Saturday, June 28, 2014

Hang Detroit Out to Dry - Cut Off the Water

Detroit is bankrupt and a great many residents have no jobs so they can't pay their water bills.  Detroit is saying they will be cut off and it's now gone to the United Nations and their position is that what Detroit is doing is a violation of human rights.  In their view, cutting off water when someone has the ability to pay is doing business, cutting off the water when they do not have that ability denies that person's right to water.  (RT:  Cutting off water to Detroit's poor 'an affront to human rights,' says UN)

We can quickly review the Party responses as the liberals will want to send Detroit more money and the Republicans will not want to send Detroit more money.

There needs to be bigger thinking than that.  Detroit is the town that made the most bad-ass automobiles on the planet and they did it for decades.  This town has major power for anyone with enough imagination to harness it.  Even better for a lot of people is that Detroit is Motown.  You can make cars somewhere else but you can't copy Motown.  It's not so much that these histories should be preserved but rather that Detroit has the capacity to make history and that's what needs to be preserved.

You hear all the time about investment bankers so, ok, where are the investments.  As cities go, you won't get a heavy engagement in one any cheaper than in Detroit right now so why is that not good business to invest small dollars with a very high probability of returning tall dollars.

Cadillac Man goes up to Detroit frequently and he goes to the po' side of town.  He is a perfect target as he's a big guy but he's not exactly graceful and won't be on Dancing with the Stars any time soon.  He's also about as white as white guys get.  Maybe you don't think he would ever last in rough neighborhoods but don't tell him that as he has been doing it for years.  He's not some gangster but rather he does fair business representing a product that's very useful to people in poor neighborhoods.  This isn't door-to-door stuff but rather he goes to the small businesses that keep these communities alive.  Part of the reason he goes there is that he loves to talk and he meets people from all over the world.

Quibbling over whether to pay the water bill is needlessly theatrical.

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