Detroit City on Dateline April 18

[Jeff B.]

Just happened to watch Dateline Sunday night and they did a great piece on Detroit. A recap Detroit economy is going through some of its toughest times. There are rows of vacant, damaged houses with nearly vacant neighborhoods. The crime rate for violent crimes is one of the worst in the US and the drop out rate in Public schools is above average.

Detroit was a big manufacturing town and when these American companies became "traitors" to the people who
helped make them successful and abandoned them it devastated the area.

The mayor is trying to downsize the city by taking the neighborhoods with just a few homes and attempting to relocate them to other areas. This will allow them to focus the cities services where they are needed most and cut down on some of the cities financial losses. The city has brought in outside help to attempt to reform the schools and increase the graduation rate with little success. I'm not sure if this isn't caused by being a product of the
environment and seeing the struggles and despair of others causing the school kids to think there isn't any opportunities available or what.

They showed some of the nicer areas of Detroit and how stable they appear. The people in the lower income areas say the city has changed dramatically and when asked what they liked about the city no one had an answer.

I just hope this is not an indicator for other parts of the US that are reliant on jobs that can be easily shipped offshore. I believe that society in the US has lowered their standards for what (products) are acceptable and proof is accepting appliances with a 1 year Manufacturer warranty. Buying stuff that is cheap and doesn't last as long versus paying a little more for items that are an overall better value.

When is society (this includes myself) going to realize that the outsourcing of jobs is having a devastating effect on the US economy and like the housing market will not be fixed in any short term period. We have turned to Europe for some ideas in the recent past that will benefit us overall and should consider taxing certain imported goods by 20 - 25% like Europe does.

Why has the US society accepted that it's okay to buy items that have been put through less testing, lower quality control standards, and have the potential to harm us?

Another good idea Europe is using is holding business and manufacturer liable for the products that they sell making it more difficult for junk to be passed off to consumers.

Just needed to vent since I just passed my 11 homeless guy today begging and it's only 1 PM.