"Imagine a city where all the major economic planks of the statist or "progressive" platform have been enacted: A "living wage" ordinance far above the federal minimum wage, for all public employees and private contractors. A school system that spends significantly more per pupil than the national average. A powerful school employee union that militantly defends the exceptional pay, benefits and job security it has won for its members. A tax system that aggressively redistributes income from businesses and the wealthy to the poor and to government bureaucracies.

Would this be a shining city on the hill, exciting the admiration of all? We don't have to guess because there is such a city right here in our state: Detroit.

Detroit has been dubbed "the most liberal city in America" and each of these progressive policies is alive and well there. How have they worked out?

In 1950 Detroit was the wealthiest city in America on a per capita income basis. Today, the Census Bureau reports that it is the nation's second poorest major city, just "edging out" Cleveland.

Could it be pure coincidence that the decline occurred over the same period in which union power, the city government bureaucracy, taxes and business regulations all multiplied? While correlation is not causation, it is striking that the decline in per capita income is exactly what classical economist predict would occur when wage controls are imposed and taxes are increased."

(Jarrett Skorup Mackinac Center Feb 14) reported in WSJ Notable & quotable 2/16/12

Thanks Rubicon ~

what's that saying about insanity....Oh, yeah, I remember-Insanity is doing te same thing over and over, hoping things will change.

Fantasy.

Originally Posted by DaleMN

Fantasy.

You may not always be right but you will always be the DaleMN man. Admire your loyalty to your party.

Personal Best Regards:

Pure fantasy indeed. America's poorest cities:

10.Laredo, TX
9. Steubenville, OH AND Weirton, VA
8. Jonesboro, Ark.
7. Las Cruces, NM
6. Cumberland, MD
5. Kingsport - Bristol, TN
4. Albany, GA
3. McAllen - Edinburgh - Mission, TX
2. Pine Bluff,Ark
1. Brownsville - Harlingen, TX

10. Laredo, Texas

Where would Detroit be if Mitt Romney were president and had just let the auto companies go bankrupt?

coralway, you need to do research by population and average income. The cites that you posted are all small in size.

BTW, Las Cruse, New Mexico is the fastest richest growing city in New Mexico. So I think that your data is way outdated.

Originally Posted by coralway

Pure fantasy indeed. America's poorest cities:

10.Laredo, TX
9. Steubenville, OH AND Weirton, VA
8. Jonesboro, Ark.
7. Las Cruces, NM
6. Cumberland, MD
5. Kingsport - Bristol, TN
4. Albany, GA
3. McAllen - Edinburgh - Mission, TX
2. Pine Bluff,Ark
1. Brownsville - Harlingen, TX

10. Laredo, Texas

I agree with the above-stated listings. However, in your haste you missed the operative words in this article. The author cited it as a "major city" I have been to a number of those cities you cited and they are not "major cities

Beside which you ignore the "teachable moment" and prospective this author
offers all of us.

Originally Posted by rubicon

You may not always be right but you will always be the DaleMN man. Admire your loyalty to your party.

Personal Best Regards:

Originally Posted by janmcn

Where would Detroit be if Mitt Romney were president and had just let the auto companies go bankrupt?

You cite another great example of the progressive agenda. General Motors is making huge profits because of the government bailout which in part included not paying corporate taxes for a very long time and with no debt paid by courtsey of taxpayers. Let me see no liaibilities no taxes = huge profits leading to more comp and benefits for unions and big bonuses for executives
while creditors and taxpayers dig deeper in their pockets to pay the bill. Now that sensible economics.

So better to let them go bankrupt and put one million people out of work, Mr Romney? I think if you check your facts, you'll find that a lot of the auto bailout money has been repaid with interest.

pure capitalism led to the demise of Detroit. Their product was awful,workmanship shoddy,management lazy and they did not keep up with the pulse of America and they could not survive the onslaught of a superior product from Japan. The leadership of the companies is to blame for their demise nothing else. It was capitalism at its best or worst. To blame anything else is pure fiction.

Two things bombed Detroit.

First: NAFTA. All unions where for it, until they found out that the jobs would be moved to Mexico, where labor was cheaper.

Second: Japan and Korea started making a better product at a cheaper price counting the drop in wages for moving jobs to Mexico.

Finally, how did Detroit expect $15.00 an hour workers (most of us) to buy $75.00 an hour workers (UAW workers) cars and still make a profit.

Originally Posted by janmcn

So better to let them go bankrupt and put one million people out of work, Mr Romney? I think if you check your facts, you'll find that a lot of the auto bailout money has been repaid with interest.

janmcn: There we go again with the Obama misinformation machine.

While it is true that GM paid off its TARP loan they did so with other taxpayers money/ aka TARP money shuffle (Neil M. Barofsky Inspector General Senate Finance Committee April 20-22, 2010. We got took pure and simple

Do yourself a favor "trust but verify" when it comes to politicians

Originally Posted by Figmo Bohica

Two things bombed Detroit.

First: NAFTA. All unions where for it, until they found out that the jobs would be moved to Mexico, where labor was cheaper.

Second: Japan and Korea started making a better product at a cheaper price counting the drop in wages for moving jobs to Mexico.

Finally, how did Detroit expect $15.00 an hour workers (most of us) to buy $75.00 an hour workers (UAW workers) cars and still make a profit.

This is bold is SO true.

The unions have built another kind of welfare mentality: "The rest of society OWES me (higher pay, fatter insurance and pension benefits, retire at 50 or 55 instead of 65 or older like most of America has had to do, more paid vacation...." Which is just like Greece and unions here still refuse to learn from that!

This attitude has caused a lot of economic and societal wreckage too.