Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

This is What Budget Cuts Have Done to Detroit ... And It's Freaking Awesome
PolicyMic ^ | May 27, 2013 | Robert Taylor

Posted on 05/28/2013 9:51:48 AM PDT by Arkansas Toothpick

The language of budget cuts, austerity, and sequestration seem to dominate the media's landscape these days, instilling fear into Americans of vital government services being cut and chaos ensuing if governments aren't allowed to spend and borrow infinitely. Conservatives decry supposed cuts to the military-industrial-complex, and liberals bemoan that without government welfare transfer programs, there would be social Darwinism. ... Leaving aside the details on whether the U.S. budget is actually shrinking, one needs to look no further than the city of Detroit to find the spontaneous order, civic cooperation, and peaceful market forces that take over when government simply isn't around. ..... The Detroit Bus Company (DBC) is a private bus service that began last year and truly shows a stark contrast in how the market and government operates. Founded by 25-year-old Andy Didorosi, the company avoids the traditionally stuffy, cagey government buses and uses beautiful vehicles with graffiti-laden exterior designs that match the heart of the Motor City. There are no standard bus routes; a live-tracking app, a call or a text is all you need to get picked up in one of their buses run on soy-based biofuel. All the buses feature wi-fi, music, and you can even drink your own alcohol on board! The payment system is, of course, far cheaper and fairer.

(Excerpt) Read more at policymic.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Government; US: Michigan
KEYWORDS: americans4prosperity; biofuels; budget; capitalism; detroit; economy; kochbrothers; michigan; opec
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-37 last
To: FlipWilson

I mentioned their MI having Right to work in the very same post.... might want to finish reading the post.


21 posted on 05/28/2013 11:40:27 AM PDT by HamiltonJay
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; ColdOne; Convert from ECUSA; ...

Thanks Arkansas Toothpick.
The Detroit Bus Company (DBC) is a private bus service that began last year and truly shows a stark contrast in how the market and government operates. Founded by 25-year-old Andy Didorosi, the company avoids the traditionally stuffy, cagey government buses and uses beautiful vehicles with graffiti-laden exterior designs that match the heart of the Motor City. There are no standard bus routes; a live-tracking app, a call or a text is all you need to get picked up in one of their buses run on soy-based biofuel. All the buses feature wi-fi, music, and you can even drink your own alcohol on board! The payment system is, of course, far cheaper and fairer.
Soy-based biofuel?


22 posted on 05/28/2013 1:03:25 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Romney would have been worse, if you're a dumb ass.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: SunkenCiv
Bio diesel works. Its not for me but it sounds like the guy is running a pretty successful business in a previously unfilled niche. Kinda like Two men and a truck which grew from two brothers and a truck in Lansing to a national company with some 7000 employees.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us


23 posted on 05/28/2013 1:18:39 PM PDT by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: econjack

I was wondering if anyone else would notice the error of substituting that for who. Journalists for the most famous of news companies do it. So do many highly educated celebrities.


24 posted on 05/28/2013 1:34:48 PM PDT by familyop (We Baby Boomers are croaking in an avalanche of rotten politics smelled around the planet.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: familyop
I doubt if most people care enough to notice. Another word that is abused often is decimate. Most people assume it means total destruction when it really means to destroy every tenth item. It has Roman origins and, if a squad of soldiers were observed to behave in a cowardly manner, every tenth man was killed, so the squad was said to be decimated. However, it's been screwed up for so long, its meaning is slowly changing...and don't even get me started on confusing then and than. How sad...
25 posted on 05/28/2013 2:15:58 PM PDT by econjack (Some people are as dumb as soup.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: cripplecreek

Awesome. In Illinois, by law, not private bus company can compete with the CTA or RTA. Even when they drop routes it is illegal to pick those routes up privately.

We’re decades behind Michigan and there’s little hope we’ll catch up, ever. We’re America’s North Korea.


26 posted on 05/28/2013 7:48:02 PM PDT by 1010RD (First, Do No Harm)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: 1010RD

I know the Detroit bus company isn’t getting taxpayer dollars. They wouldn’t be advertizing that its OK to drink on their buses.

Private neighborhood security is another business that is growing in Detroit.


27 posted on 05/28/2013 7:53:26 PM PDT by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: econjack

The old complaint about the word “decimate” comes up often here. But the English language is a living one, it’s not Latin. The meaning of words and conventions change over time. “Font” and “typeface” were not the same thing originally, but they’re used interchangibly today. A “logo” and a “trademark” were different but now pretty much mean the same. “Lynchpin,” “ Vellum,” “Triumph” all had specific meanings that, like “decimate,” have morphed over time. Likewise, in 1933 “tomorrow” was spelled “to-morrow.”


28 posted on 06/20/2013 5:24:57 PM PDT by SoCal Pubbie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: SoCal Pubbie

Not sure I agree. Logo and trademark are definitely different things and I think should be viewed as such. Personally, rather than see words “morphed”, I’d rather keep the old words preserved as they were originally, and have new words developed as needed.


29 posted on 06/20/2013 8:38:16 PM PDT by econjack (I'm not bossy...I just know what you should be doing.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: econjack
Do you ever use the word “triumph” for anything other than a Roman parade, authorized by the Roman Senate, celebrating a victory by the Roman Legions? If so, you're doing the same thing using “decimate” in place of “devastate,” which as it turns out is also Latin. It grew from “devastatus,” past participle of “devastare,” from de- + vastare “to lay waste.” So anyone who says they were “devastated” when the Spurs lost Game 6 is using the word incorrectly, I suppose.

It's a good thing English is so flexible. Let's not be like the French!

30 posted on 06/21/2013 7:08:57 AM PDT by SoCal Pubbie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: cripplecreek

I heard somewhere that private citizens were paying for police cars, and, get this -

libs were complaining that they shouldn’t be allowed to do that because police cars were a government function.


31 posted on 06/21/2013 7:16:04 AM PDT by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter admits whom he's working for)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 27 | View Replies]

To: cripplecreek

“After all, they aren’t spending a billion dollars for a new bridge to Detroit just because they want to spend money.”

Sure they are. If they just wanted to build a bridge, it would cost far, far less than a cool $billion.

They are spending a $Billion because the unions and government bureaucrats are involved. So yes, they are building a bridge just because they want to spend money, and they want to be able to levy taxes to support union toll collectors and government bureaucracy.

Yeah sure, they’ll throw a bridge in too, but that is not the primary reason they are building it.


32 posted on 06/21/2013 7:18:45 AM PDT by RFEngineer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: SoCal Pubbie

And today the spelling of tomorrow and all other words depends upon the mood of my keyboard.


33 posted on 06/21/2013 7:29:47 AM PDT by csmusaret (Will remove Obama-Biden bumperstickers for $10)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: MrB
Unfortunately when it comes to Detroit, even a few FReepers complain about that sort of thing. Personally I think "screw em" conservatism is a dead end so I support fixing Detroit because they're Americans.

JP Morgan just opened a new regional HQ in Detroit and has pledged millions for various community improvements. In fact there is a lot of business seeding going on in Detroit right now at the hands of some big players like Quicken loans because of an increasingly favorable business environment vs places like NYC. The new bridge being built by Canada will be a major boost as well.

I'm no fan of cities but I am a fan of America and I'm a fan of spreading conservatism and the free market. The biggest influence was a re reading of Ronald Reagan's 1980 nomination acceptance speech.

My fellow citizens, I utterly reject that view. The American people, the most generous on earth, who created the highest standard of living, are not going to accept the notion that we can only make a better world for others by moving backwards ourselves. Those who believe we can have no business leading the nation.

I will not stand by and watch this great country destroy itself under mediocre leadership that drifts from one crisis to the next, eroding our national will and purpose. We have come together here because the American people deserve better from those to whom they entrust our nation's highest offices, and we stand united in our resolve to do something about it.


Address Accepting the Presidential Nomination at the Republican National Convention in Detroit July 17, 1980

I also reject the belief that blacks can never be converted to conservatism. Things are moving in the right direction. Just this weekend the Fredrick Douglass foundation is holding an event in Detroit sponsored by Americans for Prosperity and Michigan Right to work. speakers will be The Rev. C.L. Bryant–Founder, One Nation Back to God; Film Maker, Runaway Slave, Fellow with FreedomWorks - Ismael Hernandez –Founder, Freedom and Virtue Institute -Stacy Swimp– Nationally recognized speaker, commentator, President of Frederick Douglass Society - State Rep. Mike Shirkey - State Senator Pat Colbeck - Terry Bowman-President, Union Conservatives - Gary Glenn-President, American Family Association-Michigan - State Senator Patrick Colbeck

Frederick Douglass Society Hosts Juneteenth Celebrations: Race To Economic Emancipation
34 posted on 06/21/2013 7:44:22 AM PDT by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies]

To: SoCal Pubbie
The Merriam-Webster dictionary for the word decimate is:

to select by lot and kill every tenth man of

which tells me that is the definition of decimate. It is the third acceptable use of the word that widens its definition.

The same dictionary defines triumph as you have indicated, so all of us should avoid using the word incorrectly. I'm going to try and restrict my usage to the list of synonyms they suggest. Thanks for pointing that out to me!

35 posted on 06/21/2013 7:44:59 AM PDT by econjack (I'm not bossy...I just know what you should be doing.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: SoCal Pubbie

I’ll have to disagree with you on this. What we have done is not so much change the meanings of words but to ignore the nuanced differences of different words’ meanings. Odor, smell, fragrance and stench are all pretty close in meaning in some respects, but obviously (to most people, at least for now) are not interchangeable.


36 posted on 06/21/2013 8:08:38 AM PDT by NCLaw441
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: NCLaw441

In that case you’d better not use Microsoft Office, nor any word processing program for that matter, that allows you to change fonts, since a font is “type produced by casting molten metal at a type foundry.”


37 posted on 06/21/2013 8:20:24 AM PDT by SoCal Pubbie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 36 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-37 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson