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What do you think about the collapse of Detroit?
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Robert
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Apr 02, 2009 03:22PM
I hate to see all the job losses and economic devastation. But I believe the Big Three brought it on themselves by producing bad quality for about 30 years, which destroyed auto buyers trust and faith in American cars. No matter that today they are built very well. Trust and confidence has to be rebuilt. It was not destroyed in a short time, and it will not be restored in a short time.
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Ok, Robert, do you mean the city or the car companies? I want to go to Detroit...I know they tried to revitalize the city a few years back, but I imagine that didn't go far with the economy failing...
Last time I passed through Detroit it looked like some post-apocalyptic movie.Michael Moore wrote an interesting piece in HuffPost yesterday saying that the government was still turning its back on the middle of the country. New York/finance gets bailed out. Detroit gets more firings.
has anyone ever seen the Chrysler complex in Auburn Hills? i had to go there to do a presentation last year and WOW! what a blatant display of wasting money. while the car company swirls down the toilet they have this huge complex that is lavish. 4,400,000 sq ft on 504 acres. i read where it is the 17th largest floor space building in the world. meanwhile, back in the factory where they are building cars that no one will buy...
Good point, Kevin. And for Sarah and Randomanthony, I was referring to the Big Three, and, of course, what the collapse of the Big Three is doing to the city of Detroit. I worked at Ford for years as a supervisor, could not believe how management was destroying the company, and that motivated me to write "A Savage Factory - Eyewitness to the auto industry's self destruction." On the bailout, let me give you a for instance. I grew up near Pittsburgh in the 40s and 50s. Back then they had 150,000 men digging coal with picks and shovels, and working in front of smoke belching Bessemer Furnaces built in 1900. What if the government had said STOP - We cannot risk losing 150,000 jobs. Let us bail out those antiquated industries and keep them alive artificially with government money. How insane would that have been? They did not, of course, and coal and steel collapsed in Pittsburgh, there was 18% unemployment, foreclosed homes, etc. But we bit the bullet, adapted to change, and now Pittsburgh is a shining example of a clean, vibrant city supporting thousands of high tech jobs, few related to coal mining and steel making. Detroit has to do the same, or it will be a perpetual slum.
