Detroit, once the fifth largest and wealthiest in the country, is now a financial disaster. Michigan Governor Rick Snyder stated that Detroit's financial condition is so grievious that a special emergency financial manager (EFM) would have to be appointed to take over from the city council which appears to be at the end of the line from the once great city.
Detroit today has hit rock bottom. It has lost nearly 60% of its population since its peak in 1950. The tax revenues have declined by $100 million within the last decade. One third of the citizens that live in Detroit now live in poverty. Detroit has a $327 million budget deficit and more than $14 billion in long-term debt. Detroit has a population of over 700,000, among whom many don't pay taxes. Another sad record of Detroit was in 2012 it had the highest rate of violent crime of any city of over 200,000 population in the country. Detroit also set its highest homicide rate in 20 years as well. Many of them are drug-related.
It's tragic how Detroit has spiraled downhill in the last 20 years or better. Detroit used to be the home of the Big Three, which are GM, Ford, and Chrysler. Detroit used to be the car manufacturing center of America. Now millions of auto manufacturing jobs has exited Detroit and even the U.S. within the last several years. Detroit used to be a major industrial center. Now it's a city with high crime rates and high jobless rates.
To read the entire story, click on the above link from the New American.
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