Posted on 09/26/2014 10:24:31 AM PDT by MichCapCon
In a recent Detroit Free Press op-ed, University of California-Berkeley Professor Robert Reich places the blame for the city of Detroit’s bankruptcy on the “mostly white” residents of Oakland County.
“But Detroit is really a model for how wealthier and whiter Americans escape the costs of public goods they would otherwise share with poorer and darker Americans,” Reich wrote. “ … But one thing is for certain: A very large and prosperous group close by won’t sacrifice a cent — the mostly white citizens of neighboring Oakland County.”
The reaction of one Oakland County official was that Reich, a former U.S. Secretary of Labor, didn’t know much about his chosen topic.
“That piece is clearly misinformed,” said Robert Daddow, Oakland County deputy county executive. “He doesn’t understand what he is talking about.”
By all accounts, the state and Oakland County are major stakeholders in Detroit. Here’s some things Reich overlooked about how county and state taxpayers help fund Detroit.
No. 1: People who work in the city but live elsewhere — such as Oakland County — pay a city income tax. That income tax for non-residents is 1.2 percent, compared to the 2.4 percent that residents of Detroit pay. The city income tax brings in $248 million and accounts for 19.2 percent of the city’s revenue.
No. 2: Detroit has a special deal with casino revenues. There are 22 other cities in Michigan that have casinos operating within their boundaries, but Detroit is the only city that can collect a “wagering tax” from casinos. That amounted to $181.4 million in 2012, or 13.5 percent of the city's revenue. Many of those bets, undoubtedly, were placed by Oakland County residents.
No. 3: Detroit is budgeted to receive $140.5 million in money taken from sales tax revenue that is collected from residents all across the state — including Oakland County — in the form of revenue sharing, which will account for 14.1 percent of the city’s revenue in fiscal 2015.
No. 4: Oakland County and its residents financially support several things that help the region, including the city of Detroit. Oakland County taxpayers voted to support a three-county millage that goes to fund the Detroit Zoo, which is located within Oakland County in the city of Huntington Woods, as well as a millage for the Detroit Institute of Arts.
Oakland County has also given $500,000 a year to Automation Alley for the past 14 years. Automation Alley is a technology business association that supports that industry, including businesses and institutions located in the city of Detroit.
In other words, how dare white people run away from paying their fair share?
So. The little midget ended up at Berkeley, huh?
Makes perfect sense.
how dare those white people leave Detroit in the 80’s to find a safer place for their kids and themselves.
Aren’t THEY the ones’ paying the bills?
When white people move out of a mixed race area, they call it “white flight” and say it’s destructive. When white people move into a black area and fix it up, making it safer and nicer, they call it “gentrification” and say that’s destructive too.
What it comes down too is some people are racist against white people and look for ways to apply a scholarly veneer to their bigotry.
I agree. ‘Mostly white’ democrats are the cause of Detroit’s problems.
And this is why we shouldn’t have interracial dating, because the “mostly black” offspring skate, while the “mostly white” offspring get blamed for everything.
But it's how Reich feels about it that matters...and his feelings fit The Narrative perfectly.
What a short sighted statement!
Does he even listen to himself?
So, what did the whites do? They moved their businesses and their homes north of Detroit or out of state.
They also took their jobs and their tax money. What did Coleman Young think would happen when a major portion of the tax base flies the coop?
Or did he even care?
White folk are mostly guilty of letting too much trash accumulate...........
How it went.
Sometime in the 1960s:
Detroit: “Hey, how about we spend a ton of money and implement a whole slew of progressive social programs.”
White People: “Nah, we’d rather not.”
D: “Haha! Sorry, you lost and we’re doing it anyway!”
W: “Well, I’ll just move outside the city limits.”
D: “How dare you do this, you racist p-o-s! How dare you skirt out on paying your fair share!”
W: “Sorry. Gone Galt. Deal with it.”
Detroit can’t blame the people who didn’t want something for it.
Always propaganda.
Notice how this jerk’s first reaction is to insist that it is whites, in another area no less, who are responsible for Detroit’s own self-destruction and then he claims what whites should do is give them more free stuff...free money. Typical loser mentality.
Stand up,Bob!
it was actually short white people whodunnit to detroit
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