Shipping our manufacturing base off to Asia didn't help this. You can either pay people to make things and learn to be productive, or pay them for doing nothing and leading destructive lives.
The taxpayers still have some money left, so obviously they haven't given enough money to fund government programs.
Great point.
Totally separate and unrelated problem. True, Baltimore lost manufacturing jobs -- just like all the other Rust Belt cities. And they lost population -- as the mostly white middle class moved west and south to where there were new jobs.
The inner city black population -- a group that was largely unrelated to the manufacturing sector, being mostly jobless in the first place -- was left in charge.
Accordingly, Baltimore is subject to two separate problems:
1. Loss of skilled manufacturing jobs.
2. Unskilled inner city blacks without any economic viability.
What actually happened was government, primarly Federal, but also State, made manufacturing life so difficult that manufacturers here simply faded or folded. Overseas competitors simply replaced them.
Thanks to the alphabet agencies, viz IRS, EPA, EEOC, OSHA...the list is endless and growing.
This is exactly what the voters want...and they have gotten it.