I just posted a comment in the Comments thread to Bill H’s post on Michigan from Tuesday, and on a whim, because these issues hit a nerve for me, I’m reposting my comment as a full post here: I love this post.  It hits upon a few of my obsessions, but especially these two: The lack […]

by Linda Beale Inequality: Obama’s Speech, Detroit’s Bankruptcy, Taxes Was Obama’s speech on inequality really what Michael Lind claims in “The Day the Right Lost the Economic Argument” Salon.com (July 25, 2013)? The right, both here and internationally, has been pushing for austerity for most while those at the top reap unparalleled rewards from upward-moving […]

by Tom aka Rusty Rustbelt Detroit Update Today Former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was convicted in federal court of 24 felony courts of racketeering, extortion, mail fraud, bribery and tax evasion. His chief henchman contractor Bobby Ferguson was convicted of 9 counts of racketeering and bribery.Kilpatrick’s father was convicted of one count of tax evasion but the […]

by Tom aka Rusty Rustbelt The Tragedy of DetroitOne of the great highlights of my life was my first visit to Detroit in 1962. I fell in love with the metropolis and of course the Detroit Tigers. This week the governor of Michigan will appoint an emergency financial manager for Detroit, if anyone will take […]

by Tom aka Rusty Rustbelt Opportunities in Detroit? Detroit has lost about 60% of its population since the 1950s peak of about 2 million. About 50 square miles of Detroit is so thinly populated that the Mayor wants to pay for people to move to more densely populated neighborhoods so the area can be abandoned […]