If you want a model for what is going to happen to the cities I mentioned, look at Detroit post the 1967 riots. That city went from almost 2 million in population then to about 700,000 today. Think about what it means when a city loses the productive and wealthy half of its population.
Quite true. Yet the prosperous part of Detroit’s population did not fall into a sinkhole but moved to the suburbs, continued to cheer for the Redwings and Lions, and maintained Detroit as a productive metropolitan area. The losers were those who remained in the city core and made the name “Detroit” a byword for urban decline due to race riots, endemic crime, and Black rule.