How corruption deepened Detroit's crisis
DETROIT -- Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was a spender, a schemer and a liar. And taxpayers paid for it, by the millions. Over seven years, Kilpatrick's public corruption schemes, lavish lifestyle and ethical missteps cost taxpayers at least $20 million, a tab the financially strapped city was in no position to pick up but did anyway — usually without knowing.
The Long Lost City of Detroit: The Economic and Financial Pain of Motor City. How Detroit went from 1.8 Million to 912,000 Residents. 28.9 Percent Unemployment.
There is no other city in the United States that highlights the Achilles Heel of the current financial crisis like Detroit Michigan. Detroit Michigan had a booming population from 1870 to 1950. In 1870 Detroit had 79,577 residents and in 1950 Detroit had a stunning 1.8 million. The massive boom came with the growth of the U.S. auto industry.
Five myths about Detroit
Scott Martelle is the author of “Detroit: A Biography” and a former staff writer for the Detroit News and the Los Angeles Times. The city of Detroit filed for bankruptcy protection on July 18 — the largest municipal bankruptcy filing in U.S. history. Detroit, of course, is synonymous with the auto industry, which has been rebounding recently. So why is Detroit struggling?
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The numbers behind Detroit's jobs crisis
Detroit has made great progress toward addressing the needs of its residents in the last few years. However, one of the city’s most important challenges remains: rebuilding the city’s workforce. The crux of this challenge is that there are too few jobs in the city for its residents and too many barriers to employment.
The Death of American Manufacturing
For over a half century, American manufacturing has dominated the globe. It turned the tide in World War ii and hastened the defeat of Nazi Germany; it subsequently helped rebuild Europe and Japan; it enabled the United States to outlast the Soviet empire in the Cold War. At the same time, it met all the material needs of the American people. During this period, many American icons were born. Companies like General Motors, Ford, Boeing, Maytag and Levi Strauss became household names. American manufacturing became synonymous with quality and ingenuity.
Detroit pays high price for arson onslaught
Detroit — Arson is a raging epidemic in Detroit, destroying neighborhoods and lives as the city tries to emerge from bankruptcy. Even amid a historic demolition blitz, buildings burn faster than Detroit can raze them. Last year, the city had 3,839 suspicious fires and demolished 3,500 buildings, according to city records analyzed by The Detroit News. Burned homes scar neighborhoods for years: Two-thirds of those that caught fire from 2010-13 are still standing, records show. "Nothing burns like Detroit," said Lt. Joe Crandall, a Detroit Fire Department arson investigator, referring to the city's high rate of arson.
Low jobless rate, so where are the jobs?
By some measures, Michigan's economy hums along nicely. The state's unemployment rate dropped to 4.9% in January, the lowest rate since 2001. So what explains the veil of anxiety, even pessimism, that hangs over the state and its economic outlook? Why did so many Michiganders turn out in record numbers last week to vote for outsider candidates Donald Trump and Sen. Bernie Sanders and a message of economic revolution? Even Gov.
Foreign Automakers Pass Detroit in Monthly Sales
Photo DETROIT, Aug. 1 — Detroit auto companies’ grip on the American automobile market ended in July, when dismal auto sales gave foreign nameplates the lead for the first time ever, sales reports showed Wednesday. The traditional American brands owned by , the and the Chrysler Group held 48.1 percent of the market in July, according to the Autodata Corporation, an industry statistics company in Woodcliff Lake, N.J. That meant foreign auto companies held 51.9 percent of the market. Their previous high was in June, when they held 49.8 percent of automobile sales.
Report Shows Real Factors Behind Detroit Crisis: Revenue Decline, Wall Street Deals Play Largest Role
Modest Pension Benefits Play Little Role in Financial Crisis DETROIT — In their push for bankruptcy, Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr and other public figures are incorrectly looking at Detroit’s long-term debt—figures generated using aggressive and in some cases inaccurate assumptions—to the detriment of solving the City’s immediate cash-flow crisis and its long-term structural challenges, according to a report released Wednesday by Demos. Detroit is not a corporation, it’s a city, and its bankruptcy proceedings have been focused on the wrong numbers. The Detroit Bankruptcy shows how the current bankruptcy filing is the result of a severe decline in revenue, caused by the 2008 financial crisis, and cuts in annual state revenue sharing starting in 2011.
