The problem is bigger than democrat vs republicans. It's those who want to give and those who want to get. I'd be more than happy to see a republican with integrity elected into Detroit. I really don't care which party cleans it up.
What kind of democrat are you anyway? Everyone knows that Republicans are evil and out for no good. I suppose you even agree with Obama that Romney is a "good man". Sicko!!
At this point in time Beirut is an easier fix. If you get rid of all the thugs and crooks whose going to watch the lions, pistons and redwings assuming there will be any hockey again....
The problem isn't Detroit, but all of Michigan. Michigan could be like a modern Western European country, e.g. Belgium, Germany, Demark, etc. -- Michigan is an engineering state tout court. And I'm a huge supporter of Michigan and Detroit -- I strongly believe that the USA can only gets on her feet again, when the backbone of the country is restored (= the MidWest), and this needs to start in Michigan. What needs to happen is: (1) institutional and political reforms; (2) education reform and (3) healthcare reform. (1) Insitutional and political reforms are neccessary to guarantee a certain balance between political dynamism and political continuity -- which promotes bussiness. To boost government effeciency and effectiveness new levels of policy-making need to be created: about 5 provinces need to be created. Each of these 5 provinces will get certain tasks, e.g. creating a province-wide public transportation network, where the needs of bussinesses and private citizens are taken into consideration. (2) Education reform. The constitution of the state of Michigan needs to be re-written, or at least ammended. One should not only have the right on education, but also the right on freedom of education -- this means that catholic schools, for example, will receive public funding. In short: the money will be attached to the student, and not on the school district -- in fact, the school district is an entirely outdated concept of the 19th century, which is why all the countries that beat the USA with regards to education have no idea what a school district really entails, it is a word almost absent from our respective languages. Secondary education should receive the most attention -- the American system needs to be buried and should be replaced by a Continental-European approach, where students are not considered to be equals: some learn better out of books, some like to work with their hands, some like to run their own restaurant, whilst other want to get a working experience and be learning at the same time. This also entails that most students will be confronted with fixed programs in school, where options are limited. On this level, we would also make use of the newly created provinces -- provinces would also have the task to at least create one school (/per province) where certain "study courses" are offered, e.g. the "Provincial Institute of Detroit" would offer: Cooking, Agro-Technology, Bio-technology, Butchering, etc. On the local level, we will find schools who'd offer study courses in three streams: (a) General SE; (b) Technical SE and (c) Vocational SE Some examples of possible fixed study courses in GSE: Modern Languages-Math; Science-Math; Economics-Languages; etc. Some examples of possible fixed study courses in TSE: Business Administration-Languages; Industrial Sciences; Electro-Egineering; Electro-Mechanical Egineering; General Egineering, Constructional Egineering, etc. Some examples of possible fixed study coarse in VSE: Hairdressing, Wood Technology, Plumbing, Electricity, Construction, etc. => Each student will have the right to enroll anywhere (s)he pleases, in the entire state of Michigan. On a state level, we could also create an entire new industry that will create tens of thousands of jobs: recycling -- this would boost our overall competitiveness.
BTW -- I left many thing out since I got tired of typing. We should also make use of the provinces to manage higher education: only universities would be allowed to give out academic bachelors and master degrees. Only one university would be allowed per province, and about 3 colleges (colleges would be only allowed to grant professional bachelor degrees, e.g. nursing, kindergarten teacher, etc.). For Detroit specifically: we should make Michigan Central Station into a high-speed-rail hub between Canada and the USA (Chicago). The area around MCS should become a tax-free-zone for retail business, thus a lot of Canadians and folks from Ohio and and Chicago would spend their weekends here.
... THe bridge is getting built, with 100% Canadian money -- the Canadians just got tired of all the nonsense going on in the States and decided to choke up the $2 billion themselves, instead of going 50/50.
Yes,... I've read about that in The Economist at the beginning of the month... USA has gone bonkers, politically speaking...
There are commercials on the air in Michigan saying "Think of all the police and firemen and teachers we could hire with the money we'd save from voting against this bridge!" Okay let me think about it... carry the one... oh hey it's zero! Zero dollars buys zero teachers!
=> LMAO! The article mentioned commercials, but didn't say anything about their content. It's absolutely hilarious -- I'm pretty sure common folks are not buying them, correct?
Unfortunately if polls are showing anything... they're eating it up. It's looking like it may pass and the bridge will have to be put to a vote. I just saw a REALLY disgusting commercial against the bridge this morning. A teacher came on and started talking about her job. She essentially said this (I'm paraphrasing) "I'm a 1st grade teacher and Michigan's schools have a lot of problems. My class has over 35 students in it! That is too many kids in one classroom to expect them to have a real education. Our students need more teachers in the classroom. Our students need an education. I've never met a student who needed a bridge. Vote yes on Prop 6" I've never had a political ad cause my jaw to drop so low.
The Govt. should stop giving the people of Detroit money to buy dope. The Govt. should stop acting like the husband of unwed mothers.
The city that use to be a symbol of American industrial might, and now its nothing but a decapitated skeleton of it's former self. Throw in thirty years of corruption, mismanagement, cronyism, globalization, and you can end up with the same result in any American city.
Which is exactly why more effort needs to be in place to fix it. It can happen to any American city. And we need to know how to get out of it so no other city has to deal with this for decades like Detroit has.
When you say more effort... more effort from whom? I mean, do you mean more effort from the citizens of Detroit or more effort from Michigan?
Because it's that easy... Most people living in detroit are living paycheck to paycheck. A good portion of them owe more on their mortgage than their house is worth. Moving is not an option for them. Most people who it is an option for has already gotten up and left.
A good start would be to end economic policies that have a 100% failure rate throughout history, like trickle-down economics.
Trickle down government? Speaking of failure, Detroit has been ruled by the Democrat party. Just say'in.
