What is the primary cause of the downfall of Detroit?

At what time in history did Detroit go from prosperous to bleeding to death?

Is there an individual to blame?

Anonymous2013-07-23T07:32:43Z

Favorite Answer

July, 1967

Too many hands out and too few actually working.

How is outsourcing a "Republican" idea? What jobs did Republicans outsource? Did politicians do it or did the owners of companies do it to maintain their profit (the main reason for starting a company) in spite of rising taxes, regulations and demands from unions?

Jeff D2013-07-23T17:16:41Z

It was a long time coming.

Coleman Young, Detroit's mayor for over 20 years, said in his memoir that the downward spiral began after the 1967 race riots and the city never really recovered. The riots caused large numbers of businesses and middle class families to start fleeing the city and the exodus never really stopped. Today, Detroit has lost nearly 60% of it's population and is just a burnt-out shell of it's former self--all the infrastructure of a big city with only a fraction of the population and businesses to pay for it.

Corrupt city politicians and greedy public unions played a part, but they all depended on the tax base that was eroding underneath them. They neglected city services and thought that they could always raise taxes to make up the difference; but the taxpayers moved out (or went bust).

?2013-07-23T14:43:17Z

The Urbanophile » Blog Archive » The Reasons Behind Detroit's ...
www.urbanophile.com/.../the-reasons-behind-detroits-decline-by-pete-sa...‎
21 Feb 2012 - The Reasons Behind Detroit's Decline by Pete Saunders ... Most analysis tends to focus on the economic, social and political reasons for the downfall. One of my ... So why has Detroit suffered unlike any other major city?

Felonious Monkey2013-07-23T14:28:58Z

It was a combination of things, and I'll be the first to admit that liberal policies deserve some blame - but so do conservative policies. Detroit failed because of:

1) Overpriced union workers and city pension payouts (Democrat policy)

2) Three decades of outsourcing manufacturing jobs (Republican policy)

Demand Destruction2013-07-23T14:29:17Z

Outsourcing. Generation outsource is to blame. Dodge has a ad "imported from Detroit" but they don't tell us most parts are from China. The GM HHR is almost all Mexican made.

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