Houston v. Detroit

Who wins?

Detroit, conversely, is proof of concept for the liberal vision of government, which seeks to solve every problem through government, to shape economic development through government, to redress grievances through government, to attain social justice through government, and, finally, to insinuate government into every aspect of our lives. The problems Detroit faced in the latter half of the 20th century would have been enormously challenging no matter what policies it embraced. But it embraced the worst ones and so plunged recklessly down the slope of decline...

Mayor Young presided over this disaster for 20 years. The city he left behind is a disheartening relic of its past. Of its 350,000 homes, more than 80,000 stand vacant, and the business-vacancy rate is 62 percent. As if that were not bad enough, many Detroiters enjoy whiling away the empty hours by setting empty houses on fire. Devil’s Night is a local tradition of vandalism and arson on a massive scale around Halloween. It was vigorously celebrated under Coleman Young, when it was common to have as many as 800 fires in the last days of October. Last year, there were more than 160 fires around Halloween, the drop due at least in part to the fact that the city has lost about a third of its population since 1993. City Hall is full of calls to tear down empty buildings, but there is no money even for demolition. ..

There was a time when Detroit’s problems were those of the auto industry, but the city is far past that now. Detroit has become the country’s capital of vagrancy and delinquency, and the most basic problem now is the breakdown of the black family. A staggering 80 percent of the city’s children were born to unwed mothers, a statistic that leads directly to the school system’s predictably high dropout rates. Detroit today has a functional-illiteracy rate (reading level below sixth-grade average) of nearly half, a level of illiteracy more characteristic of the Third World than of the First.

All of this is  sadly true.  The workforce that is "the most deeply uneducated city labor force in the developed world."  The reduced auto industry.  The high unemployment rate.  The breakdown of the family.  The high taxes.  The union stranglehold.

The Texas is better than comparisons are ripe now, with Rick Perry running. I don't have much to add, other than that maybe things have turned a corner in Detroit. It really can't bleed population any faster, and it can't elect any worse political leaders than it has for the past decade.  And maybe the lessons of cities that have prospered will lend a lesson or two.

But something still bothers me, so many negative stories about Detroit. Yes, that drumbeat goes on. I guess I'd like some solutions proposed. It's long about time.