What killed the city of Detroit is one simple thing. White flight. Black people moved into white neighborhoods and everyone was so panicked that they sold their houses for ten cents on the dollar. I still to this day don’t really understand it. These were hard working blue collar families and all they were doing was trying better themselves.

I’m sure that there are very many other reasons for the decline, perhaps even some of the reasons pointed out in the documentary that you link. But I was there and I saw the irrational fear in everyone’s eyes as they ran screaming for the suburbs. That might not be the only thing that killed Detroit but it was the first thing.

Dr Guy: Exactly.  

White flight was a symptom, not the cause.

If you don't think racism was a major part of the problem then you simply don't know. One black family moving into an otherwise well maintained upper middle class neighborhood dropped housing values 75% and people couldn't leave fast enough. I know because that's about how much money my parents lost selling their house. The only folks that stayed were those on a fixed income that could not afford to leave like my godmother that stayed until her death in 1998. I visited her yearly and watched the city decline over the years from personal experience.

Have you ever even been *in* the city of Detroit, not the airport but the city itself?

Unless you're black, I suppose you should know your families racist past best. At least you have identified the problem, that's a start.

Most of the time these things occur when Democrats begin their social tinkering. Home prices don't plummet in "well maintained upper middle class neighborhoods" just cause some black folks move in, they plummet when the Gov. opens low income housing projects and fills them with violent criminals and miscreants.

Regardless of party in charge and all - anyone mind telling me exactly what the deal is with Detroit and its alleged ruin? I'm afraid I'm uneducated on it. Are there any sources I could go to (preferebly academic).

Thanks, ~AJ

As far as the devastation every once in awhile I go to http://www.bing.com/maps/ and zoom down into a bird's eye view and scroll along Grand River Ave from downtown to the area where I grew up and to me it looks how I imagine Beirut looks. All along Grand River Ave for miles and miles while I was growing up there was nothing but nice little shops and stores. Every space was filled. Now whole blocks are empty and desolate.

In the early 1950's Detroit proper had a population of 1.8 million, by 1960 that was down to 1.6 million so white flight had already begun by then, as of 2000 it was down to about 900,000.

http://www.somacon.com/p469.php

Read much?

Funny there were many other cities at the time that had a similar racial, political make up as Detroit, yet somehow blacks never displaced whites. Could it be that simple entitlement programs (cheap housing, lax welfare) that favored minorities drew large amounts of those folks to peck at the freebies. Of course with the good come the bad, and when crime rises I don't care who you are, you want to get away from it (call it racism if that label suits you). Jobs were still paying high at the time (through the 60's) on a national average, and of course minorities had some of those jobs as well. Maybe blacks are more tolerant of black on black crime, than whites are, anyones guess.  But, something had to start the migration of minorities into the city. Some how I don't think it was a sign saying "Come to Detroit, with a racist Republican population and a Liberal Democrat government".

Nope it was the crumbs of entitlement programs used by the Democrat's since after the Civil War to keep what they could no longer own. Move the low wage folks in to feed the Unions and auto companies (they weren't quite as hostile to each other back then) with the promise of cheep housing and a solid "D" voter base. I'm sure the mass exodus of solid taxpayers was not an expected by product. They left the entitlement valve open a little too wide, a little too long IMO.

The sad thing is they are hell bent to repeat the same thing nationally. This time the bait is set for more than poor minorities. The base of folks wanting entitlements has grown across racial lines, and if he can get some, why can't I mentality has set in. Of course this is all at the pleasure of the modern day plantation owners, showing their benevolent generosity (of other peoples money of course) to the grateful masses.

New Orleans is a mess...and that was before Katrina.

Yes.  I was in "Detroit" Virginia, "Detroit" California, "Detroit" NJ, and of course "Detroit" Michigan (among many).  My opinion?  Counts the same as yours (except I dont pretend I know it all),  I have seen detroit and the other cities.  I have lived in or around them most of my life.  The commonality was the ability - facilitated by that great detroit product - of people to chose what they wanted.  And they chose with their money.  They (like most sane people) chose to maximize the return on their money.  They work hard for it, and like to keep as much of it as possible to spend on the things that improve their life the most.

And believe it or not, most people (of all races, not just white, black or chartreuse) chose to move to safe environments that allow them to live as they see fit.  IN the common vernacular, the suburbs.  Taxes are lower, services (basic) are comparable, and the onerous taxes and rules are left behind in the rotting core of the past paradigm cities.

In other words, your opinion is stupid.  But I would expect no less from mr, know it all.  I can see that any rational discussion with you is fruitless as you think you know it all, and all revolves around your idealism of racism (which you apparently support), socialism and the greed of anyone who does not agree with you.

The truth is the vast majority (you know those that elected a minority president) are not racists.  But they are not stupid either.  Apparently you would have us believe that Michigan is a bastion of the KKK.  It may be, but then it is people like you that make it a fertile feeding ground up there - vowing to vote for anyone - no matter how heinous - as long as they do not utter the magic words.

And why were they afraid?

In 1961, Detroit had a high population of blacks (using your favorite source, Wikipedia, paints Detroit has a haven of middle class blacks http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1967_Detroit_riot). 

But a decade of "the great society" and other social welfare programs helped create a dependent class. Why work when you could get paid to sit around? And with all that free time, why not have some out of wedlock children? 

White flight, like I said, was a SYMPTOM. 

If you pay people not to work, you will attract people who don't want to work.

The kind of person who thinks it's okay to live off the labor of others is soon going to feel entitled to more and more when that behavior is constantly reinforced.

Detroit's liberal policies encouraged the least productive people to move there.  The color of their skin is irrelevant and reeks of racism imo. Protected by unions, the parasite class slowly displaced the productive class who moved elsewhere for opportunities based on merit and hard work.

Eventually, corruption and time made Detroit's gravy train come to an end and the result is seen in the video.

This doesn't require some sort of PhD to understand. People who work hard tend to resent those who live off their hard work and will eventually move to where their work will be appreciated and rewarded.  

That's why socialist countries (truly socialist countries, not glorified city states like some European countries) end up with poorer and poorer standards of living, especially if they can move elsewhere easily -- like you can in the US.