Can Detroit be saved?

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.

Phil Valentine is the host of the award-winning, nationally syndicated talk radio show, The Phil Valentine Show.

Stop encouraging laziness

A story came across the news wire and my senior research analyst brought it to me in the studio while I was on the air.  It was an AP story out of Atwood, Mich. about how farmers were complaining they wouldn’t be able to bring in the cherry and apple crops without illegal aliens.  American workers, they claimed, were either not available or not willing to work.

George W. Bush was fond of saying that illegals are doing the jobs Americans just won’t do.  The truth is illegals are simply doing some of the jobs Americans won’t do for the money.  Americans won’t live 15 to a room just so they can find employment.  There’s not a job in America that Americans didn’t used to do before the illegal aliens came in, undercut them and stole their jobs.

That’s not to say that the American worker is blameless.  Atwood, Mich. is about four-and-a-half hours from Detroit where the unemployment rate is 16 percent, more than double the national rate.  One would think that Detroit and Atwood might be a great match.  Farmers are looking for workers and Detroiters are looking for work.  So why are farmers in Atwood still resorting to hiring illegal aliens?

Part of the problem is some of the farmers are lying.  The unemployment rate in Michigan is 8.4 percent.  Detroit may be driving that number higher than it would normally be but there’s no doubt that workers are available for the farmers of Atwood.  Some farmers would rather deal with illegals because they can pay them low wages or even lower wages if they pay cash under the table.  But part of the blame should be placed on the shoulders of the workers themselves, or, should I say, the government that encourages them not to work.

Before the sequester, unemployment benefits had been extended so that many unemployed workers could draw unemployment benefits for 99 weeks.  That’s nearly two years!  As a result of the sequester the number of weeks was cut back.  Total benefits vary by state but in Michigan you can still conceivably stay on unemployment for 67 weeks.  That’s almost 16 months!  Granted, unemployment benefits are substantially less than what one was making while employed but you’re also not working.  There’s something to be said about doing nothing and getting paid.

I’ve never drawn unemployment.  I don’t begrudge anyone who has.  I’ve just chosen not to do it and I’ve been unemployed a number of times.  This is radio, after all.  The worst time came when I was program director of a station and got washed out in a format change.  I was let go with no severance pay.  I worked on straight commission for an ad agency and made a whopping $100 in three months.  It never even occurred to me to file for unemployment.

In retrospect, I’m glad I didn’t.  It was my lack of success in sales that prompted me to pack up everything I owned and move to Nashville without a job.  Within two days I had a fulltime job selling memberships at a health club and a part-time gig at a radio station.  Within three months I was back in radio full time.

The point is, poverty is a great motivator.  As long as we’re paying people not to work, they won’t.  Time was when Americans would do what needed to be done to put bread on the table.  Nobody’s going to drive four-and-a-half hours if they’re getting paid to sit at home but they’ll drive a lot further than that if it’s the only way they eat.

Phil Valentine is the host of the award-winning, nationally syndicated talk radio show, The Phil Valentine Show.