The Second Great Depression Visits Detroit
Submitted by Michael Nystrom on Tue, 06/03/2008 - 14:01Hey Friends,
My wife and I were in Detroit recently. It is a city that I have a minor fascination with - birthplace of the automobile, fabulous pre-depression architecture, and these days, very, very cheap real estate. When we went to visit, I discovered why. Half the population is gone, and the city is falling apart. I have seen the second great depression, and its name is Detroit. I put my observations into an essay on my other site, www.depression2.tv.
The Second Great Depression Visits Detroit
What is most interesting to me is the information in the comments from other readers around the country, saying the same thing is happening in their regions. The end of the industrial era marks the beginning of the second great depression, in my opinion.
If you'd like to be informed about other articles like this, which I write from time to time, you can sign up for my low volume email announcement list here.
Michael Nystrom
I left the East side of Cleveland for this reason
and now I am in Greenville, SC. I just heard we are at the top of the list as far as homes holding their value and also SC has the cheapest gas in the country right now.
Mathew 5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
I have a house in detroit
I live in NJ but have a house just north of Detroit that became uneconomical to keep so I tried to sell it paying the mort on it out of a second that was on my primary property after a year of no offers even at a break even level and then a loss to the existing mortgage on the property. After a year of that I offered the house to the bank they said no so I stopped paying the mortgage and thought they would foreclose but it has been a year since then and they have not. In fact they have not contacted be about it except to let me know they used to last of the escrow account to pay the taxes.
MI does not do tax liens so after 3 years of back taxes the state takes the property. (as far as I understand the process) The state of MI is going to have a lot of useless dilapidated housing on their hands. Oh and in addition to the taxes they have a regulation that the grass has to be maintained or the town does it and tacks large fees onto the tax bill so that comes out to an additional 850 a year according to my calculations.
I cant sell because my house was built in the 40's and their are HUNDREDS of foreclosures in the same town so you can get a new house for cheep assuming you can get a mortgage at all.
As a native born Detroiter, it really hurts to see this...
but it was inevitable. Sending our jobs to China ( and who knows were else ) has distroyed Detroit and several ( most ) other industrial cities.
I tried to pursuade others to bail-out years ago too...but "hard to teach old dogs new tricks". Now this same folks are broke and unable to leave !!!
Please folks ... don't wait until it's too late for you too.
Discover Costa Rica
Discover Costa Rica
I just don't know
what is going on? This is happening 'lots of places?
elaborate, please
The DP is proof that the grassroots support for Ron Paul and his peaceful message of individual liberty is large, real, and not going away!
Michael,
I caught your article on goldseek.com. Great job and an interesting read.
--------------------------------
"the only thing that keeps the banking system from failing is general ignorance about how the banking system works."
----------------------------
I think whats happening in
I think whats happening in Detroit is that FORD is not doing well because people are not buying SUV any more.
The auto industry is only part of the story
I have first hand knowledge of how this city has imploded, and the auto industry tells half the tale.
The rest of the story:
Water - some of the cleanest and best water, I really miss Detroit water. But it came with a cost. More than 3 out of 4 homes in the city don't pay their water bill, because the city refuses to shut off water for anyone, the result, let the suburbs pay for it.
Taxes - Property taxes are mishandled. If you owned a home for 80 years, the property value is never reassessed...so taxes are artificially raised to compensate...who gets the bill? Young people starting out buying their first home. I paid $168k for my first home, and was then forced to pay $6000 per year in property taxes.
City of Detroit - 1 person in 50 works for the city, and city services are horrible. All of those people collect a check for doing nothing, and aren't fired because of unions. Even more people than that work for Detroit Public Schools...and they graduate less than 25% of students, and most children in Detroit are functionally illiterate.
Government - Kwame Kilpatrick is the name in the news these days, but he is far from the exception. The whole city government is crooked and has been for decades. Governer Granholm is also a imbicile, because facing massive budget deficits, she actually increased spending and taxes, rather than jettison some useless state employees.
Truly a monument to what our nation will become under collectivism, the GOP used to stand against collectivism and acted as a counterweight against abuses like this. Now they've joined the moronic collectivists...take a good look at Detroit, because this is what America is going to look like if we don't change our ways and quick.
What do you think about the war on drugs?
How about Operation Wall Street?
Shout it today!
http://www.youshouts.com/index.php
Thanks for the info
on Detroit. Very interesting.
Flagg !!!
No, don't flag this Thread, of course not.
But, Manny, ask yourself, "Where do all the purest Flaggers go when I post? How am I spared?" That answer should be obvious, as owner you are spared.
Hopefully you have been reading out complaints and our request to you to End the Flag Feature.
Your essay above is a perfect example of what would be Flagged. Doubt me, write another Thread and use a new name. The purest Flaggers would say this essay above on "just Detroit" has nothing to do with Ron Paul or the Revolution and hence, in just 7 Flags it would be gone. Vaporized. Clueless? Yes! Sad that they don't get the big picture? Yes!
But you are Michael Nystrom, owner of the site, and so a silly little essay like this on Detroit gets put up front and center, and most of all remains FLAG FREE. If you care about Fairness, perhaps you will here me out.
I and others have been trying for weeks to have a discussion on Strategy. As in, Where do we go now? What direction should we take and could we take the Ron Paul R3VOLUTION? Who should we vote for and why? Is it better to vote as a large voting Block? Where do we want the R3VOLUTION to be by 2012? How do we grow our numbers? Would not Obama as president be BETTER for us in the Revolution since it will wake up the rank n file Republicans? After all, we have seen how sleepy they can be with a Republican President. Another Republican President may keep them in bed with their hands covering their ears NOT listening to those of us in the Revolution, but an Obama Presidency, may just be the thing to get them out of bed and chanting our slogans.
Its about STRATEGY. Finding the best Strategy is a difficult question and it needs to be hammered out. I like to think the Daily Paul is the place we should do it. Many think direction will come from above, from Ron Paul, but since when has Ron Paul directed us? I dare say we will be waiting a long long time if we wait on Ron Paul, who has said he just loves delivering the Peace Message.
But here is problem, purists keep deleting threads they don't like. They have a hard time seeing how one Thread blends and adds to another. Your thread ADDS, so does a Thread on Barr, on the Constitution Party, on Obama, on McCain....it all adds and builds and collectively we hash out a Strategy on where and how to take this R3VOLUTION of OURS.
Please end the FLAG FEATURE. Most Threads die their own natural death from simple lack of discussion or interest. Let Freedom, not censorship be the guide on Daily Paul. Embrace the chaos, order will come from it. Freedom works.
In Peace & Liberty,
Treg
Invest in Liberty, one Apartment deal at a time with me. Get a check each month as a passive investor, just ask me how.
Treg - I am very sorry
I am very sorry about the flagging shenanegins.
I have suspended the flagging feature for the time being. What happened - as happened once before - is that the site got hacked. Someone figured out a way to simply get in through the flag feature and take down a bunch of posts. As I said in another comment - I enjoyed your piece on voting for Obama, even though I didn't agree with everything there. However, it did promote a lively discussion, and that is the only possible way to get to the truth. If you have it saved, please feel free to repost it.
As the campaign winds down, I think that it is fine for other "off topic" subjects to be discussed, as long as they pertain to the subject of freedom and liberty, and how we get them back.
I am also reposting your suggestions, above my silly article on Detroit.
Best regards and thank you Treg,
Michael
'Always be yourself. Everyone else is taken.' - Oscar Wilde
Gardening
Michael,
I hope someone will be able to repost the great gardening thread. I really miss it -had a lot of good info
Its not "silly", its heartfelt and honest
Sorry for that remark, its an honest & heartfelt essay and I read and enjoyed every word of it.
Treg
Invest in Liberty, one Apartment deal at a time with me. Get a check each month as a passive investor, just ask me how.
It's okay Treg
Thank you.
'Always be yourself. Everyone else is taken.' - Oscar Wilde
Wow, Amazing!
The people speak up and the 'leader' (owner) listens and acts. Wouldn't this be a brilliant way to run America - the people talk and the President listens. I'm off to send a memo to George Bush right now :-)
I swear, in a parallel universe out there, Michael Nystrom is probably running for President and winning. Great job with the site Michael.
LOL!
.
'Always be yourself. Everyone else is taken.' - Oscar Wilde
you are a good one!
You really are a good guy and I feel your sincerity and concern for this country and humanity in general. I think all of your topics are relevant to RP because it's not just about his campaign. It's about an open discussion of our future and our lives as Americans.
One of my teachers in school
Hailed from Detroit. He would talk about how parts of old Detroit would catch fire in the summer and would be just left to burn. Great writing Micheal.
Find out if you have a local militia - http://www.uaff.us/
Real Patriots for 9/11 truth -- http://patriotsquestion911.com/
It's true.
I'm from not too far away, and Detroit has been on the decline in a huge way at least since the early 90s, as the auto industry began to collapse, but the last time I was there a few years ago was 100 times worse than I remember from the old days.
RP2012!
No...actually
The 1990's were better for Detroit than for almost any area in the country. We boomed with the best of them.
The auto industry was paying $50 an hour to sweep the floors, you could get a job at Meijer baggin groceries at $14 an hour to start. Everyone had bigger cars...2 per person in a lot of areas. Everyone had a massive boat, so much that you could barely swim in Lake St. Clair due to the boat chop. Half million dollar homes were popping up 30-40 miles away from downtown, everything was under construction. It was glorious.
The bad times didn't start until after 2002...we had the best of the best, but now the worst of the worst.
What do you think about the war on drugs?
How about Operation Wall Street?
Shout it today!
http://www.youshouts.com/index.php
Michael Nystrom
Michael Nystrom you are a good writer, very good. I mean I like the way you write. Also good article, never been to Detroit and don't plan on going!!
http://scottishkyle.blogspot.com/
Thank you very much
I really appreciate the kind words.
Michael
'Always be yourself. Everyone else is taken.' - Oscar Wilde
and here you can digg
http://digg.com/business_finance/Second_Great_Depression_in_...
who killed the electric car
http://digg.com/educational/Who_Killed_The_Electric_Car_38
The DP is proof that the grassroots support for Ron Paul and his peaceful message of individual liberty is large, real, and not going away!
First hand account
Most of my work about 4 years ago was in detroit and surrounding areas , In the last year I haven't had one contract from that city. Many of my friends have moved south or have started working in Ontario.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Stop the NWO....It's just illumi..Naughty !
Detroit refugee here
I've been out of the city for 2 years now...I got a job in Louisville and moved on. I spent the next year trying in vain to sell my house...luckily, my company took pity on me and bought it.
It's so sad to go back there now...every time I do, it's like a whole new place. My old neighborhood has 20% for sale signs. I used to work at a pizza place as a kid, now it's empty. My old record store is now a check cashing place. I'm starting to see wood panels in windows of what used to be a very nice neighborhood.
The city itself was always a dump since I could remember, but the downtown area was on its way up...that progress has stopped. I talk to family and friends...their water bills are close to double in rates, since the city of Detroit no longer makes their citizens pay for water service. The insurance is even higher than when I left. The property tax assessments are still reflective of the 2004 value, they won't downgrade property.
My house was assessed at $219,000 the year I left...and I was lucky to get $165,000 for it. In the time on the market, I got one offer of $135,000.
It's so sad that I can't live in the city where I have family, friends, my Lions, and too many memories to count.
I like to visit periodically, but with gas at $4 per gallon, it makes for a $200 round trip to take my baby daughter to see her grandparents. Haven't been back since Easter.
There are too many people to blame for this...I hope that one day I can move back there, because I truly love the city, but i'm not moving back to no jobs, ever-expanding ghetto, and death by taxation. I was paying $500 per month on property taxes the year I left...and that is no exxageration.
Maybe Detroit could be the model for what the American economic recovery can look like...but i'm not holding my breath.
What do you think about the war on drugs?
How about Operation Wall Street?
Shout it today!
http://www.youshouts.com/index.php
I went to MSU....
....back in the day. Even then, in the late 70s and early 80s, Detroit was a sesspool. They threw a bunch of money at the airport in the 80s and it was pretty nice. Some of the suburbs were pretty and clean...but the city itself and a large area surrounding it were scarry....don't stop for red lights!
I would imagine that since half the population is gone, it's probably pretty nice!
------------------
BC
The gene-pool needs chlorine!
------------------
BC
Silence isn't always golden....sometimes it's yellow.
"The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure, when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them." - Patrick Henry
Don't assume that
The smartest ones are the ones that left Detroit...what's left is worse.
What do you think about the war on drugs?
How about Operation Wall Street?
Shout it today!
http://www.youshouts.com/index.php