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U.S. | Global Justice and Anti-Capitalism

Detroit Symbolizes America's Decline
by Stephen Lendman
Saturday Mar 16th, 2013 12:47 AM
Detroit Symbolizes America's Decline

by Stephen Lendman

America's economy is sick. It's getting sicker. Coverup and denial conceal reality. Census data say record numbers of US counties are dying. It's over one in three.

It reflects population shifts and Depression conditions. America's decline gets little attention.


Detroit once symbolized industrial America. Might Motown resembles a ghost town. It's dying. It nears bankruptcy.

Fifty years ago it was America's fifth largest city. It's now 18th. In the last decade, half the population left. It's America's ghetto. Its neighborhoods are in disrepair. They're decaying and dying.

Half or more working aged residents have no jobs. Those with them have low-pay part-time or temp ones. They don't pay enough to live on.

Poverty is extreme. It's increasing. Nearly two-thirds of Detroit's children are impoverished. They're out of sight and mind.

Dozens of schools were closed. More closures are planned. Teachers were fired. Kids aren't educated. Nearly half the population is functionally illiterate.

Public services are eroding en route to eliminating them altogether. One-third of Detroit's 140 square miles lies vacant or derelict. Heavily blighted areas are increasing.


Property crime is double the national average. Violent crime is triple. Many areas aren't safe. Police are unapologetic. Go out at your own risk, they warn.


More austerity cuts are planned. It's official policy. On March 1, Governor Rick Synder declared a financial emergency. Appointing a financial czar followed. He named bankruptcy attorney Kevin Orr.

He works for Cleveland-based Jones Day. His past experience includes government service. In 1991, he was counsel for the FDIC's Litigation Section.

From summer 1991 - mid-1995, he was assistant general counsel for the Resolution Trust Corporation's Complex Litigation and Bankruptcy Section.

From mid-1995 - February 2000, he was in the US Justice Department's Executive Office for United States Trustees. From February 2000 - January 2001, he served as Deputy Director.

At Jones Day, he's involved in business restructuring and all aspects of bankruptcy. He played a lead role in Chrysler's 2009 bankruptcy.

Plants were closed. Jobs were lost. Wages were slashed. So were benefits. Strikes were banned. Detroit's heading for the same abyss.

Claiming no alternative is false. It's a Big Lie. Making the city's rich and corporations pay their fair share solves fiscal problems. It's true across America.



Mayor David Bing implemented deep spending cuts earlier. He fired thousands of workers. He outsourced vital services. Profiteers took full advantage. Bing's got much more in mind.

Orr's in charge. His job is radically restructuring Detroit. Expect the worst ahead. He'll do it on the backs of ordinary people. He'll fire city workers, cut wages and benefits, erode vital services, and end others.


Public anger followed Orr's appointment. He's Black. Opponents call him an "Uncle Tom." On March 14, they protested outside Cadillac Place. It's a landmark downtown office complex.

Rainbow Push Coalition's Rev. David Bullock expressed outrage, saying:


"(He's) the same man who took away the earned income tax credit….the same man (who's) taxing our pensions. Never, never!"

National Action Network's Rev. Charles Williams II said:

"We're not worried about no Kevin Orr. Uncle Toms ain't nothing new. We've had Uncle Toms for a long time."

Tom Barrow is president of Citizens for Detroit's Future. He said Michigan's emergency manager law imposes diktat powers. It was created to oppress. It passed in mid-December.



Orr has diktat powers. What he says goes. Detroit residents are on their own. They're out of luck. It's been that way for years. It's worse now than ever.


Finance is a new form of warfare. Economies are strip-mined for profit. Communities are laid waste. Ordinary people are impoverished. They're left out on their own.


John McMurtry is a Progressive Radio News Hour regular. His "Cancer Stage of Capitalism" explains. Its new edition expands on what he wrote earlier. He discusses a money sequencing life destroying system.


Detroit is ground zero. It reflects what's wrong with America. It exposes predatory capitalism's failure. It represents the worst of what's coming.

Ordinary people are out of luck. Greater pain and suffering will follow. Democracy's nowhere in sight. Monied interests matter most.

Detroit's a microcosm of America. It reflects what's spreading nationwide. It exposes venal priorities. Let 'em eat cake is dogma. Force-fed austerity assures it.

America's criminal class is bipartisan. It conspires with Wall Street crooks. It's allied with other corporate favorites. Wealth, power and privilege alone matter.

Ordinary people are marginalized. They exploited. They're entirely left out. Their lives are wrecked. They're deprived of enough to live on. They're heading for neoserfdom.

They're on their own to fight back. Officials they elected are enemies. Preventing them from getting away with plundering America is top priority. Detroit's a good place to start.




Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

