Michigan is dying! There is one large city in the State - "Detroit" - and along with Flint and Saginaw, it is fast becoming the next Gary Indiana! We created this Blog so that the people of the State of Michigan can speak out, voice their complaints, and talk about the beautiful city and state we once lived in. This Blog is not to used as a place to blast the former Mayor Coleman A. Young. Mayor Coleman Young is gone, and to continue to blame him would be like beating a dead horse. Detroit and the State of Michigan's problems stem from two sources: the State Government and the corporations that run this state. Residence of Detroit and the out state area should be asking the following questions: Why is the State of michigan controlled by a group of Republicans from Grand Rapids? Why does a state that caters to the automotive industry have the nations worst roads? Why is Detroit the only major metro area without mass transit? Why were the corporations of Michigan among the first to outsource IT and engineering jobs to India? Why was a former Michigan Senator Spencer Abraham the lead Congressman that pushed through the H-1B visa increases for foreign workers? Please comment on these issues and more...
Michigan is a lost cause! I have moved to New Jersey because the economy is so poor there, and there is no hope for the automotive industry. As far as I am concerned, it isn't worth the effort to stay in a state that is heading down. This is my last post, and then I will destroy this blog!
A special thanks to Governor Granholm for speaking the truth last night at the DNC. She was the first speaker to bring up how many jobs the US has lost to outsourcing. Unlike our old govenor, Governor Granholm is concerned about the American worker, and actually understands state economics - which is that the worker is your tax base. Without the worker, you lose your tax base, like Michigan is losing today.
We hope that Governor Granholm's words will make people think before they enter the voting booth!
I was talking to my friend John, and we were talking about what things I will miss about Detroit when I leave. We talked about the great places that we went when we were young: Boblo Island, Sanders, Downtown Hudsons, Hughs and Hatcher, all the great record stores, Downtown Detroit, the great parks, and great concerts at Cobo Hall.
After talking for a while, we realized Detroit as we knew it is gone. All the above has been destroyed. All that is left in Detroit is friends and memories, the unique city (which includes the suburbs) is gone with all of it's toys. Chicago and New York maintained their memories. You can still walk into Macys and Marshall Fields. You can still go to Great America and Coney Island. Both cities have beautiful downtown areas.
Our parents always use to tell us that downtown wasn't anything compared to their day. I can only imagine how great Detroit was and what has been lost. Wendell said it best when he said, "When we were kids you had to dress up to go downtown, because you did not want someone you knew to see you dressed poorly."
Things I will not miss about Detroit:
1) Forced to buy crummy cars made in Detroit. When I leave so does my loyalty. Jap cars for me and my family. It is funny! In New Jersey you see every other house has a foreign car parked in front of their homes.
2) The worst roads in the nation. Even the good freeways end in the suburbs and turn terrible in the city limits.
3) The lack of public transit. Sure, Detroit is debatable the motor city, but did they have to remove the streetcars? I hope some day Michigan will admit that Coleman Young was right when he wanted a subway built. John and I were talking about how many more events we would attend if - like Chicago - we could drive to a commuter train station and ride downtown.
4) Listening the last 25 years how Detroit was making a comeback, and watching things only get worse.
5) Looking at the waste, in the city scavengers strip bricks from abandon buildings. In the suburbs, they tear down good buildings and replace them with drugstores.
6) Urban sprawl, out east the sprawl is limited by the mountains. In Detroit, before long people will have extended the metro area to Jackson and Flint, then where will they go to escape.
The only things Detroit has is friends and family. That is the whole reason people stay here.
Jobs Jobs Everywhere, But Not A Job To Find No article states the facts about our economic recovery better than this article. Remember when the economy goes down in the rest of the country, it hits Detroit and Michigan even harder.
Detroit Is A Cool City. Just What The Governor Ordered!!!!. Cool Cities In Michigan!!!!. Detroit Is In Line To Take The Murder Capital Of The World Back From Atlanta & Washington DC!!!. Gary IN, Can't Touch Us!!!!
This article from Business Week Magazine points out that Indian firms are now buying up American (and other countries') companies, in order to provide "front" organizations for work that will be performed in large part by Indians. For example:
"In October, Bombay's Datamatics Technologies bought Detroit-based accounting outsourcer CorPay Solutions, in large part for its blue-chip roster of auto-industry clients, including Ford Motor (F ), General Motors (GM ), and DaimlerChrysler (DCX )."
The article describes a strategy called "transitioning the middle" whereby the beginning and end stages of projects performed by the acquired businesses will be performed by Americans (presumably to hide the fact that the bulk of the functions in the middle of the project will be performed by Indians). It seems that the relatively few American jobs that will be preserved will be primarily those associated with sales - in the acquisition, customer interaction, and delivery phases of projects.
While there may be associated attempts to try to convince the public that this activity will somehow preserve or increase American jobs, it actually appears that the Indian outsourcing firms are acquiring American firms so that they can better coordinate and control the increased outsourcing of American jobs.
Need I say anymore, or can you figure out how this will hurt the State of Michigan?
Lord help us. Where do people like Lisa Katz come from? Probably a wealthy family and thinks she actually learned something in MBA school. Social studies maybe? Wonder if she'll change her tune when they start shipping meaningless jobs like hers overseas. Director of Public Affairs? See her article.
Why did she not address the people in this state who have suffered from attitudes like hers? The Discovery Channel tried to spin outsourcing in the same light as Lisa Katz with a special narrated by Thomas L. Friedman, the columnist from the New York Times. What both authors fail to address is that though in theory "free trade" is suppose to spread jobs, wealth, and the American way throughout the world. Except - hey wait a minute - that's our jobs and our wealth and our American way of life that they are taking away and spreading throughout the world! Another point that they never addressed is the caste system under which India has lived for centuries (caste - hereditary social class. Members restricted in choice of occupation and range of social participation. Marriage outside the caste prohibited. Social status determined by caste of ones birth. In India, four chief castes(with many subdivisions) Brahmans(priests), Kshatriyas(the military), Vaisyas(farmers and merchants), sudras(laborers). Lowest social group, Pariahs or "Untouchables" are outside cast system. From .. Columbia Vicking Desk Encyclopedia). How has taking jobs away from America's middle class helped the illiterate povert stricken "Untouchables" in India today? The Aristocrats and the middle class in India are the only two groups of people actually benefiting from outsourcing in the US. These two groups make up less than three percent of India's total population. So to all the do gooders out there who think they are making a difference in helping the underpriviledged in India - think again! From the comments being made today, those of us who have lost our jobs are being made to feel like the "Untouchables" of India. An unemployed American Engineer or IT worker is told that he or she isn't smart enough, paid way to much, and deserves what he or she gets. The Christian organizations tell the unemployed that they are selfish Americans for wanting their jobs protected because they should be willing to give up their jobs to help the third world better it's standard of living.
My only wish is that Lisa Katz and Thomas Friedman would take off their rose tinted glasses and look at our innercity slums before they talk about helping the East Indians. I would like them to look at the violent crime statistics of America's poorest cities and tell the citizens they are selfish and have it so much better than the East Indians. Explain to our countries poor why they are subjected to so much violence when their Indian counterparts are not!
