it was an interesting public hearing .. paper pushers want the deal (VC pay) .. manufacturing wants the deal (product creation) .. building trades want the deal (work) .. the city wants the deal (taxes) .. the schools don’t mind if made whole ….. all the while the neighboring city is offering a better deal for all of the above reasons

I’m in favor of improvements and new buildings .. just irked at the legal leg work that outflanks others via perks ..
sorry friends and neighbors but someone has to save the little people from yourself .. thats how I see it

Metro Detroit is one of the most diverse, affordable american cities… and it’s getting less expensive everyday… that alone will encourage new families… to come live downtown in the core and… eventually the city/state planners… will build mass transit and the city again will live to see another day. Redevelopment will occur. Or it will fail like everyother american city… because when one area fails… they all will… no one is immune in this economic crisis.

The perspective that Detroit ist kaput is highly publicized. There is forty years of complete mismanagement by the city that has caused corporations and individuals to leave. But, people aren’t necessarily leaving the state. They are headed to the burbs. Detroit’s suburbs are as nice as any major metropolitan area. But, they obviously are suffering tremendously as well.

At some point in time, a city, country or society’s costs fall well below trend. And, that provides for opportunity. I’m not an attorney but the Michigan governor has stepped into city politics in the past under constitutional authority. At some point in time, if there is some ability to do so, I wouldn’t doubt if Detroit is taken over by Michigan. Parts of the city are a war zone but it is ridiculous to say all is lost. The city is geographically well positioned on the Great Lakes, the state has a top university system focused on substantial research, there are a lot of small technology companies popping up in Michigan and the city is so bad that the towel has been thrown in. Everyone has given up. There are terrible problems. But Michigan is still the same state that rose to become a powerhouse one hundred years ago.

Sounds like a perfect opportunity for business and community regentrification and community redevelopment. And, for those who say there is no money, well, there sure is. Human capital creates wealth not the other way around. And, one need not look any further than Detroit’s past to prove this very point

Some friends and I joked about buying 10-15 of them close together and moving there en masse. But… what do you do after that, in Detroit, in 2009?

I wonder what’ll happen to those places.

@AGG: good points. The only problem is cities controlling Urban Growth Areas and inspections and permits and fees, with contributing friends, want lots to shrink. I heard a city planner recently say ” we can’t afford to service a subdivision with fewer than 7 lots per acre”. So much for aesthetics and freedom of choice. There is a stranglehold going on. Particularly in Oregon.

Unions. Really, really easy target. I recall friends that were responsible for throughput, …. Can’t remember the term. Industrial something. Well I guess that confirms their current irrelevance. Anyway, they liked unions. If you had a floor problem you went to the steward and got it fixed. Robots aren’t unionized.

Unfortunately, union leaders are now as corrupt as executives. So that makes them the bad guys?

It’s not really about unions. It’s about alligator mouths and canary brains. Promises that won’t be kept. Perhaps there was this brief phase in American history thanks to Henry Ford, where corporate executives had no off-shoring choices, and chose to share the wealth with common employees. What a horrible idea. Pay a decent salary and they can afford your product. Duh.

I am reminded of the one Adam Smith statement in “Wealth of Nations” about the American colonists that stayed with me: “They could afford to be generous”. I guess not so much anymore. Hey, their gated communities and McMansions are expensive.

And finally, I was forced to endure an Industrial relations course that was nothing more than enduring for one quarter a “professor” ranting about the evil, violent nature of unions. So what was there a about industrial relations?

It was hoped that Australia would be spared some of the worst of this…but I see today they were just a bit later to the party than the rest of us…

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601081&sid=aKxJ_7LMC6iM&refer=australia

Australia’s February Manufacturing Index Slumps to Record Low

I do understand how frustrating it can be for all of us Keynesians and Austrians, still working and recently laid off,well or poorly prepared, most more or less still hopeful…

I also understand how angry people can become whether in chat rooms or protesting against government policies…it seems as Americans we’ve lost the ability to control our situation, and as individuals and as a country, we’re not used to this.

Anyway, I still think that here the first of March what will continue to make this tsunami unavoidable is the global and still synchronous nature of the wave…I very much hope this is wrong.