Detroit is broke; could bankruptcy lie ahead?

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SheHateMe

SheHateMe

Diamond Member
Jul 21, 2012
7,251
20
81
Mursilis said:
Your mentality is part of the reason why Detroit has become the hell-hole it is now.
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...sure it is. :colbert:

I have never voted for any of the leaders in Detroit. I was a child when Kwame took office, and I'd moved off to college by the time everyone found out Kwame was up to no good. I'd permanently moved to VA by the time Bing was in office.

If Detroiters had my mentality, perhaps so many corrupt city officials wouldn't have been elected to power in the first place. :whiste: What goes on in the city saddens me. Fortunately, I don't have to feel what its like to be school aged in Detroit or to be elderly in Detroit.

However, I have family members who are..and they still live here.
 
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Spungo

Spungo

Diamond Member
Jul 22, 2012
3,217
2
81
SheHateMe said:
However, I have family members who are..and they still live here.
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What is their property tax like? The land is worth $1000 but the tax on the land is $2000? Seems like a pretty sweet place to make minimum wage because you can buy an entire lot for that amount. Guys in NYC work 3 jobs to live in a broom closet.
 
SheHateMe

SheHateMe

Diamond Member
Jul 21, 2012
7,251
20
81
Spungo said:
What is their property tax like? The land is worth $1000 but the tax on the land is $2000? Seems like a pretty sweet place to make minimum wage because you can buy an entire lot for that amount. Guys in NYC work 3 jobs to live in a broom closet.
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I don't know what my Grandparent's property taxes are.

I have a cousin that just bought a two family flat for 1200. And the two living areas are huge. She's going to gut the upstairs one and turn it into a second floor.

And this is a historic property, built in the 1900s....for $1200...have mercy :/
 
Spungo

Spungo

Diamond Member
Jul 22, 2012
3,217
2
81
OK I have a new money idea. Legalize cocaine and prostitution in that one city. Billions of dollars appear overnight :D
 
Spungo

Spungo

Diamond Member
Jul 22, 2012
3,217
2
81
nehalem256 said:
I thought the going rate for a prostitute in Detroit was 3 cigarettes? ^_^
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I have such an awesomely racist comeback for that but I can't say it because it's racist.

What I mean is CLEAN prostitutes, in nice clean buildings. Monthly disease testing, condoms needed, etc. High security in the building. Gates around the building.
 
M

Mursilis

Diamond Member
Mar 11, 2001
7,756
11
81
SheHateMe said:
...sure it is. :colbert:

I have never voted for any of the leaders in Detroit. I was a child when Kwame took office, and I'd moved off to college by the time everyone found out Kwame was up to no good. I'd permanently moved to VA by the time Bing was in office.

If Detroiters had my mentality, perhaps so many corrupt city officials wouldn't have been elected to power in the first place. :whiste: What goes on in the city saddens me. Fortunately, I don't have to feel what its like to be school aged in Detroit or to be elderly in Detroit.

However, I have family members who are..and they still live here.
Click to expand...

But you did complain that a city that's basically flat broke isn't providing more services, yes? With what money?
 
SheHateMe

SheHateMe

Diamond Member
Jul 21, 2012
7,251
20
81
Mursilis said:
But you did complain that a city that's basically flat broke isn't providing more services, yes? With what money?
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And I guess you missed the part where I said investors have offered to solve our issues with Detroit's emergency services. Not only that, but there are other parties interested in doing projects in Detroit. But, the city won't let it happen. A guy offered to service all of Detroit Emergency vehicles for free...and the city declined/didn't respond. Another party offered to outfit emergency services with new vehicles, the city did not respond.

The beat goes on.
 
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AdamantC

AdamantC

Senior member
Apr 19, 2011
478
0
76
Genx87 said:
Sell the city to the federal govt for 1 million bucks. Use it for munitions testing on urban centers.
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The populace probably wouldn't even notice if you started doing this with them still in the city. In fact they could make a fortune selling all the scrap munitions!
 
nextJin

nextJin

Golden Member
Apr 16, 2009
1,848
0
0
Isin't Detroit the city that had homes for sale for 400-800 bucks? Like block after block after block? Why wouldn't someone buy them all up, destroy them put a 8 ft high privacy fence up and live on a built mansion with 600 acres?
 
Jimzz

Jimzz

Diamond Member
Oct 23, 2012
4,399
190
106
nextJin said:
Isin't Detroit the city that had homes for sale for 400-800 bucks? Like block after block after block? Why wouldn't someone buy them all up, destroy them put a 8 ft high privacy fence up and live on a built mansion with 600 acres?
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Because prop taxs are crazy and even after all that you still be living in Detroit.
 
Spungo

Spungo

Diamond Member
Jul 22, 2012
3,217
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Jimzz said:
Because prop taxs are crazy and even after all that you still be living in Detroit.
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Wouldn't the property tax be similar to elsewhere? A house in a normal city might be $200k and the property tax is $2k. Detroit would have the same $2k property tax but you save $199k on the property. That's huge savings! Building a giant "fuck poor people" mansion with high bulletproof walls right in the middle of the ghetto has never been cheaper. Due to the lack of police, you could buy a .30-06 and take pot shots at abandoned buildings.

The down side is that your entire house would need to be bulletproof and that would be expensive. If I were Detroit-poor and some dude had a house nicer than mine, I would hate on him and shoot at his house until it's as shitty as my house. This idea came to me when I was watching Roadhouse and I kept asking why nobody was shooting the rich guy's house. Killing him might cause an investigation, but psychological terror wouldn't. Fire a 12 gauge slug as his house every time the door opens. Damn that movie was dumb. Swayze was the only reason to watch it.
 
P

PokerGuy

Lifer
Jul 2, 2005
13,650
201
101
IMO it's not a matter of if there will be bankruptcy, it's a matter of when.

There are a lot of things that could have helped the city, but if you see the videos of some of their city council members and their city "leaders", it's quickly apparent that you'd have to be crazy to establish any kind of business in that city.
 
glenn1

glenn1

Lifer
Sep 6, 2000
25,383
1,013
126
PokerGuy said:
IMO it's not a matter of if there will be bankruptcy, it's a matter of when.

There are a lot of things that could have helped the city, but if you see the videos of some of their city council members and their city "leaders", it's quickly apparent that you'd have to be crazy to establish any kind of business in that city.
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They're more valuable as a negative example for other cities and states; businesses can point to the abandonment and economic devastation of the city as a warning to others, and conservatives can point to the government as a prime example of progressive failure.
 
P

PokerGuy

Lifer
Jul 2, 2005
13,650
201
101
Greenman said:
I don't know what "diversification" means in this context.
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I think he means that Detroit was essentially tied into the auto industry as the main / only major economic force. When the auto industry in detroit went south, the city had no other avenues to pursue, ie, there was no diversification of the economy and they suffered for it.
 
C

chucky2

Lifer
Dec 9, 1999
10,038
36
86
Probably the only real option is for Detroit to go bankrupt so the current contracts are voided. I still like the Spender ideology of blowing money they don't have though. I think Detroit could be a perfect experiment to see just how successful this really could be. If it doesn't work, Detroit will be no worse off than it is now (and they can essentially have a party doing so). If it does work, we can start getting $5k checks every 6 months rolled out to every US actual taxpayer. I for one have been waiting for mine since switching over to the Spender side, I'm just hoping I'll see it one of these days... :(
 
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