Recently on Louder with Crowder host Steven Crowder went off on Detroit:
Honestly, not too many points can be made against what Steven Crowder had to say. First of all it should be noted that though Crowder was raised in Canada, he was born in Detroit and has Detroit roots. As such, I don’t believe he is really making an issue with Detroit out of a total lack of concern. On the contrary, I believe he is genuinely concerned with the state of (the city of) Detroit. And to be quite honest, I have lived and traveled in countries that have experienced communism and I find the state of the city in comparable conditions. If Steven Crowder strays I don’t think he is straying to awfully far.
This definitely isn’t what we want in the United States (or at least I believe it is not what the majority of us want) but we are going to naïvely get it. Detroit is stark proof that good intentions really do pave the road to Hell.
Tom
January 10, 2010
The video on “Louder with Crowder” entitled “Detroit in Ruins” is VERY misleading and flat-out lies in several places. It’s really amazing how conservatives will blame government for problems which lay at the feet of big business.
I grew up in Detroit and can tell you that it was a “model city” until the 1967 riots. In fact, from the 1950s through the mid-60s, Detroit had more single family homes within a city limit than any other city in the country. When civil rights uprisings across the US began in the mid-60s, it was no surprise that Detroit became a flash point for civil unrest. More black Americans called Detroit home than almost any other city. The ’67 riots turned black against white for a number of reasons. White folks left the city in record numbers. Businesses left, too. And with NO mass transit (because it is the Motor City and car companies didn’t want mass transit), many black folks who once had jobs had no where to turn. They had no way to get to the suburbs to work. And the city slowly became a place for poor, uneducated minorities.
The black “liberal” politicians came AFTER the big decline in the standard of living in inner city Detroit. Of course there have only been democratic mayors, the city has been over 80% black since 1967 (near 100% since 1980) ! There is plenty of blame to go around. But business leaders and wealthy, white suburbs didn’t want to get involved in solving Detroit’s problems. The entire metro area could’ve been incorporated (like they did with Indianapolis) and then everyone would’ve had a stake in the future of the city. That never happened.
No as far as the unions, they didn’t run the auto industry into the ground, management did. Auto workers in the US were paid more because for years they made the best products. The management, not the factory workers, are the ones designing a lot of crappy vehicles which couldn’t compete with the Camrys and Accords of the world. On top of that, they started sending jobs over seas. Union wages are not CLOSE to being correct ($130,000/yr???). I knew factory workers from the GM plant in Ft. Wayne. If they’d been there for 20+ years, MAYBE they are making $35-$40 (hr) = about $70,000/year. The health plans USED to be good. Most of those have either been canceled or cut way back.
But with a global economy and much more competition, the big three began to suffer. Management was too set in its ways to change —it’s not like the unions had the power to trim manufacturing costs and design better vehicles. Hello!?! Bing-bong–lol.
But on a serious note, it’s really sad to see the destruction of what was once an incredibly vibrant town. Detroit was incredible in the 50s and 60s. It’s going to take everyone in the metro area–black, white, along with big and small businesses to turn this sinking ship around. I only hope Dave Bing has the fortitude to see the job through.
Gary Dale Cearley
February 1, 2010
Where do you disagree with this video? Just out of my own curiosity…