You wanna hear something hysterical? Ed Schultz and the rest of the talking heads
over at BSNBC are blaming Republicans for the bankruptcy of Detroit. Here’s their rationale. Republicans out-sourced jobs, cut public
services and attacked the unions.
Actually, Ed, it was the unions that caused the out-sourcing with their
unreasonable demands which led to Detroit’s population dropping in half since
1950 which led to fewer taxpayers thus less government services.
The problems plaguing Detroit are obvious. They killed the proverbial goose that laid
the golden egg. Let’s face it. Detroit automakers made some stupid mistakes
over the years. They scoffed at the
Japanese and European imports in the ‘70s thinking they were invincible. Bad design coupled with horribly-built cars
led to a steep decline in American-made automobiles. The unions convinced their membership that
the car companies existed to provide them a job. In fact, they came to believe that it was their job, not the company’s.
In the meantime, the Democrat machine took over
Detroit politics. The last Republican
mayor was in the late ‘50s. Since 1970
there’s been just one Republican on the city council. For the last 50 years Detroit has been a
one-party town. Guess what? The party’s over.
In typical fashion, the liberals who have run
Detroit for the last half-century demonized the rich and exploited the
poor. Inflated wages and unreasonable
pensions drove industry south or completely out of the country. The city instituted a wage tax – on top of
the state and federal income taxes – in 1962.
Detroit also tacks on an extra corporate tax. You couldn’t ask for a less hospitable place
for business. Couple the high taxes with
artificially-inflated union wages and it’s a wonder Detroit lasted this long
without going broke.
I was reading a newspaper report that said nearly $6
billion of Detroit’s $20 billion debt is due to health insurance obligations to
retired city employees. The article
lamented that Detroit may push those people off on the Obamacare exchanges. Now, understand that these ex-employees are
eligible for Medicare at age 65. That
means that $6 billion is for people who are retired but not yet at retirement
age. Here’s a thought. Go back to work!
That’s symptomatic of the problem. Too many sweetheart union deals were
negotiated. The companies that made that
mistake either closed down or moved but the city was stuck. At this point all bets should be off. I hate it for those folks who thought they could
retire at 45 and live off the taxpayers but the bulk of the taxpayers are gone.
Which leads to the next point. It never occurred to these liberals when they
were waging class warfare that once they ran the rich people off there would be
no money left to pay for city services.
They may still have 700,000 residents but those who stayed behind are
disproportionately poor and disproportionately unemployed. If Detroit is ever going to come back they’re
going to have to eliminate the city wage and corporate taxes. They’re going to have to welcome rich folks
back with open arms instead of demonizing them.
Now that Michigan is a right-to-work state there’s
hope. The unions that ran industry away
in the first place need to be dissolved and good, old-fashioned capitalism
needs to be reintroduced to Detroit. The
moochers and looters have run the city into the ground. The producers are what built it and they can
rebuild it but in order for that to happen those running the city have to stop
listening to the likes of Ed Schultz. Or
all hope is lost.
It's out of the pages of Atlas Shrugged.
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