Detroit's Problem is its people.

Via Meadia writes: Detroit Court Case Presents an Impossible Choice.

The problem with Detroit is that they ran out of other people's money. When I say "they" I'm talking about the people who are left. The ones who voted for the past 60 years of corrupt mayors and city council members. The ones who voted for Barack Obama in overwhelming numbers figuring that they could be bailed out from "Obama's Stash."

Why is Detroit the first major Democrat ruled city to go bankrupt? Because the people who ran the city into the ground, who turned it into a semblance of Hiroshima 1945, were not just greedy and corrupt but stupid. They were not content with plucking the golden goose, they enjoyed wielding the axe that killed it, believing with the confidence of the criminal class that another would come along.

However the courts eventually decide, decades of misgovernance, the criminal corruption of the Democratic Party in Detroit, and the depraved indifference of politicians at every level as crooks and hacks conspired together to loot and wreck a great American city have brought us to a place where Detroit’s problems seem almost beyond solution. The saddest part of this story is that there is still much, much more pain to come for a lot of people. Both the residents of current day Detroit and the cops, teachers, firefighters and others who trusted in the promises of Detroit politicians and union officials face a world of hurt.

Detroit is going to need some outside help to get back on its feet, but that help should be tied to deep reform in the way city government works. Many liberals will want to offer the help without requiring reform; many conservatives will want to impose the reform without offering the help. Republicans need to do more than gloat over the ruins, and Democrats need to do more than wring their hands. Detroit can become a great example of a post-blue city emerging from the ashes, but that won’t happen unless some smart people in both parties take the crisis as the call for creative thinking.

Sorry, Mr. Mead, I may be wrong but there are no real technical fixes. Cutting back on pensions, getting rid of the current bunch of crooks, selling off the assets, will not provide a long-term solution to Detroit's fundamental problem. The basis for the trouble Detroit finds itself in is cultural. The bulk of the Detroit's residents aren't that much into working for a living, raising a nuclear family, living for tomorrow. The ones who were, have moved out long ago.

 

The solution to Detroit is to give it back to nature and allow it's residents to find someplace else. Or perhaps live in the thousands of tumbledown shacks and raise a few chickens, a goat and plant some vegetables. Think of a "Green" and rural community.  A few generations ago tens of thousands of sharecroppers flocked to Detroit to get away from Jim Crow and find a well-paying job in the auto factories.  Many may find their roots again, right there in Detroit.  Except it's a lot colder in the winter.