Detroit goes bankrupt

[JOHNNYAITCH]

Detroit becomes largest US city to ever file for bankruptcy

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-23369573

 

Been in decline for years with collapse of car industry and I remember seeing footage a few years ago of abandoned buildings (offices, theatres etc)..quite terrible to see.

[For Us All]

The population has decreased from 2 million in 1950 to 700,000.

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jul/19/detroit-broke-bankruptcy

[bookworm]

detroit looks a bit like cobridge.

[Andy06]

looks like there once thriving city has been left to rot shame really guess the same can be said about stoke we were once a thriving city with pottery now thats gone its slowly dying

[bookworm]

looks like there once thriving city has been left to rot shame really guess the same can be said about stoke we were once a thriving city with pottery now thats gone its slowly dying

 

the difference being that detroits population is moving out whilst stoke's inhabitants are stuck here.

[Andy06]

lol yep us stokies are well and truly stuck here

[Warren]

Demographic problems and economic recession have in the past impacted on large cities in the UK most notably Liverpool. The population of Liverpool declined from 846,000 in 1931 - its peak - to 466,000 at the 2011 census. Between 1971 and 1981 there was a fall of 100,000. The decline in docks, engineering and manufacturing contributed to this.

 

By the 1980's the residual population in Liverpool knew that if they lost their job they may never work again - or at least that was the perspective. So militancy gained a foothold in Liverpool City Council which became controlled by Militant Tendency. This union dominated organisation led to the cessation of effective management, widespread fraud and corruption, totally inept services failing the population etc. This looney left political nightmare trashed the city's reputation and cemented an unwillingness of the private sector to invest in the city. It took the intervention of Michael Heseltine to start to turn the fortunes of Liverpool around and wider Merseyside.

 

Detroit is going to go through a similar process if it is to recover. It needs to get away from the bad past and its case insolvency starts that process.