I wear trouble as crown of honor, my friend.
Posted on 09/21/2014 2:24:32 PM PDT by walford
DETROIT – 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.
Detroit-in-ruins-15“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.
I wear trouble as crown of honor, my friend.
Is it just me or does Reich look like he has a little “color” flowing in his veins. It might explain the real reason for his comments:
https://gspp.berkeley.edu/directories/faculty/robert-reich
Where does Reich live?... the f—’ing hypocrite
Basically Robert 3 Reich is saying the same thing lefties always say:
You are poor because your neighbor is rich!
Not because he is a hard working business man and you are a welfare couch potato.
He is a thief, he robbed you!
....
Commies never really change
That’s just Oakland County........Detroit also receives similar revenues from residents of Macomb County too..........
Q: Who wins elections?
A: The candidate with the most votes
Observation: The main purpose of any politician is to continue to be elected. Being reelected is a function of constituent services. Therefore a politician whose platform is based upon helping those who are “In poverty” “Oppressed” or otherwise disadvantaged has a vested interest in making sure that at least 51% of the voters in their district are poor, oppressed or disadvantaged to provide constituent services for; otherwise they might vote for someone else. The best that poor can expect from such a system is a benevolent tyrant but in reality they should expect to be fired upon by the militarized police.
Theory based upon the observation:
The poor, oppressed or disadvantaged should never vote for someone who claims to represent their interest because in representing their interest the politician will keep them poor.
__________
This is what you see in Detroit. The very act of a government helping the poor creates more poverty. Because admitting this would mean not being reelected the politician must fob the blame off onto someone else or some other cause.
Detroit was doing fine. Once the Democrats took charge the city started to decay. Reich should be ashamed. He is playing the fool card.
Actually, it’s only the fault of Whitie’s that are over Five Feet Tall.
Matt Roloff can’t be blamed. He has a new show coming out, Little Democrats, Big Bad Republican Whitey World.
TAXES...WHITE PEOPLE...NOT ENOUGH!
I would think the evil, selfish parties here are those parasites in Detroit Proper who have taken half a century worth of handouts, driven whites out of town at the point of a gun, fouled their own nests to the point that they're unlivable, and then demanded that someone else pay them to keep doing more of the same.
Oh, and then there are the corrupt liberal "leaders" who have squandered millions in public funds, not to mention any sliver of good will, to enrich themselves while letting their "bruthas" go to hell in a handbasket.
Detroit is a textbook example of what happens when liberals get their wish.
What people resent is being forced to help people who are lazy and refuse to help themselves and who degrade the neighborhood.
The solution is to move where there are like-minded people who support themselves and contribute positively to the neighborhood/community.
What is so hard to understand about this.
Free at last, free at last! Thank God almighty we are free at last. Free from the tyranny of truth.
Where does Reich live? In the inner city? Or in some cushy upper West Side/Washington DC digs?
It’s called “white flight” for a very good reason, Stumpy....
Reich is another liberal idiot.
He and a fellow Clintonista, the HHS lesbian secretary, joined together on an April 15th to call for higher taxes to waste on counterproductive programs.
I believe HUD is asking congress to give it approve/deny over mortgage applications based on race and income. The intent is to create more DIVERSE neighborhoods. They are determined that you will live next door to a poor Black family.
According to Wikipedia, the county was 77% white in 2010 and 13.6% black (about the same as the national averge).
I think the Democrats' long-term goal is to create metro-area governments that can take money from the suburbs to subsidize the central city. Then the only escape will be to live way out in the country.
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