Look to Detroit &
You'll See Where Obama's Policies Will Take Us
If you'd like to get a
glimpse of what America would look like if President Barack Obama got his way
on everything, take a good look at Detroit.
In 1950, Detroit was
America's fifth-largest city, with a population of 1.84 million. Median
household income was higher than in any other city. So was the percentage of
people who owned their own homes. Detroit was then arguably the best big city
in which to live.
Today, Detroit leads Forbes
magazine's list of "most miserable cities." It's the fourth-worst
run, according to Money magazine. It's second in violent crime, third in
murders. Nearly half of Detroiters of working age are unemployed.
The population of Detroit
has fallen by more than half, to 706,585. It's now the size it was in 1910.
Median household income is barely half the U.S. average ($27,862 vs. $51,413).
The average price of a house in Detroit is just $16,800, by far the lowest in
the country.
There are a couple of
smaller cities which, arguably, are in even worse shape. But no city has fallen
so far, so fast.
Some decline was inevitable
because the world of 1950 was uniquely beneficial to Detroit. The most
important industry at that time was the automobile industry, and because Europe
and Japan were still rebuilding from the devastation of World War II, Detroit
had a virtual monopoly. Detroit had been the heart of the "arsenal of
democracy" and had a more skilled labor force than any other city on the
planet.
The U.S. auto industry
tumbled from its lofty perch in the 1970s, in part because by then Europe and
Japan could offer serious competition. The Arab oil embargo after the 1973 Yom
Kippur War sparked for the first time the interest of Americans in smaller
cars, which the Germans and Japanese were building, but Detroit was not.
But most wounds were
self-inflicted. Cars built by GM, Ford, Chrysler and American Motors cost more
and were less reliable than cars built in Germany and Japan. Chiefly
responsible were the contracts won by the United Auto Workers, then America's
most powerful union. It wasn't so much the lavish pay and benefits as the
featherbedding work rules which guaranteed cars built in Michigan would cost
more and break down more often than cars built elsewhere.
The auto industry has
bounced back some. Several Ford and GM sedans are now rated as more reliable
than the imports with which they compete. But Detroit's decline has
accelerated. That's because for half a century, Detroit has been governed by
the policies President Obama advocates. (Detroit's last Republican mayor was
Louis Miriani, who left office in 1962.)
The problem is that
liberals judge policies on the basis of what is promised, not on what is
delivered. That's because liberalism in practice means:
• A large and expensive
public work force but deteriorating public services. Detroit in 2011 had 12,900
city employees, one for every 55 residents. Of the cities closest to Detroit in
population, Columbus, Ohio, had one city employee for every 95 residents;
Charlotte, N.C., had one for every 109; Fort Worth had one for every 118
residents.
Schools stink, buses are late
and infrastructure deteriorates because Democratic politicians depend on public
employee unions for votes and campaign contributions. So they hire as many
public employees as they can, overpay them and don't require them to do much.
• High taxes. Despite an
average home price barely more than a tenth that of the next lowest city,
Detroit has the highest property taxes in the country, according to a 2011
study. When all city levies are included, Detroit had the ninth-highest taxes.
Because median income is so low, the tax burden on Detroiters is heavier than
these data indicate.
High property taxes have
spurred tax evasion on a mammoth scale -- half of Detroiters don't pay their
property tax bills -- and flight to the suburbs.
• Massive debt. Detroit's
long- term debt is $14 billion, equivalent to nearly a third of what the city
collects in taxes. Detroit's finances are in such bad shape that last week
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder appointed an emergency manager to restructure them.
Democrats emphasize redistribution
of wealth. Before wealth can be redistributed, it must be created. Liberal
policies destroy wealth. Those who suffer most are precisely those Democrats
say they're helping. In the Detroit of 1950 -- when no city in the world was
creating more wealth -- the poor and the middle class were far better off.
Jack Kelly is a columnist
for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and The Blade of Toledo, Ohio.
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