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A Short Course In Political Economy: Detroit Today

2024

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Video: A Short Course In Political Economy: Detroit Today

Video: A Short Course In Political Economy: Detroit Today
Video: Political Economy of Institutions and Development- 1.1 Configuring the World 2024, March
A Short Course In Political Economy: Detroit Today
A Short Course In Political Economy: Detroit Today
Anonim

View of Detroit from the waterfront

Со стороны набережной Детройт выглядит вполне благополучно. Но большинство офисов в этом бизнес-центре пустует
Со стороны набережной Детройт выглядит вполне благополучно. Но большинство офисов в этом бизнес-центре пустует

From the embankment, Detroit looks quite safe. But most of the offices in this business center are empty. From the embankment, Detroit looks quite safe. But most of the offices in this business center are empty.

GHOST TOWN

I was in Detroit once, about two years ago. The city was shaken: in the center there are a huge number of abandoned houses, including skyscrapers, with broken windows. At the hotel, the porter warns guests every time that it is better not to roam the streets alone, even during the day. But what's there, on a clean and beautiful promenade, where there are no ruins, every 100 meters there are columns with an alarm button so that in case of which you can call the police. Even in South African cities, I have not seen this, and here - one of the largest megacities in the USA …

However, today it’s already difficult to call Detroit a metropolis. In 1960, 1.6 million people lived here (then it was the fourth in the country in terms of the number of inhabitants), and now it is only 700 thousand. And the composition of the townspeople has radically changed. If then 70% of the population was white, now 84% of the inhabitants are African-Americans. Alas, not very educated: only 7% of schoolchildren, according to American studies, can read and count fluently. As a result, Detroit has the highest crime rate in the United States, the most murders are committed, with most of them (70%) related to drugs. People just run away from here - to the suburbs or to hell. As a result, there are about 70 thousand abandoned houses in Detroit. Here you have the automobile capital.

Views of Detroit

Брошенные здания с выбитыми окнами можно увидеть в любом районе города - и в центре, и на окраинах. Умирают и заводы
Брошенные здания с выбитыми окнами можно увидеть в любом районе города - и в центре, и на окраинах. Умирают и заводы

Abandoned buildings with broken windows can be seen in any area of the city - both in the center and on the outskirts. Factories are dying too. Abandoned buildings with broken windows can be seen in any area of the city - both in the center and on the outskirts. Factories are dying too.

What happened Some analysts, mostly American ones, claim that the overall auto industry crisis is to blame. Like, as the American industry hit a jump in fuel prices in the 70s of the last century, it could not rise.

Then Detroit, with its factories, engineers, skilled workers, was an ideal place to produce modern cars, develop high-tech, innovative production, create new factories for the production of components. Similar plants are now opening, but only mainly in the southern states. And the American auto industry still accounts for nearly 13% of global car production, but Detroit has remained aloof from this boom.

Most researchers are inclined to believe that the city was ruined by two systemic reasons, closely related to each other: trade unions and an attempt to build socialism in a single place.

Views of Detroit

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THE RIGHT DEAR GO, COMRADE

The United Auto Workers Union (UAW, United Auto Workers), established in 1935, is one of the largest associations in the country. It consists of more than half a million members working not only in the automotive industry, but also in related industries. For many decades, UAW has been a terrible nightmare for top managers of the Big Three - General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, as it tirelessly beat out the capitalists with more and more privileges and concessions for the proletarians. As a result, the wages of workers have become very high, and the benefits are amazing. For example, free medical care for all members of the employee’s family, the right to partial payment of salaries for several years after dismissal, etc. And at some point, cars made in Detroit became unprofitable.

Only in recent years, when the American auto industry was shaken by a serious crisis, did the trade union learn to look at employers not as opponents on the other side of the barricades, but as partners. Together with whom you need to think about how to make a modern car, how to sell it, and only then - how to share income.

five

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It is not worth considering that in the relations between the trade union and employers a complete understanding immediately ensued, but the class struggle is over. UAW not only made a sharp turn and refused a number of preferences in favor of maintaining jobs and increasing their number, but also became one of the major shareholders of General Motors.

And if the war of trade unions and employers continued, General Motors and Chrysler would face imminent bankruptcy. With all the ensuing consequences for their workers, the number of which at car factories in Detroit has already halved - from 305 to 139 thousand.

The second grave digger of Detroit became the city authorities. For 40 years, the city has been ruled by African-American mayors with left-wing views. Their slogan is: the rich should share with the poor. That is so, but everything must be proportionate.

Today, Detroit homes are 20 times cheaper than the national average, and real estate taxes are highest in the United States. In general, in terms of taxation of the rich, this city is a leader in America. Only so far this has not led to anything good. Wealthy whites are in a hurry to move to the suburbs or even to another state. Detroit survived a real demographic disaster - from 2000 to 2010, a quarter of the population escaped from it! At the same time, the city was shocked by corruption scandals, millions from the local budget disappeared or spent on lush, but meaningless events for a dying city like various festivals. There is less and less money in the budget, therefore, in order to fulfill election promises given to poor voters, the authorities take loans, which are becoming increasingly difficult to service.

Detroit

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Against the background of a sharp drop in the value of local real estate and an increase in the number of abandoned buildings (local lumpen often set fire to them), street crime has increased many times. In recent years, Forbes Magazine has consistently given the city first place in the ranking of the most dangerous cities in the United States. The unemployment rate in Detroit reached almost 20% - two and a half times higher than the national average. At the same time, about 40% of the black inhabitants of the city are below the poverty line. This is how socialism turned out …

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