Detroit

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The New American Elite

The faces of the Detroit bankruptcy are the thousands of pensioners whose promised benefits are suddenly part of the restructure negotiation. When Motown filed for Chapter 9 last July, the city had $11.5 billion in unsecured liabilities. The vast majority of this was pension and health care benefits owed to retired city employees. The images …

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Dogs Don’t Vote…

As many as 50,000 stray dogs roam the streets and vacant homes of bankrupt Detroit, replacing residents, menacing humans who remain, and overwhelming the city’s ability to find them homes or peaceful deaths. They are among the victims of a historic financial and political collapse. Detroit, a former auto-manufacturing powerhouse, declared the largest U.S. municipal …

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Detroit, Demographics and Detonation

Detroit’s fate is best summed up by the phrase “Demographics is destiny.” Take a look at the following chart on Detroit’s population growth since 1840. The golden age of the U.S. car manufacturing industry (1930-1980) maintained Detroit’s population consistently above 1.5 million. Fifty years is more than enough time for at least two generations to …

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