Moral Decline of America – Detroit’s Water Cutoffs ‘Blamed on Bankruptcy’

21st Century Wire ^ | 6/30/2014 | SHAWN HELTON

[markomalley]

It has been nearly a year since Detroit declared bankruptcy, now thousands of residents have had their water cutoff since March and 150,000 more are facing the same fate…


IMAGE: ‘Slice of Life’ – An ongoing water crisis is still unfolding in Detroit, as residents have been subjected to water cutoffs over late or unpaid bills since March. Some have suggested the city has been spiking rates to re-coup its losses.(Photo credit: thecuttingedgenews.com)

A brief history of monetary ruin

Detroit Michigan is known as the ‘Motor City’ and was once proudly hailed as one of the most innovative cities in America for all of its automotive manufacturing prowess, but those days have long-since ended, marking a great decline in production and job creation – but what exactly happened. Detroit’s transformation from the 4th largest city in the United States with nearly 1.8 million people to the 18th most populous city with just over 700,000 residents didn’t happen overnight - it took decades.

Corrupt politicians like Kwame Kilpatrick, and a host of other city officials slowly sapped the city of its resources, leading to Detroit’s financial coffin. Kilpatrick, the former mayor of Detroit from (2002-2008), extorted the city out of $2 billion in contracts while he was acting as the special administrator of the Detroit Water and Sewerage Deparment (DWSD), illegally awarding the management of wastewater to outside parties without concern for the health and safety of those located in the municipality. Additionally, critics have charged that Kilpatrick’s restructuring of the city’s pension debt in 2005, fast tracked the city to ruin with a Wall Sreet loan of $1.44 bilion that will take an estimated 22 years to payoff.

As of this past March, water services have been abruptly cutoff in the city of Detroit for many residents, as the municipality has tried to recoup financial losses incurred following their Chapter 9 filing, while also blaming unpaid water bills. In the process those without water have soared to an alarming rate of 3,000 people per week, effecting mostly those in lower income communities who haven’t been able to pay their water accounts on time according to reports. It’s hard not to think that the contract corruption, as well as the Wall Street lending that occurred under Kilpatrick didn’t also factor into the current situation with DWSD, when you consider the financial deficit and strain the city was burdened with. Fresh water from the Great Lakes supplies Detroit and its governance could be a major concern in the future.

The UN, Detroit residents & human rights

When looking at transnational corporations and harmful trade deals such as NAFTA the picture becomes clearer, couple that with crony political scams – can the residents really be at fault for the monetary woes of Detroit? We don’t think so. This doesn’t necessarily excuse people not paying their bills, however, when you consider the history of job losses directly attributed to an engineered financial fallout, its hard to reconcile the DWSD’s decision in this situation as there are other accounts of them exorbitantly raising the cost of city water.

The United Nation’s High Commissioner for Human Rights office described Detroit’s massive water shutoffs as a ‘human rights’ concern, as Catarina de Albuquerque stated:

“Disconnections due to non-payment are only permissible if it can be shown that the resident is able to pay but is not paying. In other words, when there is genuine inability to pay, human rights simply forbids disconnections.”

Their is no doubt that what’s unfolding in Detroit is a humanitarian crisis, as many have been without access to water at their residence for several weeks and in some cases longer. There are also reports that activists have requested the UN’s involvement, while their actions appear to be appropriate in terms of drawing attention to the health concerns in Detroit, you have to wonder why the city itself has been incapable of figuring out this crisis themselves without the international body taking the lead. You also have to wonder if the UN has its own self-interest getting involved in a crisis like this.

What will be expeccted of Detroit in the future for receiving help from the intergovernmental organization?

The de-industrialization of Detroit

Much of Detroit now looks as though it’s a post-apocalyptic scene out of Cormac McCarthy‘s The Road and has been ravaged by inner-city crime, it is also a city that has been pillaged by predatory lending practices in the ramp up to the 2008 collapse and the auto-bailout which ultimately was the undoing for the cash-strapped city. America has lost much of its manufacturing jobs since so-called free trade agreements like NAFTA, GATT and CAFTA made their way into the corporate lexicon of US industry. These agreements opened the door to ship manufacturing jobs overseas, directly benefiting the globalist controlled corporations with less overhead by tapping into the ‘slave labor’ in other countries like China, vastly reducing American factory production of which Detroit has become a casualty of. In 2011, it was reported that the United States has lost over 60% of its factory based jobs.

The $80 billion dollar bailout of the auto industry, helped Detroit’s failing automakers like GM and Chrysler from near bankruptcy to gigantic profits but this failed to solve the city’s rising unemployment, slashing its budget stateside in favor of its operations overseas. When you factor in the corporate welfare and unions into the mix you see that the consolidation of wealth anchored to socialism, directly benefited banks and auto business owners while leaving Detroit empty.

Subprime predators

Between 2004 and 2006, 75% of Detroit’s mortgages were subprime loans. In 2012, Detroit homes lost over 30% of their value, as 100,000 homes were foreclosed on. Mike Shane of the activist group Moratorium Now!, had this to say in regards to paying back Wall Street debt, “We’re almost like economic refugees.” A leading anti-foreclosure lawyer Jerry Goldberg has discussed the situation in Detroit and the dangers of certain lending practices, “There was predatory lending against people, which precipitated the financial crisis.”

[kjam22]

Detroit needs to dig a number of deep water wells..... and let people go draw water each day and carry it home.

[gr8eman]

Yep...it’s Wall Street’s fault...kepping in mind that “Wall Street” means “successful white people” to them. So what the author is saying is that Detroit is Detroit because of successful white people. The so-called “successful white people” who are just normal human beings that do not understand this are the reason this country is going to crap. In olden days they just sold leftover food to these people for cheap but were never dumb enough to give them a free paycheck or let them be in charge of ANYTHING!

[kevslisababy]

The slant of the article; it isn’t the residents fault that they are getting their water shut off for non payment, but corrupt politicians, such as Kwami.

But I KNOW that during Kwami Kilpatricks trial, there were many blacks that cheered what he did, “screwing the white guy” they thought, by stealing all the money. Now they are holding the bag for it, looking for someone else to blame.

They voted for him, at least twice.

[kjam22]

The problem with stealing money is that once you spend what you stole... you don’t have any.

[Buckeye McFrog]

where I live, far and away the highest number of deadbeats are white trash

[Starboard]

a lot of what is happening in Detroit is coming to a lot of cities in America

***********

Agree. All the result of the Liberal Vortex that will lead to the collapse of many cities across the country.

Liberalism is economically unsustainable, not to mention its destructive societal effects.

[Boogieman]

Don’t worry, look how close that space heater is to the drapes. All her swag will be ashes before next spring.

[Doctor 2Brains]

When I was a kid, 100% of the deadbeats that I knew were white trash, but that’s not quite the same thing, however, as saying that deadbeatism recognizes no color.

[napscoordinator]

The Fruit of Liberalism

The liberal goons are saying it is the Republican’s fault (no surprise) because there is a Republican Governor. No how long as Michigan had a Republican Governor? 50 years? Doubtful. How long has Detroit had a Democratic Mayor? 50 years. Most likely. Liberalism is a serious brain defect and seems to be getting worse.

[rdcbn]

And she has to have top tier Cable....not to mention a couple I phones and other toys.

---

And this is causing serious psychological stress on her.

She simply can’t understand how she gets free cable and iPhones, but still has to pay for water.

[5thGenTexan]

How do I feel about this woman? She is standing in front of a TV larger and newer than mine. Maybe that’s why my water bill is current.

[Ultima]

Have you no compassion? An Xbox and a giant TV is a necessity of life.

[Ultima]

Haiti? Ooops, someone beat me to it. Zimbabwe?

[Buckeye McFrog]

When I moved back here from out of state I rented a house. I was surprised when I had to appear in person and show ID to get all of the utilities turned on.

Turns out that the prior tenants in the house were deadbeats who skipped out on a bunch of bills.

After about a year a crew came one day and dug up my driveway. They did some work on some piping and then poured a new one. I thought “cool, I get a new driveway and it cost me nothing”.

Then a few days later I got a frantic call at work from my wife. Some guy was out there turning off our water. I had to leave, go home to talk to him and try to straighten things out.

Turns out that when those prior tenants got behind in their bill the water company put in a shutoff notice. But when they came out to turn it off they found the valve under the driveway was broken and they could not. So they put in a work order to fix it.

A couple of years later after I was living there that work order finally rose to the top of the pile. They came out and replaced the valve (and with it, the driveway). And a couple of days later the shutoff guy dutifully showed up to do his job.

This is why you do NOT want huge bureaucracies running on autopilot (see: US Federal Government)

[Jack Hydrazine]

Maybe they’ll move to the Deep South.

[Salgak]

Indeed. There are no guards or fences either along the Detroit River OR Lake Saint Clair.

Grab some containers and fill ‘em up.

[ExTxMarine]

“Water is our human right”

Well, according to the EPA, NO IT ISN'T!

Don't believe me? Try creating a cistern or installing rain-water barrels or digging a stock pond to conserve and have your own water "rights" and see how fast you will be slapped down, sued, and forced to forgo your "human right!"

[woodbutcher1963]

There is plenty of water in Detroit. Lake St. Clair is full up to the top. All the snow melt from this last winter has filled the Great Lakes to the brim.

[super7man]

“Water is our human right”

Exercising a human right can not and does not obligate someone else to be or do something. If it does it can not be a fundamental human right.

Examples of Human Right:

Right to free speech, does not obligate anyone to give your a forum or listen.

Right to keep and bear arms, does not obligate anyone to give you armament.

The founders were brilliant.

[Rusty0604]

The generous public employee pensions is the main cause of the financial problems with cities.