late 2010, unemployment in Detroit was stuck at 13.4%, 40% higher than the national average at the time. This reflected not a cyclical problem, but a long-term depression in Detroit. One-third of Detroit residents live in poverty.
Less than one-fourth of the public school students in Detroit graduate on time from high school, the lowest graduation rate in the country. Yet spending per pupil in Detroit public schools is higher than in wealthy Marin County, California, where the high school graduation rate is 97%. Indeed, for their performance, Detroit public school teachers enjoy the highest pay in the country among major metropolitan areas, at $47.28 per hour. Yet, citing supposed budget reductions, the Detroit public schools actually asked parents to provide toilet paper for the schools.
With Detroit’s dramatic loss in population over the decades, half the housing stock in the city is now vacant. Recent city government deliberations have considered just demolishing all this vacant housing. What this means is that over half a century of uniform governance by liberal/left politicians has led to the city now literally starting to disappear beneath their feet.
Yet the Democrats and the government unions comprising their political machine never learn. Their aristocratic attitude would reduce America to third world status if the Republicans, the Tea Party and the American people do not stop them.
About the Author
Peter Ferrara is Director of Entitlement and Budget Policy at the Heartland Institute, General Counsel of the American Civil Rights Union, Senior Fellow at the National Center for Policy Analysis, and Senior Policy Advisor on Entitlements and Budget Policy at the National Tax Limitation Foundation. He served in the White House Office of Policy Development under President Reagan, and as Associate Deputy Attorney General of the United States under President George H.W. Bush.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (73) | Leave a comment
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Appleby| 3.2.11 @ 6:55AM
Of course the hippie scum are clinging to the 1970s! That is when they graduated from university (straight into the Nixon Wage-Price Freeze Recession) and finally got the chance to put their stupid ideas into practice -- when they were TheKids and adults who envied them were pretending to believe that a propensity for spontaneous nudity and unbridled sex and obscenity was a sign of *new ideas* -- and Jimmy Carter added to the turmoil.
They are still trying to make their Sophomore Dreams come true.
Somebody ought to turn Detroit into a Theme Park for Socialism. If I win the $50 million this week I will listen to proposals.
Brian Mc| 3.2.11 @ 9:41AM
Appleby,
I have heard that you gotta play to win. Lotto: a tax for the mathematically challenged. The first sophomoric dreams to axe? How about reminding the congress they hold the purse strings and then, they remind the president by cutting off all funding to all those czars? I say, let him squeal, "uncle".
Brian Mc| 3.2.11 @ 9:42AM
Sorry, I meant the 'alien'.
Appleby| 3.2.11 @ 11:29AM
You can't win if you don't play. Lotto tickets are 1/3 the cost of movie tickets, and the cheap thrill lasts a whole week.
Seek| 3.2.11 @ 11:54AM
The issue isn't "hippie scum"; it's race. Any discussion about the decline of Detroit that fails to take into account the criminal behavior by blacks on the street and in the mayoral suite (i.e., Coleman Young) is simply not an honest one.
Stephanie| 3.2.11 @ 1:48PM
Appleby,
don't you live in Canada? A leftist friend of mine just posted on FB that Canada has ousted FOX News from your country because they, and i quote, "Tell the truth". Is this true? Please tell me this is garbage!
Redstateboy| 3.2.11 @ 4:03PM
Still waiting for PBS's "Frontline" to do a story on Detroit - it'd be devistating to the Slave Party to be so revealed.
dewey from detroit | 3.2.11 @ 4:07PM
If you google "Marabel Chanin" you will find your first exhibit for your theme park: Robinwood Ave. where Marabel lived most of her life. In the end, she was the last resident on the street which had been taken over by drug gangs. It is a chilling video, and I still shiver every time I think of that poor old lady.
But that's where liberal democratic policies take you.
Seek| 3.2.11 @ 6:37PM
Must be the model for Clint Eastwood/Harry Kowalski's residence in Eastwood's movie, "Gran Torino."
evergreen78| 3.2.11 @ 11:15PM
I went to watch the YouTube video about Ms. Chanin (R.I.P.), & watched a couple of others while there. In reading the comments, I am floored by how many people think capitalism caused the decline of Detroit.
We're doomed.
ENOUGH ROPE| 3.3.11 @ 12:05AM
Mr. Ferrara, thank you for a very insightful article.
Democrat politicians and appointees know that their policies impoverish the people but enrich the Democratic politicians and their kickback constituencies--the public sector unions. Democratic elites know that socialism does not work in the long run, but they will continue to dupe their democratic voters to believe that the Democrats are for the little guy. Someday, soon I hope, the little guy will ask himself "Why is this not working out for me?"
Many reforms are needed to obtain a citizenry that wants to become knowledgeable enough to choose decentralized government instead of centralized government which always oppresses the little guy.
Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 3.2.11 @ 7:01AM
Great article.
The telling moment in our immediate future will be the debt ceiling.
The Republicans are in a far better position then they may beleive.
When the time comes, they should let the other side blink.
If the debt ceiling is raised, then the illusion of cuts will be complete because in fact there aren't any cuts if you spend more money.
That is the next fateful move in the nation's future. Don't listen to Bernanke or Geithner. It's in their vested interest to grant them more power.
Let's hope the Republicans try something different and grant power back to the citizens by refusing to raise the debt ceiling.
That puts the ball back into the court of the Senate Democrats and the President. For once, they will have to join the crowd. They will squawk and claim disaster is right around the corner.
In a way, they will be right. It will be a disaster for those duplicative services the GAO report identified yesterday. That covered only one third of the government.
In addition, one of the biggest waste of money combined with fraud has been Obama's 787 billion stimulus.
It is becoming obvious at the one year point that the program is being used to distribute funds to cities and states (Union employees) and those funds are being funneled back to Democratic coffers meaning it's just a slick money laundering scheme.
No jobs of note have been created and the public hears the same refrain from the Democrats, that the stimulus saved 2 million jobs. Big whoop.
A great portion of the stimulus money hasn't yet been spent and it's simply being held as bribe money for the 2012 election cycle.
In short, there is plenty to cut and if the Republicans are smart they will draw a line in the sand and refuse to raise the debt ceiling.
A. C. Santore| 3.2.11 @ 10:04AM
My most sincere advice to our Republicans in Congress: DON'T BLINK!
Pecos Pete| 3.2.11 @ 7:19AM
I can solve Detroit's loss of citizens...build the Detroit Wall.
It should look like the Berlin Wall in its heyday. The federal government can provide the money and the personnel, or maybe the watchtower personnel could be the Black Panthers or MoveOn.org ... better yet, people from Organizing for America.
Frisbee| 3.2.11 @ 10:13PM
LOL!!
Ret. Marine| 3.2.11 @ 7:22AM
What a god awful suggestion on the part of the demonrat party and their wealth redistribution's of everyone else's money. These criminals have seen the writing on the wall and it has their names on it to prove the point. Who do they think they are kidding? Oh yeah that right, the gubmint edumicated crowd allowed to vote. Pathetic parasites. It always amazes me how pc even this rage has to have it. Can't call them out for what they have and are still willing to do, bankrupt this Nation for the transformation obamas Bin Lyn is trying to achieve. Yeah good luck with that too, it WILL come back and bite you no matter how hard you try and deceive others into thinking the R's are trying to deprive you of others money. NEWS FLASH, you've already stolen every one's money, where the hell do you think the blood is coming from, this turnip is dry, as I suspect millions of others are too. See you in the streets.
Merlin| 3.2.11 @ 12:13PM
". . . and the gods of the copy book headings with terror and slaughter return."
figusja| 3.2.11 @ 7:24AM
Typical of the average citizen. They watch Mutual of Omahas wild kingdom as kids and they think humans are the problem in the world. We let union people teach our kids and they(the children) grow up thinking that the unions are the only thing stopping the evil bussiness from putting everyone in leg irons and working us 23 hours a day.
It is a fact that the government grows in good times. But when times get tough you notice they(the government) cut programs and some entitlement benefits, but never cut or shrink the amount of jobs in the government. We will collapse under the weight of the government before these union thugs will give in.
Funny thing is that only the Socialist, Communist, Fascist, and Marxist kill people by the millions and work people to death in re-education camps.
We are in big trouble.
MikeD| 3.2.11 @ 7:26AM
Bill Clinton oozed to re-election in 1996 for one reason: that dispicable moron Ross Perot. As he had done in 1992, Perot just had to caress his monstrous ego by giving clinton a second term. The fact that he beat Bob Dole wasn't even that big a deal. As poor a candidate as Dole was, he STILL would have won in a two way race.
Every day brings new lows presented by the democrats who are daily proving their incredible stupidity and hatred for their own country. The most amazing thing is that liberalism and socialism are constantly being proven wrong, yet the same mental midgets keep bleating over and over about how successful it is. Keyns was wrong! Get it? Good! Now, open your aleged brains and get out of the way! The average American has finally learned enough to understand the lies that the left have been spewing for years, despite the ongoing efforts of incompetent teachers to keep their students as ignorant as possible; at least as much as they can in the brief time they actually work every year.
John Navratil| 3.2.11 @ 8:48AM
MikeD,
How right you are about Perot. My parents are European refugees from WWII and are quite conservative. It took me months to convince them that Perot wasn't the next Reagan. That he succeeded to enthral so many must have been a lesson that Obama did not miss.
Melvin| 3.2.11 @ 7:51AM
"The 345-page General Accountability Office report pinpointed 34 areas – from defense and job training to social services – where federal agencies, offices or programs have redundant objectives or are fragmented across several departments."
Reading this report, just made me want to sit down and put my head into my hands and bemoan, "Why, why, why." Then the bemoaning turned to a raging anger, "How can our government do this to us?"
Every year I claim single and none, and take out even more withholding, and I still end up writing a check in April, and I read and hear crap like that.
One of two things need to happen. Government needs to be shut down and audited. The independent auditing agency should also have the power to immediately shut down redundant government agencies and agencies that have no more relevance anymore.
The second thing, if government doesn't shut down, we need to tear it down. And tear it down right to it's Constitutional foundations and rebuild as our Constitution dictates.
captnjoe| 3.2.11 @ 9:52AM
The auditors are called Congressmen. The task of dismantling must be given to them by us, the people who elect them.
Melvin| 3.2.11 @ 10:34AM
Congress obviously hasn't and isn't up to the task. They are not the solution to the problem.
In all honesty Congress has lost it's credibility with the majority of the American people.
as a rule,they're just in it for themselves. Yes their are exceptions but they are too far and too few.
Mike D.| 3.2.11 @ 7:54AM
I was born and raised in Detroit and Detroit IS this country's future unless this gets turned around. The Socialist/Marxists fear the Constitutionalists and the Tea Party because its they who correctly shine the light of truth and of proper identification on the Trotskyites. Whats happening in Wisconsin is exactly how the leftists deal with something they don't agree with. Elections are fine for them as long as they agree with the results, if not, then the system nor the voters means anything and its back to the no holds barred revolutionary tactics and violence.
This will end up in the streets because its they who will and are taking it there. I for one thank God we are finally seeing the whole marxist leftist machine as it really and truly is in bright living color under the searing light of the sun. The media, the academic pinheads, "Democratic" party, unions, the wine and cheese crowd useful idiots of the entertainment class, and the rest of the failed collectivism and marxist floats in the parade of history's rejects. What bigger display of disaster could better illustrate the idiocy of the "failed everytime its tried" concepts of Communism than Detroit? What can you say about a city that counts A Diego Rivera labor mural as its signature art and social treasure. Yeah, that Diego Rivera, noted Communist revolutionary. Irony just drips here.
John Leach| 3.2.11 @ 8:33AM
This article completely nails it. We must recognize the communist influence on the Union and Leftists that comprise the Democratic Party. 30 years of congressional work for John Conyers and Carl Levin. Trillions of dollars to support this 'Theme Park for Socialists'. We should all learn from this. Detroit has been collapsing for half a century, shouldn't it be getting less help rather than more? Why are we propping up a failed municipality? The free market works and Detroit doesn't.
Mike D.| 3.2.11 @ 9:06AM
And you can add Flint, Saginaw and Pontiac to the Socialist/Marxist Jurassic park exhibition as well. Come see the economic toilet my city and state has become, because thats "Christmas Future" if nothing changes friends.
W| 3.2.11 @ 10:41AM
have you driven on Gratiot from downtown to 8 mile recently?
Mike D.| 3.2.11 @ 1:01PM
I used to live near 7 and Gratiot. Devastation, total and complete devastation.
martin j smith| 3.2.11 @ 7:56AM
Here is what has to happen: Enough American voters must recognize that the policy of Tax and spend is going --if not already-totally destroying our nation. And, that this policy of tax and spend is done on purpose to obtain that goal of America's destruction. Then assuming we have an election we have a chance to correct this suicidal policy. The Democrat Socialist Party needs to be blocked.
Time will tell but the current leadership in my view may be being clever,tactical or timid and foolish. I know many out there can't stand Boehner and & Mitch baby but lets see I think in a month or less we will know more clearly because there "two week " deals will not go on forever.
captnjoe| 3.2.11 @ 10:06AM
1/3 of the population fought the war of independence against the British. 1/3 were loyalists, 1/3 bystanders.
Apply that to political identity polls the last few years, and we get (roughly speaking)...
1/3 Republicans, 1/3 Democrats/leftists, and 1/3 independents.
We can not wait for a majority, it will never come until we prove our arguments right. We must fight now. Everywhere conservatives have control, they must seize the initiative and damage the antidemocratic machine, reduce government in lasting ways, and take the higher ground of strict Constitutionalism. We must fight now, or there will be nothing left for our children.
martin j smith| 3.2.11 @ 7:56AM
Here is what has to happen: Enough American voters must recognize that the policy of Tax and spend is going --if not already-totally destroying our nation. And, that this policy of tax and spend is done on purpose to obtain that goal of America's destruction. Then assuming we have an election we have a chance to correct this suicidal policy. The Democrat Socialist Party needs to be blocked.
Time will tell but the current leadership in my view may be being clever,tactical or timid and foolish. I know many out there can't stand Boehner and & Mitch baby but lets see I think in a month or less we will know more clearly because there "two week " deals will not go on forever.
Mimi| 3.2.11 @ 8:12AM
Wow , Peter you sure know how to frame a problem and put it in front of our eyes and mind...with truth and simplicity.
It looks like the time for an abrupt ending of the Senate Dem's attempt to cancel an election. This smoldering problem of corrupt UNIONS has showed itself front and center....they too, like Detroit will wither and slither away...they have shown they have outlived their usefullness!
Mike D.| 3.2.11 @ 8:26AM
Bear this in mind, these communists are not going down with a wimper. They have no loyalty to anything other than the cause. None to elections, a system of rules, law and order, protocall, a country or anything else. Marxism is a religion that transcends all else to these fools. The system of government we established here is just a tool to use in their crusade, nothing else. If they can use it fine, if not then subvert it, undermine it, or destroy it, don't matter. Its thunderdome friends, they can't break any rules because they don't think there are any to win.
Louis Jenkins| 3.2.11 @ 8:21AM
Let it fall, let it close, who cares anymore!! Obama says he cares? Might as well break my leg. The Unionized teachers care? Might as well starve me. The best thing is to let the government close down, along with everything else. John Q Public is already living hand to mouth. With the pot empty where are those mealy mouthed hypocrites gonna get their benefits? Let it fall Obama, there are enough of us to know how to get along.
missbosslady| 3.2.11 @ 8:47AM
"The Democrats are fully and firmly committed to the belief that increased government spending is the source of jobs, economic growth and prosperity."
I do not believe this statement for one minute! The Democrats have no interest in the above and I think it's a mistake to ascribe such lofty goals to their agenda. The Democrats use the above language to describe their power grab and the unending quest to control the people and equalize outcomes.
The veil has been lifted and anyone who still believes that the Democrats road to hell is paved with good intentions hasn't been paying attention.
ENOUGH ROPE| 3.3.11 @ 1:00PM
missbosslady,
You are 100% right.
William L. Gensert| 3.2.11 @ 8:52AM
Barack Obama’s Stimulus was a trillion dollar effort to insulate public sector employees and unions from feeling any pain caused by the economic downturn.
While the unstimulated private sector lost 2 million jobs, the federal government added 200,000 workers. Good thing too, now the government is so much better run; isn’t it?
Bondholders in GM and Chrysler lost their shirts while the UAW was made whole. A union is the only organization that can preside over the destruction of an entire industry and still come out ahead.
You would think that declining membership would hurt their influence, but it hasn’t. Membership dues finance the political campaigns of leaders like Barack Obama and almost every other Democrat.
Union dues helped bring us the hope and change that’s been so successful.
Once safely in office, our leaders negotiate the pay and benefit packages for the very people who helped elect them. How do think teachers in Wisconsin can make an average of $89,000 a year, salary and benefits, in a state where 20% of all students don’t graduate high school? For African Americans the number is 50%.
If we were honest with ourselves, we would call that vote buying, or perhaps, votes “saved or created.”
Brian Mc| 3.2.11 @ 9:58AM
Your remark about the UAW didn't fall on deaf ears, W. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire was hailed as a watershed moment in worker's rights and the libs document the victory, gleefully, while smacking their lips and slapping their grubby little paws together. I have just one question; how many shirt factories, (out of the myriad that existed in NY City), are still employing? Public outcry would have done the union's job better if given time. Instead, just try and buy a shirt today that has not been made in China...I wonder how the unions are faring there...?
Bob in Western NY| 3.2.11 @ 9:00AM
When you say that the economy is increased by "incentives to production" I take issue. People don't need incentives. They need to be left alone. People don't need to be either punished nor rewarded and government is not our betters. "Going away" would great. Then we can get back to creating our own wealth and prosperity.
Ken (Old Texican)| 3.2.11 @ 9:02AM
Peter,
Thank you once again.
Hillel| 3.2.11 @ 10:14AM
When I was in Graaduate school in the '60's we were begining to question Keynes. With computers and number crunchers it has been established that the "multiplier" was always a fraction (thus producing negatives). It became clear that keynsianism was a failed theory when President Nixon declared"we are all Keynsians now." President Regan then demonstrated that the price system worked much better. NOBODY seems to learn from history.
Dan Hirsch| 3.2.11 @ 10:22AM
Hillel;
You mean less than one; 5/3 is a fraction that results in positive growth....
martin j smith| 3.2.11 @ 10:17AM
Cutting to the chase as it were: The Socialist democrat Party will not accept results of elections except if they win. Therefore, the only option is...
Lets look at that Union Goons for example. I think it is fine to have videos and to eport to the police but, if there Nazi brown shirt behavior continues or even escalates which it probably will then what ? I thin the Republican Leadership will at some point and very soon confront this: The Democrat Socialists want to destroy this country and do not give a crap.
What has to happen is a leader for the Pro Constitution Free Market true Democracy side must step fowards and tell the American People the truth. The Democrat Socialist Party's policies are destructive and their lives are at risk with their policies. here are a few things that will support that idea: Unemployment levels,the cost of fuel,the cost of food, and the behavior of the Unions goons on the street itself plus: let us never forget the statements and lies of BHO.
This should earn appause from the Union leaders right ?
buckeyeman| 3.2.11 @ 11:04AM
"I thin (sic) the Republican Leadership will at some point and very soon confront this"
Martin, what's your basis for this delusional thought? I spend every day wishing for evidence that any but a meager handful of politicians have now seen the light. Posters are all over the AT and AS sites are constantly talking about how the repubs are going to get tired of all this insanity and deal with it severely "real soon". When is soon? I think it is actually never. With all the hoopla in Wisconsin why don't the republicans just go into session and ban ALL collective bargaining of ALL public employees? With the dems having abandoned their posts, the statehouse taken over by a mob, and the state's coffers empty, there couldn't possibly be a better time. Scott Walker's "tolerance" is becoming nauseating. It reminds me of all the folks I know who give their kids one "time out" after another but never enforce any real discipline.
bill meyers| 3.2.11 @ 10:34AM
Having attended college in Detroit during the late 60's it is disheartening to see the decline of the formerly great city. During my college years, we still enjoyed the great music of Motown, the Tigers winning the World Series asnd the vibrance of the city.
That all changed when the riots came and the ascessiion of Coleman Young and his efforts to turn Detroit into a welfare paradise by chasing away the white tax base and inserting his corrupt pals into positions of power.
But only the truly delusional believe that the welfare mentality that has pervaded Detroit for generations can be overcome
In the meantime, the few relatives I have still living there are counting the days when they finally qualify for retirement benefits and can flee to happier environs, leaving behiond their memories and abandoning their homes fully paid for, but essentially worthless as unsalable.
Yet the feckless hussein and his failed policies and lack of leadership not only dooms Detroit, but other cities and ultimately America if not stopped
Clint Lovell| 3.2.11 @ 10:36AM
Awesome writing. Great article. I think I'll order the magazine.
Mimi| 3.2.11 @ 11:30AM
Clint...I did and you won't be disappointed. Peter Ferrara is the best. The posts on this sight inform, entertain and control my frustaration with positively great humor. The magazine too goes more in depth and well worth the money....Welcome
PhilTheCapitalistPig| 3.2.11 @ 11:49AM
Agreed. The best writers are here. I like the weekly standard and NRO too, but in my opinion, the writing and insight here is second to none.
Peppermint Tea| 3.2.11 @ 11:22AM
They've got a good hockey team.
PhilTheCapitalistPig| 3.2.11 @ 11:39AM
Spot on, as usual, Peter.
PhilTheCapitalistPig| 3.2.11 @ 11:42AM
Another aspect of public unions is that the taxpayer is ultimately paying union dues, and when the unions are engaging in the political machine, there is an issue of Political Freedom at stake here. Goldwater outlined this very well as it pertains to private unions, and the assault on Liberty is even more glaring in the public sector unions considering we are ALL contributing to the democrat campaign coffers.
PhilTheCapitalistPig| 3.2.11 @ 11:50AM
Goldwater isn't rolling in his grave, he's punching his way out now to stop this nonsense!
Ken (Old Texican)| 3.2.11 @ 12:02PM
Phil,
Nope! His spiritual daughter has picked up his cross. I won't mention her name, but her initials are.....Sarah Palin.
(oops, darn)
Jude Wanniski Rocks!| 3.2.11 @ 11:58AM
Jude Wanniski’s “The Way the World Works” said it all.
Let me try to, as simply as I can, lay out what he had to say—
When it comes to economic activity, man is hopefully engaging in creating GOODS, so that over time he will have produced a surplus—usually called a profit.
I use $10 and after a week I have $11.
That EARNED $1 is what it’s all about!
Who gets to either invest or spend it?
Liberals, who rarely produce anything of value, except accidentally, live to TAKE that $1 from the person who actually created it!
And, spend it to keep THEMSELVES in power, so they can---
Do it, AGAIN, and AGAIN, and AGAIN---
Detroit is a perfect example of the results of this DESTRUCTIVE action.
Liberal TAKERS over the last 60 years stole more and more of the created sum of $1’s and wasted it, instead of leaving the profit in the hands of those who MADE it!
KISS! Keep It Simple, Stupid!
ENOUGH ROPE| 3.3.11 @ 1:07PM
Jude, you are correct, but Michael Moore thinks that $1, when it is followed by six or more zeros, "...is a national resource that belongs to us."
Oldefarte| 3.2.11 @ 1:49PM
Great editorial, as usual, Peter....thanks! Labor unions [public and private] must be eliminated, if this country is to survive. Due to their above market labor rates for manufacturing, companies have offshored their operations to India, China, etc to reduce their costs/expenses and maintain their profitability. The result is the importation of inferior [and dangerous, ie Chinese drywall]products from these countries. This country's manufacturing is now domestically non-existent as a result and must be re-established. A solution would be to heavily tax these cheap imports, and to dedicate same's tax receipts towards financing domestic manufacturing operations manned by NON-UNIONIZED LABORERS AT FAIR-MARKET WAGE RATES. Additionally/politically, taxpayer-voters need to begin voting Republican exclusively [initially, then weeding out the good from the bad Republicans thereafter], as all Democrat candidates simply are infected with this anti-business DNC socialistic attitude [and once elected become knee-capped into compliance to their DNC party congressional leaders' extremists views/policies, ie WELFARECARE]!!!!!!!!!!
niteowl| 3.2.11 @ 2:51PM
If big government spending is the source of jobs. Where are the jobs? The Socialists/elitists must think that we are stupid.
SpiralArchitect | 3.2.11 @ 3:23PM
Humble request to the author.
Please stop writing these long ( multi page ) essays. I can handle the truth but not for more than one glaringly painful page.
The Lib's don't read them and the rest of us suffer through them.
None the less I never miss anything from Peter Ferrara if at all possible.
Mitch Rapp| 3.2.11 @ 3:47PM
Obamanomics 1a
Think of it this way: A clunker that travels 12,000 miles a year at 15 mpg uses 800 gallons of gas a year. A vehicle that travels 12,000 miles a year at 25 mpg uses 480 gallons a year. So, the average Cash for Clunkers transaction will reduce US gasoline consumption by 320 gallons per year. They claim 700,000 vehicles so that's 224 million gallons saved per year. That equates to a bit over 5 million barrels of oil. 5 million barrels is about 5 hours worth of US consumption. More importantly, 5 million barrels of oil at $70 per barrel costs about $350 million dollars So, the government paid $3 billion of our tax dollars to save $350 million.
We spent $8.57 for every dollar we saved.
I'm pretty sure they will do a great job with our health care, though.
dewey from detroit | 3.2.11 @ 3:49PM
Nearly fifty years of liberal Democratic leadership (Detroit has not had a Republican mayor since 1961) has left this once great city a hell-hole of abandoned buildings, populated mostly by the “chronically unemployed” living off the public dole. One liberal administration after another has implemented policy after policy that ensure the only thing alive and well in the city is poverty: thus creating a guaranteed voter base that will continue to vote for whatever Democrat promises to keep the handouts coming.
And despite huge infusions of State and Federal funds and crushing Detroit city taxes, the results of decades of liberal Democratic politics lead by a black mayor and a nearly all black city council are dismal. The public schools continue to deteriorate in every conceivable way, resulting in a graduation rate of less than 25%. Yet teachers lobby to maintain the status quo, and even staged a walk-out when a philanthropist offered $200 million to start 15 charter high schools.
Still, all we hear are charges of racism. Its time for our black brothers to understand that it's their own people, both race and party, who are stepping on their necks.
somnolence| 3.2.11 @ 10:31PM
I spent this afternoon looking at my father's high school annual, graduating class at Detroit High School Of Commerce 1937. A far removed golden age; my grandfather worked there for Chevrolet from 1927-1953, a transplanted Kentuckian who sold the farm back home, bringing his family north. My dad later went off to the war, served his four hellish years, then back to Kentucky. Granpa came back down in 1954, lived until 1983. I recall him announcing in wonder each time he got his retirement check, how he was making far more sitting in that recliner than he ever had in his working career. I guess what I'm saying is I'm so glad they both really pursued the refrain of "I wanna go home," from "Detroit City."
dewey from detroit | 3.3.11 @ 11:25AM
Sadly, Detroit has become the poster city for the place most people want "to be from." emphasis on "from."
PCP Smoker| 3.2.11 @ 6:29PM
Superbowl 2012 ad for Chrysler:
"Welfare dependency. It's what we do."
BackToBasics| 3.2.11 @ 9:36PM
From the article - "14 long missing Democrat state senators are vacant, and submit new Senate quorum rules for a vote based on the number of seats that are occupied."
I had the same thoughts. Democrats change the rules when they want to get something done.
I resepct Walker's stand but it's time for Republicans to get tough. They've got the people ON THEIR SIDE on this and on so many issues now.
With victories that would show the farce of Dem spending and rules and begin to help on the state elvel an hopefully in the future on the national level, even more people would get on their side.
michigander_sandusky| 3.2.11 @ 10:02PM
Wisconsin is good in one sense: it provides us with a true picture of the Democratic Party. They sure as hell ain't "democratic" and it sure ain't no "party"!
Sam Levi| 3.3.11 @ 2:11PM
One thing I would like to point out as another history lesson lost point is that in the Civil War the Union was ultimately victorious because they had a manufacturing based economy versus the predominantly agricultural economy of the Confederacy. Manufacturing is ultimately what pulled this country back together. Now manufacturing is all but gone and the economy is in the toilet......
DEIN| 3.3.11 @ 5:02PM
Take a look at the other bastions of liberalism/Baltimore,Wash.D.C.,Philadelphia,New York,Camden,Los Angeles,New Orleans,etc.All teetering on the financial brink,would have collapsed years ago if not for Borrowed federal monies being fed to the welfare class and their corrupt democrat politicians
Drew| 3.3.11 @ 9:08PM
The far left and this now includes the Democrat Party would rather rule over rubble than live in a society with a high standard of living run by the right. They have proven this hunger for power and for being a small elite in a sea of peasants over and over again at every level of government they come to dominate, whether city, state, national or international. The "equality" they drone on about is for the peasants (and at a very low standard of living), not themselves. Everything they touch turns to crap, the reverse Midas touch.
Dee See| 3.3.11 @ 9:32PM
"By 2012 we will probably see the
begining of 'prison cities' in the US.
It's part of the agenda. It's part of the plan."
-ALAN WATT
(online)
------------------------REALLY
patrick henry| 3.16.11 @ 2:20PM
"California- America's Yugoslavia?"
For all the trauma and agony that the good folks in Wisconsin are going through, at least they're openly working through their mess. In Kalifornia, the state's mess is still pretty much swept under the carpet, with the state's Dems desperately seeking ways to keep it under there in the vain and insane hope that somehow it'll all just magically disappear.
A March 15 article in the Los Angeles Times gave details of a report on widespread corruption in the state's Public Employee Retirement System.
My favorite statement in the article is the notation that:
"The report, citing Buenrostro's ex-wife and an unnamed girlfriend, described Buenrostro as "a puppet" of Villalobos, who the report said earned more than $50 million in placement agent fees."
The key word there is "puppet." So, if you don't live in Kalifornia you may be wondering why this might be relevant to you. Well, two things come to mind: 1) one of the "magic" solutions that the Kalifornia Dems are hoping for is a federal bailout; in other words, after you have addressed all of your own state's problems, the Dems want you to help pay for Kalifornia's as well; and 2) that key word "puppet"- beware of puppets in your own state- politicians who aren't working for the taxpayers but, rather, for someone/something else- those people are also puppets, and they aren't working for you.
Oh, by the way, nowhere in the LA Times article does it point out that all those people involved in the CalPers corruption are Democrats. "Jeez, can't sweep the publicly-released report under the carpet, but the least we can do is to avoid mentioning that the crooks are Democrats. After all, we sure don't want the people to stop electing them."
If you happen to live in one of the states that's going through trauma right now, at least you can be assured that what you're presently experiencing is as bad as it'll get- it'll only get better from here on out.
On the other hand, Kalifornia is possibly destined to become America's Yugoslavia. During the Iron Curtain years Yugoslavia was the "nicest" Soviet puppet state to live in, while the people in all the other eastern European puppet states had far more repressive societies and economies. But when the Soviet Union unraveled and the Iron Curtain fell, all those other eastern European states got back on their feet rather quickly and smoothly. In the meantime, Yugoslavia degenerated into widespread chaos and civil war, with Bill Clinton eventually stepping in with the U.S. Air Force to bomb them into submission.
Your state's climb back into solvency will have some unpleasant moments. The case of Kalifornia could be downright ugly.
Christian Louboutin | 6.23.11 @ 4:12AM
House Republicans have fulfilled their campaign pledge to cut $100 billion in spending in the first year, passing a continuing resolution (CR) on February 19 cutting that much for this year from President Obama's 2011 budget, which was exactly their pledge. That involves a $61 billion cut for the rest of this year from the baseline of the CR that is now funding the government through March 4.
brian| 7.20.11 @ 1:12AM
nice information!!!
great
Go Air
العاب بنات | 4.11.12 @ 6:08PM
Here is what has to happen: Enough American voters must recognize that the policy of Tax and spend is going --if not already-totally destroying our nation. And, that this policy of tax and spend is done on purpose to obtain that goal of America's destruction. Then assuming we have an election we have a chance to correct this suicidal policy. The Democrat Socialist Party needs to be blocked.
Time will tell but the current leadership in my view may be being clever,tactical or timid and foolish. I know many out there can't stand Boehner and & Mitch baby but lets see I think in a month or less we will know more clearly because there "two week " deals will not go on forever.