April 4, 2009

America - The Greatest, Richest and Most Powerful Nation on Earth. Oh, wait, what's that? Oh, don't bother, it's just Detroit.


It's so bad, they should organize tours and sell tickets to foreigners.

Detroitland they could call it.

Body armour included.

Union leaders, GM management, and the voters and politicians in Michigan should be ashamed. As should all Americans.

Detroit is America's shame.

Now coming to a city near you.

47 comments:

Anonymous said...

The state of Michigan could offer Detroit to Zimbabwe as their new capital.

Anonymous said...

Every American indeed. Except Greg Swann. He should be very proud of himself.

vanilla ice said...

Detroit, the most disfunctional city, in a country that prides itself on disfuntional urbanism.

Not all is lost. Detroit still has Eminem and Insane Clown Posse.

blogger said...

Did someone say there was an article last week on Detroit being in the Top 10 Real Estate Markets in America or something like that?

Post here. And then let's destroy the 'journalist' who wrote something like that.

Anyone been to Detroit? True story, first minute I ever stepped foot into the city, at around 2am one night down by the river - gunshots. Seriously, gunshots. Got back in the car and bolted.

In all my travels I've never seen anything as scary as Detroit.

Anonymous said...

Trying to figure out how crime is GM or the UAW's fault? Likely, most of the people who do the crime have never even come close to working for any of the big three. Why work when you can steal?

Anonymous said...

Anyone been to Detroit?

Grosse Pointe; late 60s.

My dad told me an hysterical story about an FAA tape he had been privy to; James Brown's Learjet coming in to Metro late one night:

...big trouble up heah, Boss...

Anonymous said...

keith, is that picture a sign of what all our cities will look like soon?

Anonymous said...

Are novice real estate flippers going into Detroit looking for a fast flip.

What if there is no light at the end of the tunnel will these novice real estate flippers get caught losing their investment.

http://www.khon2.com/news/
local/42452662.html

Frank Schwartz said...

didnt you see robocop???????????


on anoter note, in the movie i love you man, a portion of the movie is dedicated to makin fun of realtors

Tony said...

Ok keefer,

you asked for it;

--> http://tinyurl.com/ddtqjd

Your buddies 'blame America' croud are buying them Deetroit properties like hot cakes..

I know, I know,
it will be Americas fault after America (section-8) pays the bills and the num-nuts lose their shirts.

Migs said...

Have you ever been to LA, Keith? It's no better than Detroit. In fact the majority of California is a Mexican barrio with a few glimmering jewels on the coast of Cali near the OC, Santa Barbara and the nice parts of San Diego and San Francisco.

Total third world barrio land.

JAWS said...

Actually, that looks pretty civilized for Detroit.

Frank Schwartz said...

Migs said...
Have you ever been to LA, Keith? It's no better than Detroit. In fact the majority of California is a Mexican barrio with a few glimmering jewels on the coast of Cali near the OC, Santa Barbara and the nice parts of San Diego and San Francisco.

Total third world barrio land.

at least the weathers great in california; detroit is miserable. sun isnt seen for 5 mos of year.

Wind Farmer said...

Here's a short video about Asbury Park, NJ
Sad
I remember when...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIRbLJxqvKQ

Anonymous said...

"Migs said...
Have you ever been to LA, Keith? It's no better than Detroit. In fact the majority of California is a Mexican barrio with a few glimmering jewels on the coast of Cali near the OC, Santa Barbara and the nice parts of San Diego and San Francisco."

TRULY not the case at all. California IS full of illegal mexicans and their ilk but nowhere near as bad ANYWHERE as the best part of downtown Detroit. Jeezus, take your medicine or actually visit both places.

Dwntwn Detroit is a flashpoint waiting to happen...

California just sucks overall but usually doesn't kill you just for being there...

Fuck Detroit. Ghettoville, USA.

Anonymous said...

They should gate of Detroit , then round up the scum running the country and force them to live there.

Mythy said...

We all know why Detroit is the way it is.......why is everyone so afraid to say it?

Anonymous said...

Keith, why are you so Anti-American? America is the greatest country in the world. Period. End of discussion.

Right now, we are in a little recession. But things will turn around. The world is looking to us for leadership- NOT France, NOT England, NOT Japan, etc...

We are still that shining city on top of a hill. A shining city that the rest of the world looks up to.

Anonymous said...

You heard gunshots at 2am in an urban area and it was the scariest thing you've ever seen?

Stay out of my neighborhood. I ride my bike fast so I can better dodge the beer bottles and other trash that are thrown at me. I've been shot at, robbed, in a store during a holdup, etc. etc. Detroit is nothing.

Anonymous said...

New Movie: "Escape from Detriot"


Starring: Everyone in the Senate and House of Represenatives.

Anonymous said...

Coming soon to Chicago!

Anonymous said...

Kieth,

I went to Detroit a few months ago to attend the Auto show. I stayed at the Marriot at GM's headquarters. I took the train shuttle to the convention center. When I got off there was an officer dressed and armed like he was patroling an Afghanistan election. I thought Bin Laden had been spotted or something. Once my buddies and I walked onto the show floor there were over 500 police officers (I later found out) patroling the place. I felt like someone knew something I didn't. I asked one of the venders why such a police presence and he stated that in years past they had issues with gangs.

I also went over the border into Windsor Canada to have dinner just for the novelty of leaving the country, only to be given the 3rd and 4th degree upon my return by Homeland Security. They treated me like I was a terrorist. They asked me an array of questions like how much money do you have on you and what do you do for a living? They serched my rental car had me leave my cell phone in the car, go inside to be asked the same questions by a different person. They asked to see my drivers license even though I presented a passport. And the whole time they are talking to me they were typing into a computer. I have to say I was actually scared for a moment.

Needless to say I never have to see Detroit or Windsor Canada again.

The service and the people I met were great. And I also had the best Soul Food ever.

Detriot is the answer to the question that the world is begining to ask... What went wrong in America?

RayNLA

RayNLA

Anonymous said...

ruins of olympia.........

Anonymous said...

You want Detroit?

You want Detroit??

Oh I got some Detroit for you

Detroit City Council hearing adjourned amid shouting match

Monica Conyers Debates with an 8th Grader

...and loses


Detroit City Councilwoman Barbara Rose-Collins Sings "Onward, Christian Soldiers" at Council Session

Detroit's Mayor's Mom stcking up for him

Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick Booed off Stage Red Wings

Anonymous said...

“One thing we talked about is bringing hope to the city for a whole weekend,” said Travis Walton, who dished out eight assists. “People forgetting about their problems, forgetting about what they’re going through, just focusing on us and focusing on Michigan State.

“From the moment we were on that court and we won that game, people didn’t think about what they was going through outside of this. They was just happy that we won and they can continue to cheer for us on Monday.”

How’s this for some karma? Johnson, Spartan-in-chief since leading Michigan State to its first title in 1979, will present the game ball before Monday’s title game along with Larry Bird.

“I hope we were a ray of sunshine, a distraction for them, a diversion, anything else we can be,” coach Tom Izzo said. “We’re not done yet, so hopefully we can continue to make them feel a little better and us feel a lot better.”

Anonymous said...

Got Stimulus?

Hey, how come there's no grafitti on that fence??

Singular said...

Anonymous said...

Keith, why are you so Anti-American? America is the greatest country in the world. Period. End of discussion.

Right now, we are in a little recession. But things will turn around. The world is looking to us for leadership- NOT France, NOT England, NOT Japan, etc...

We are still that shining city on top of a hill. A shining city that the rest of the world looks up to.
----------

If that was satire, that was very good.

If not, then I would say that much of the western world and westernized world is in deep trouble almost as bad as the USA is exactly BECAUSE they followed the USA model and looked at the US for leadership in political, economic and social affairs.

Bukko Boomeranger said...

Here's the story I always tell people to explain Detroit (a city I passed by many times on the way to and from the cabin on the shore of Lake Superior that I used to own in the 1980s)

I like Greek food, so one night in 1985 I drove into Greektown, a section of Detroit where they had an old multi-story warehouse converted to a mall. Great spot for spanakopita, flaming saganaki cheese (Opa!) and other such delicacies. I had been there before, but always during the daytime.

The night I rocked up, there were policemen standing literally elbow-to-elbow on every street corner, and many in the middle of the blocks. Greektown was the only part of the city that had any light, and life, and white people. It was like it required a blue wall of policemen to keep back the darkness. Eerie, and this was 2 1/2 decades before the current madness.

Detroit is a damned shame. It's an example of what America once was, and what it has become through the folly of corporate America (screwing the workers) white America (fleeing the city and leaving it to thugs) and black America (giving in to drug thuggishness.)

Anonymous said...

sell SDetroit property to English 'property' investors!

Anonymous said...

RAY in LA....the question I ask many a night...

what went wrong in America?

keefer make this a topic!!!

void_genesis said...

Check out this amazing article

http://www.detnews.com/article/20090402/METRO08/904020395/To+urban+hunter++next+meal+is+scampering+by

To urban hunter, next meal is scampering by
Detroit retiree, 69, supplements his income by living off the land


The city is turning back into wild lands and people are foraging for food!

The detroit blog has amazing stories of the people lef there as well.

blogger said...

What I don't get is, why don't people just pack up and move? If it's family, then load up the whole family.

When we were essentially monkeys, we moved when droughts hit, or to find better hunting grounds. Now, when it goes to hell, we stay around and wait for government cheese.

Move people. Get out of Detroit. Same goes to people who can't find work in Cleveland or Pittsburgh or Phoenix or wherever. Hate to tell you, but you're gonna have to move.

Big world out here.

Anonymous said...

Keef: "Same goes to people who can't find work in Cleveland or Pittsburgh or Phoenix or wherever. Hate to tell you, but you're gonna have to move."

Actually now that our unemployment rate in Ohio is lower than NC and FL, I have family moving BACK to Cleveland because there are jobs here if you have technical skills or an advanced degree.

The east side of Cleveland is a bombed out wasteland and the lost manufacturing jobs are NEVER coming back but with the right skills/degree NE Ohio is a nice place to live. We'll keep our snow and median RE prices = 3 x incomes, and you can keep your illegal mexicans, droughts, hurricanes and earthquakes.

Bukko Boomeranger said...

One of the problems Detroit had, Kwith, is that too many people moved. White people. (Not casting aspersions on blacks. The place where I grew up, Prince Georges County, Maryland, went from being a white redneck place to majority black within my lifetime, and it did OK until recently, because it was middle-class government worker blacks. Economic class matters more than race.)

The trouble was, white flight in Detroit meant that the inner city was allowed to go to hell. Just like public school systems in the South. When the whites pulled their kids out to attend "segregation acadamies," TPTB let the system fail.

It's easy for you to say "Move" because you're young, educated and mobile. You don't have as much inertia as older, less-educated, poor people. They're "rusted on" as the saying goes down here. Too many people have roots in the way they've always done things, including where they live. Ironic, considering that many of the people who live there now had black ancestors who moved up from the South. Things have to be really bad to make a person relocate. For 900,000 people in Detroit, it's not that bad yet.

If it was easy to do the smart thing, more people would. It's just a damn shame that America doesn't work to revive its cities -- and that includes the people who live there working to make sure they're not allowing their block to become a shithole.

Deb said...

Keith, I must disagree that the answer is "pack up your whole family and move." Labor is not nearly as mobile as capital. It is a helluva thing moving a family. The spouse might still have a good job. Kids might be happy and doing well in school. Extended family may be essential for everyone's care and well-being. Friends and acquaintances ease the burden of daily living. To pull a spouse from a job, kids from school, a family from its relatives and friends, is not something most of us can just do, big world out there or not.

And what difference would it make? What if things aren't any better in Destination B? Move AGAIN? Moving also costs money, quite a lot of money. And time, and stress. It's certainly not as, say, transferring money offshore.

I agree with the poster above who says part of the PROBLEM in this country is that people have moved TOO MUCH. Our communities have no continuity and no stability. We don't know the people we live among. We are disconnected and disoriented. It's not a good way to live.

Most people have a very strong notion of "home" and love home no matter where it is or what it's like. We should ENCOURAGE people to love their homes, to stay there for the long term, to build ties and strong communities. Telling people they should up and move every time things get tough is a recipe for social disaster.

Fruity Pebbles said...

"What I don't get is, why don't people just pack up and move?"

Because, Keith, HOME IS HOME. It can't be replaced, for many people. Try taking someone born and raised in Detroit and drop them in, oh, say, New Orleans, or vice versa. They don't know the area, don't speak the language, hate the weather and the landscape, don't understand the music, don't like the food, etc. etc.. IT JUST AIN'T HOME. Most people will suffer it out hoping for better times than pull stakes and move to a place that might as well be Mars for all they know of it.

shultzie said...

I think we have potential for new industry:

Detroit - in the future - is crime ridden, and run by a massive company. The company have developed a huge crime fighting robot, which unfortunately develops a rather dangerous glitch. The company sees a way to get back in favour with the public when a cop called Alex Murphy is killed by a street gang. Murphys body is reconstructed within a steel shell and named Robocop. The Robocop is very successful against criminals, and becomes a target of supervillian Boddicker

Anonymous said...

Gee Keith. Detroit looks pretty much like any other (formerly) industrial city in America.

investorinpa said...

Keith said "Move people. Get out of Detroit. Same goes to people who can't find work in Cleveland or Pittsburgh or Phoenix or wherever"

Actually, Keith, Pittsburgh is doing quite well compared to the rest of the country. They have a low unemployment rate, a city whose primary products now are education (colleges) and healthcare (numerous institutions). They transitioned in the 90's into a "smaller city" and have since become vibrant. They also spent a good portion of money cleaning up their steel mill's environment and what not.

Anonymous said...

Anon said... (I wish I could address you by a name)

RAY in LA....the question I ask many a night...

what went wrong in America?

keefer make this a topic!!!

___________________________________



Anon...You just made this a topic!

I'll expound if I may.

Being a black male in America, born to a working class family in the Midwest and having seen 95% of the country many times over. I have asked myself this question since I was a teen. The most compelling answer that I can come up with is...

America and it's "principles" are one big lie. And we lie to ourselves about the lie. Now the problem is we have sold this lie to most of the world.

ie...

There is no free market.

Racism is the real cause of most of our social issues especially in our major cities that were critical to our development as a nation.

We are not free. Especially if you own a cell phone or computer.

The people of this nation let political views override common sense.

Our standard of living is, was, not real, unsustainable and made possible by credit.


We let entertainers and celebs lie to us about their lifestyles and habits. Then we try to live out their lies.

We are arogant, pompous and refuse to look to other nations for solutions to common problems.

I love America and being an African American in America! I just hate being lied too.

RayNLA

Anonymous said...

We've done it before---in Normandy in 1944.

Let's rename South Detroit "Utah Beach" and go in at 6:30 am.

Rommel and his Panzers wont be there--He is dead.

Our 82d and 101st can sail right over the resident gang trash.

Anonymous said...

"...a huge crime fighting robot...develops a rather dangerous glitch.

patrat said...

The big money players in this country F*cked us and are still trying to. We are becoming a totalitarian state IMHO. I don't go out anywhere anymore. Don't want to take a chance on breaking some law, getting photographed or randomly stopped for my papers and blood.
I'm not too good for the economy.

Brandine said...

The trouble was, white flight in Detroit meant that the inner city was allowed to go to hell. Just like public school systems in the South. When the whites pulled their kids out to attend "segregation acadamies," TPTB let the system fail.

What were the TPTB supposed to do? People have a right of association.

Many of the public schools in the south went to hell because the social engineers decided there must be an EQUAL number of whites and blacks in neighborhood schools. They destroyed good high-scoring neighborhood schools.

Black kids were bussed in from miles away. White kids had to be bussed to other schools miles away. White and black kids standing in the dark at bus stops in the morning so they could be bussed 20 to 30 miles away to satisfy the social engineers.

F*cking insanity!

Well, I hope the social engineers are happy, because those high-scoring neighborhood schools have come 180 degrees back to all black schools. Can you say segregation?

emmy said...

What is this crap that people won't or don't want to move out of Detroit? The rate of flight out of the city was 1200 people a month for a good while just recently. Lots of people just don't have the capital to move.
There are some okay neighborhoods, and there's a lot of not good/unsafe/ not walkable/ no good store to shop neighborhoods. It is a shame what happened in that city and a cautionary note. The schools are a disgrace, the 911 system has a terrible reputation, the hospitals are strained to beyond capacity and now what little economic gains could have been realized, are likely demolished by the incipient auto bankruptcies.
This crap that new artists are going to move in these cheap homes and forge a new frontier will have to stand the reality of the broken infrastructure.

Anonymous said...

This is what it looks like when millions and millions of Americans buy foriegn cars.

Yes, that is reality, live with it, own it. Enjoy your Honda, you did this.

Stupid country full of turn-coats.

GT Charlie

Anonymous said...

" Anonymous said...
They should gate of Detroit , then round up the scum running the country and force them to live there.

April 5, 2009 1:31 AM"


They should round up Toyota and Honda buyers and make them live there, just to see what their actions did to our county!

Next year at this time unemployment will be so bad driving a Honda will get you hated like being a bailout banker.

There are no free rides. Sure you saved a few pennies buying that Toyota, maybe went in for repairs one less time than the Ford guy, but eveything has its cost. Look forward to upside down Hondas and burning Toys.

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