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specialist

Additional, perhaps complimentary, analysis:

The Real Story Behind the Decline of Detroit … And Yes, Great Things Are Happening There Too

http://www.alternet.org/economy/real-story-detroits-economy-...

TL;DR: Detroit was set up to fail.

An example:

"One dramatic example of the cost of racism born by Detroit is this: Detroit has an income tax on those who work within the city limits. The two-tier tax is lower for those who work in the city but live in the suburbs. In enacting the tax, the state legislature required employers based in the city to collect the tax via payroll deduction as they do with federal and other taxes. Suburban based employers are not required by the law to collect the tax. Most of them don’t. The revenue lost to Detroit per year is estimated to be as much as $142 million."

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I think ideology may be clouding your understanding. Unlike the Detroit Free Press, Alternet has a strong political point of view and the article you linked is simply trying to use the failure of Detroit to score political points for their agenda - not a good place to find out what is really going on.

The example you bring up, Detroit city income taxes, was explained in the Free Press article. Originally put in place by the Detroit city government they were then increased in an initative approved by Detroit voters. So, at least in this example, if anyone set Detroit up to fail it was the elected government and voters of Detroit. The article also notes the higher resident versus non-resident rates are typical for city income taxes in Michigan.

Or you can just stick with an ideological analysis and always get the answer you like ;)

>TL;DR: Detroit was set up to fail.

... The nation's 10th largest city was set up to fail? Did the Illuminati do this, or was it an inside job?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detroit

Detroit was the 10th-largest city in the US in the 2000 census with a population of ~900k, but was the 18th-largest in 2010 with a population of ~700k. It was the 4th largest in the 30s and 40s and reached its peak population of approximately 2MM in the 1950s. Since then it has been losing approximately 200k residents (think: taxpayers) per decade like clockwork.

So any story about Detroit has to explain that. There are systemic things at work and there have been for over 60 years, although I agree "set up to fail" has a rather conspiratorial tone to it.

I agree "set up to fail" has a rather conspiratorial tone to it.

Sure.

By default or by design, intent is unknowable and unactionable. I only judge outcomes.

If intent is unknowable then you can't say Detroit was "set up" as that would require divining supposedly unknowable intent. Judging only outcomes means the failure of Detroit is as likely to be the result incidental vs intentional action.

I think he's using the phrase in the sense of 'destined to fail,' which doesn't necessarily imply a belief in an unshakeable destiny, it's just a comment that failure was inevitable/predictable with those policies. Of course, hindsight is always 20/20.

Wow, geeks objecting to belief in cause and effect.

My apologies.

I was laboring under the impression that it doesn't take great insight to see how defunding and defrauding and disempowering Detroit created the circumstances which led to them declaring bankruptcy.

Forgive me for not singling out individuals to blame, though there is plenty to share. Nor playing along when trolls use imagined conspiracy theories to dismiss objective reality.

You mean in addition to the numerous, specific items listed in these two articles?

What measure of proof do you require?

(You didn't read them, did you? Be honest.)

Illuminati? No conspiracy needed. Taxation without representation is sufficiently (self) explanatory.

A progressive and long running iteration of bad decisions != set up to fail.

Disempowering people is pretty sure fire way to fail. From parenting, to leading teams, to organizational change, to governance.

Yes, but you have to prove that they did this worse than in other US cities.

You could write bestselling management books with empty platitudes like that: "The (number) (abstract noun) of Disempowered (People/Managers/Teams)" Bam! Bestseller.

I don't think I disagree with you, but the term set up to fail suggests to me that someone who set up the city did so with the intention that it fail.

One danger is the categorization of Detroit as an exception, that it couldn't happen elsewhere. I am not saying it will, but I try to avoid that label unless there is strong evidence to prove (rather than an explanation after the fact) a situation is unique.

Thanks for your reply. Had to chew on it.

You're right about "set up to fail" being a loaded phrase. I didn't anticipate how it'd be interpreted.

I have a Jared Diamond view of this. In Guns, Germs, and Steel he talks about the deforestation of Easter Island. What was the person thinking as they cut down the last tree?

How could all these smart people do such stupid things? Over decades. Was it structures? The processes? Larger societal forces (white flight, depopulation, drugs, jobs disappearing)? Is there a fundamental flaw in the human psyche? All the above?

I just don't know.

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