24 Signs That All Of America Is Becoming Just Like Detroit

The American Dream ^ | 12/06/2010 | Michael Snyder

[SeekAndFind]

For years, people have been laughing at the horrific economic decline of Detroit. Well, guess what? The same thing that happened to Detroit is now happening to dozens of other communities across the United States. From coast to coast there are formerly great manufacturing cities that have turned into rotting, post-industrial war zones. In particular, in America's "rust belt" you can drive through town after town after town that resemble little more than post-apocalyptic wastelands. In many U.S. cities, the "real" rate of unemployment is over 30 percent. There are some communities that will start depressing you almost the moment you drive into them. It is almost as if all of the hope has been sucked right out of those communities.

Meanwhile, the economic downturn has been incredibly hard on the finances of state and local governments across the United States. Unlike the federal government, state and local governments cannot use the Federal Reserve to play games with their exploding debt burdens. Facing horrific budget deficits, many communities have begun adopting "austerity measures" in an attempt to slow the flow of red ink. All over the nation, deep budget cuts are slashing police departments, fire departments and other basic social services, but it seems like no matter what many of these communities try the debt just keeps growing.

So when you combine economic hopelessness with drastic budget cuts, what you get are hordes of communities from coast to coast that are becoming just like Detroit. In the city of Detroit today, there are over 33,000 abandoned houses, 44 schools have been permanently closed down, the mayor wants to bulldoze one-fourth of the city and you can literally buy a house for one dollar in the worst areas. Many Americans thought that it was funny to make fun of Detroit, but little did they know that what happened there would soon start happening everywhere.

The following are 24 signs that all of America is becoming a rotting, post-industrial, post-apocalyptic wasteland just like Detroit....

#1 The second most dangerous city in the United States - Camden, New Jersey - is about to lay off about half its police.

#2 In the city of Camden, about the only "industries" that are truly thriving are drug-dealing and prostitution. It is estimated that there are literally dozens of open-air drug markets in Camden.

#3 The city of Newark, New Jersey laid off 13 percent of its police force just last week.

#4 Of 315 municipalities the New Jersey State Policemen's union recently surveyed, more than half indicated that they were planning to lay off police officers.

#5 At least 1000 people now live in the 200 miles of flood tunnels that exist under the city of Las Vegas.

#6 All over America, asphalt roads are being ground up and are being replaced with gravel because it is cheaper to maintain. The state of South Dakota has transformed over 100 miles of asphalt road into gravel over the past year, and 38 out of the 83 counties in the state of Michigan have transformed at least some of their asphalt roads into gravel roads.

#7 The number of Americans on food stamps has hit yet another new all-time record. 42.9 million Americans are now enrolled and federal authorities fully expect that number to continue to skyrocket.

#8 The city of San Jose, California recently laid off 49 firefighters.

#9 Over the past year, approximately 100 of New York's state parks and historic sites have had to cut services and reduce hours.

#10 In 2009 alone, approximately 4 million more Americans joined the ranks of the poor.

#11 The state of Arizona recently decided to stop paying for many types of organ transplants for people enrolled in its Medicaid program.

#12 Many of the police in Arizona that patrol communities near the border with Mexico say that they are "outmanned" and "outgunned" and now live in fear of being taken out by drug cartel assassins.

#13 Gang violence in America is getting totally out of control. According to authorities, there are now over 1 million members of criminal gangs operating inside the country, and those gangs are responsible for up to 80% of the violent crimes committed in the U.S. each year.

#14 Oakland, California Police Chief Anthony Batts has announced that due to severe budget cuts there are a number of crimes that his department will simply not be able to respond to any longer. The crimes that the Oakland police will no longer be responding to include grand theft, burglary, car wrecks, identity theft and vandalism.

#15 One out of every six Americans is now enrolled in at least one anti-poverty program run by the federal government.

#16 The state of Illinois is so far behind on its bills that not even schools and essential social services are getting their money on time.

#17 The sheriff's department in Ashtabula County, Ohio has been slashed from 112 to 49 deputies, and there is now just one vehicle remaining to patrol all 720 square miles of the county.

#18 As our local communities degenerate economically, it appears that they are falling apart morally as well. There are approximately 400,00 registered sex offenders in the United States as you read this.

#19 In a desperate attempt to save money, the city of Colorado Springs turned off a third of its streetlights and put its police helicopters up for auction.

#20 According to one recent study, approximately 21 percent of all children in the United States are living below the poverty line in 2010.

#21 According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, more than 25 percent of America's nearly 600,000 bridges need significant repairs or are burdened with more traffic than they were designed to carry.

#22 In Georgia, the county of Clayton recently eliminated its entire public bus system in order to save 8 million dollars.

#23 Things have gotten so bad in Stockton, California that the police union put up a billboard with the following message: "Welcome to the 2nd most dangerous city in California. Stop laying off cops."

#24 Major cities such as Philadelphia, Baltimore and Sacramento have instituted "rolling brownouts" in which various city fire stations are shut down on a rotating basis. So if you live in one of those cities and you have a fire, you had better hope that your local fire station is not scheduled for a "brownout" that day.

As I have documented in article after article, the "American Dream" is rapidly becoming the American Nightmare. We were once a nation that was endlessly expanding, endlessly growing and endlessly becoming more powerful, but now just the opposite is happening.

All of this didn't happen overnight. Back in 1982, Billy Joel could see what was starting to happen and he released a song entitled "Allentown" which captured the depression that many residents of once great steel cities were experiencing. The song started out with these two lines....

Well we're living here in Allentown
And they're closing all the factories down

Well, the United States has lost over 42,000 factories since 2001 and now all of America is turning into "Allentown".

Unfortunately, things are going to get even worse. Thousands more factories and millions more jobs will be sent overseas. The debt loads of our state and local governments will continue to skyrocket. The truth is that city after city after city is going to start looking like something out of a third world country.

But perhaps you disagree. Perhaps you believe that America's greatest days are just around the corner. Please feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts below....

[RobRoy]

I have an acquaintance that invented a medical device. It is staggering just how much money there is in medical supplies, treatments, etc. And that is even AFTER paying ludicrous malpractice insurance rates, etc.

There are some incredibly lame reasons why it costs $50-$100 per hour for things like a plumber, mechanic, etc. But an hour in an operating room can cost tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars. I suspect the whole thing will need to collapse in a way, and be rebuilt.

Just as it used to seem reasonable to pay $1200 for a CD player in a world where the average person made $25,000 a year, and then $35 was too much, I suspect we are coming to a day where paying more than a few hundred for a hip replacement will seem ridiculous. But first, the existing paradigm will have to collapse. And it will not do it voluntarily. It will have no choice if it wishes to survive.

[SeekAndFind]

RE: I’ve been to Detroit and marveled at the street people going through garbage cans on the street in front of a bunch of closed down businesses.

---

The article states that you can buy a house in Detroit’s worst area for dollar ( that’s less than a standard MacDonald meal ).

If you’re an optimist and believe that something might rise out of the ashes ( like Hiroshima did ), you might want to consider investing a dollar ....

[Conservative Tsunami]

That is Insane. NoRKs' counterfeiting is NOT an accident; NONE of the destruction of this Republic is an accident. The ChiComs decimating the US economy and industrial base in not an accident.

Our own treasonous government has been betraying us for years. How much more evidence do we need? Beck can't do and say it all.

B. Hussein is just the punctuation mark.

[dfwgator]

The article states that you can buy a house in Detroit’s worst area for dollar

"I'll buy that for a dollar."

[caww]

All the professionals who have come to our country for education and jobs....are leaving as other countries are advancing and in better shape than we are. The ones staying are the undesirables...you can imagine if the International community determines America as a dumpingground for all their undesirables.....that is not hard to imagine with the Global Governance moving right along....the only Country where you can walk over the border without fear is the USA.

[RobRoy]

>>If you’re an optimist and believe that something might rise out of the ashes ( like Hiroshima did ), you might want to consider investing a dollar<<

Not there. Not yet. They would LITERALLY have to pay me to take over one of those properties. $20k MIGHT do it, but I’d have to do more research.

I would no more buy property in Detroit than I would buy property in Sudan. And for similar reasons.

[SeekAndFind]

Here is the source for that piece of information (the UK GUARDIAN) :

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/mar/02/detroit-homes-mortgage-foreclosures-80

Detroit homes sell for $1 amid mortgage and car industry crisis

One in five houses left empty as foreclosures mount and property prices drop by 80%

by: Chris McGreal, in Detroit

Some might say Jon Brumit overpaid when he stumped up $100 (£65) for a whole house. Drive through Detroit neighbourhoods once clogged with the cars that made the city the envy of America and there are homes to be had for a single dollar.

You find these houses among boarded-up, burnt-out and rotting buildings lining deserted streets, places where the population is shrinking so fast entire blocks are being demolished to make way for urban farms.

“I was living in Chicago and a friend told me that houses in Detroit could be had for $500,” said Brumit, a financially strapped artist who thought he had little prospect of owning his own property. “I said if you hear of anything just a little cheaper let me know. Within a week he emails me a photo of a house for $100. I thought that’s just crazy. Why not? It’s a way to cut our expenses way down and kind of open up a lot of time for creative projects because we’re not working to pay the rent.”

Houses on sale for a few dollars are something of an urban legend in the US on the back of the mortgage crisis that drove millions of people from their homes. But in Detroit it is no myth.

One in five houses now stand empty in the city that launched the automobile age, forged America’s middle-class and blessed the world with Motown.

Detroit has been in decline for decades; its falling population is now well below a million – half of its 1950 peak. But the recent mortgage crisis and the fall of the big car makers into bankruptcy has pushed the town into a realm unique among big cities in America.

A third of the population are unemployed. Property prices have fallen 80% or more in large parts of Detroit over the last three years. The average price of a home sold in the city last year has been put at $7,500 (£4,900).

The recent financial crash forced wholesale foreclosures among people unable to pay their mortgages or who walked away from houses that fell to a fraction of the value of the loans they had taken out on them.

Banks are selling off properties in the worst neighbourhoods, which are usually surrounded by empty and wrecked housing, for a few dollars each. But even better houses can be had at a fraction of their former value.

Technically, Brumit paid $95 for the land and $5 for the house on Lawley Street – which fitted what estate agents euphemistically call an opportunity.

Brumit said: “It had a big hole in the roof from the fire department putting out the last of two arson attempts. Both previous owners tried to set it on fire to get out of the mortgages. So there’s a big hole about 24ft long and the plumbing had almost entirely been ripped out and most of the electrics too. It was basically a smoke damaged, structurally intact shell with a snowdrift in the attic.”

Setting fire to houses to claim the insurance and kill off the mortgage is not uncommon in Detroit; a blackened, wooden corpse of a house sits at the bottom of Brumit’s street. But it is more common for owners to just walk away from their homes and mortgages.

On the opposite side of Lawley Street Jim Feltner and his workers were clearing out a property seized by a bank. “I used to be a building contractor. I was buying up places and doing them up. Now I empty out foreclosures. I do one or two of these a day all over the city,” he said. “I’ve been in Detroit 40 years and I’ve watched the peak up to $100,000 for houses that right now aren’t worth more than $20,000 tops. I own a bunch of properties. I have 10 rentals and I can’t get nothing for them, and they’re beautiful homes.”

Feltner’s workers are dragging clothes, boots and furniture out of the bedrooms and living room, and dumping them in the front yard until a skip arrives. Kicked to one side is a box of 1970s Motown records. A teddy bear lies spreadeagled on the floor.

“You could get about five grand for this place,” said Feltner. “Nice house once you clean it out. All the plumbing and electricals are in it. Roof don’t leak.”

Brumit said a man called Jesse lived there. “Jesse had mentioned that he was probably going to get out of there because he knew he could buy a place for so much less than he owed. That’s a drag. You don’t want to see people leaving,” he said.

The house next door is abandoned. On the next street, one third of the properties are boarded up.

It’s a story replicated across Detroit.

CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE REST...

[Conservative Tsunami]

I suspect we are coming to a day where paying more than a few hundred for a hip replacement will seem ridiculous. But first, the existing paradigm will have to collapse. And it will not do it voluntarily. It will have no choice if it wishes to survive.

Inevitably, our new socialism will "re-calibrate" costs; So will the New World currency. The dollar is getting trashed and trashed purposely.

Welcome to The Thunder Dome, World Citizen!

[SeekAndFind]

RE: All the professionals who have come to our country for education and jobs....are leaving as other countries are advancing and in better shape than we are

---

Looks like our immigration system is the pits. What we want is to receive immigrants who are bright, educated, moral and talented.

We’re getting the opposite and the people we want are leaving. Go Figure...

[FightThePower!]

I grew up in the suburbs of Detroit. Detroit is the Canary in the coal mine. Our nations problems are partly due to liberal policy for sure. But I believe that both parties are socialist, the Republicans hardly offer much of an alternative. Neither party is for small government. Both parties have the bankers best interest at heart.

Loss of value added manufacturing, the rise of a consumer and finance based economy will make America unrecognizable in 20 more years. The whole country will be like Detroit. Consumerism uses wealth and doesn’t create it. Finance shuffles money around, but doesn’t create wealth either.

[fella]

“South Dallas looks a lot like Detroit.”

That's true , but it looked like that way before Detroit looked like Detroit. Thanks to the Lord that I live “Where the West begins”.

[dfwgator]

That’s why RoboCop was actually filmed in South Dallas instead of Detroit.

[RobRoy]

You and I are in complete agreement on this. I, too, see Detroit as the “canary”. Fortunately, the “final outcome” there may scare the rest of the nation from following the same path. The Detroit debacle is only in the 7th inning. The rest of us are in the 4th.

Have you read the Fred Reed articles I posted in this thread? It is spooky (and frightening), especially considering they are all from around 8-10 years ago.

[CharlesMartelsGhost]

Reminds me of the time I had to get fuel and exited in East Saint Louis, Illinois. After going one block I decided to take my chances, I got back on the interstate and drove further east. Running out of gas on the interstate was the better/safer option than trying to find a gas station in East St. Louis. Made it to the next farmtown and fueled up. East St. Louis was/is a cesspool. Nothing but abandoned buildings etc... it looked like an episode out of Resident Evil.

[EnigmaticAnomaly]

"Someone told me that Gary, Indiana is also bad, but I’ve never been there."

I live about 20 minutes EAST of Gary. I will send you some pictures of the downtown area so you can get a sample of liberal "fruitfulness".

[1st I.D Vet]

IE.

thanks Clinton!

China allowed into WTO. Dem ahole.

[buccaneer81]

There’s no crime in Ashtabula County to begin with, unless it occurs on I-90, which is the domain of the Ohio Highway Patrol. As for the county itself, it’s inhabited by a substantial Amish community and it gets 200+ inches of snow a year. Criminals avoid those conditions.

[servantboy777]

Corporate America scratchin the backs of politicians favorable to the globalist agenda.

Outsourcing our manufacturing base to a country that is technically our enemy will come back to bite us.

Now we see corporate America bringing thousands of Chinese, Indians, Filipinos and so forth into America on H1B visa's to do the jobs Americans won't do.

With tuitions climbing at most major universities climbing the way they have, Americans don't stand a chance against subsidized college/universities in 3rd world countries.

I heard an Indian PHD say not long ago, the heck with the U.S. government. If they make it hard on me, I will just go back to India where I won't have to pay back my student loans and credit cards.

That's a true story.

Little worker safety, little environmental regulation, little worker compensation.

Wasn't so long ago, congress would be screaming bloody murder if corporations did here what they are getting away with in Mexico, China, India and many other 3rd world countries in regards to manufacturing.

Oh well, welcome to Walmart......wanna sticker young man?

[Conservative Tsunami]

IE. thanks Clinton! China allowed into WTO. Dem ahole.

Bubba also "lent" them sensitive technology in exchange for campaign contributions and allowed the ChiComs to steal "secrets" at nuke research labs.

To be fair though, the US House of Representatives voted to granted Most Favored Nation status to China in 2000 and GH Bush endorsed it back in 1990.

in 2001 George W. Bush endorsed China's entry into the World Trade Organization - even though at the time China downed and held hostage an American "spy" plane.

It's been FUBAR bi-partisan treachery that should NOT go un-noticed.

[Conservative Tsunami]

But as always, the government cuts the meat first and never, ever touches the fat.

Yup. Pensions, bennies, toll booths, and school budgets (it be fo' duh children) are Sacred Cows.

Protecting the Serfs from the Zombies? HA!