detroit

History was made yesterday as Detroit became the largest American municipality ever to file for bankruptcy.

What was once the wealthiest city in the United States is now $18 billion dollars underwater.  It can’t pay its bills.  It can’t pay out pensions to employees.  And there is practically no income.

But hey!  All is not lost!  Detroit can simply have a “Save Detroit Telethon”!




How does a city as ruined as Detroit make a comeback? Getting rid of every vestige of its failed leadership would be a good start. But that alone isn’t going to make up for all the damage that kowtowing to the unions (representing both government employees and private industry) has done.

Actually, to be honest: I don’t know how a city like Detroit could recover.  I believe it’s possible, but it would take a very long time.

Expect all kinds of hell if the United ...

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I guess if Philadelphia can have a Rocky Balboa statue, and if New York City has one of Ralph Kramden and if Milwaukee has the Fonz as a landmark, then Detroit should get a lasting monument to its own… hero?

(Oh yeah, I almost forgot : nearby Mount Airy – the model for Mayberry on The Andy Griffith Show – has that life-sized bronze statue of Andy and Opie going fishing! So I guess the precedent has already been set for fictional lawmen. Law-cyborgs. Whatever…)

Earlier this week a flood of support coalesced across Facebook and Twitter to erect in Detroit a statue of… RoboCop. The titular “part man, part machine, all cop” hero of the 1987 sci-fi action smash-hit movie. Somebody forwarded the idea to Detroit mayor Dave Bing, who responded with “There are not any plans to erect a statue to Robocop. Thank you for the suggestion.”...

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