Ground Zero For The American Nightmare: Unemployment Is Now At 45 Percent In Detroit

December 17, 2009
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DetroitDetroit has become ground zero for what is quickly becoming known as the American Nightmare. Hundreds of thousands of people in the Detroit metropolitan area are desperate for work, and there is no help in sight. The Detriot News is reporting that while the "official" unemployment rate in Detroit is 27 percent, the reality is that it should really be about 45 percent using a broader definition of unemployment.  And according to the Detroit News report, that 45 percent figure does not even include those who gave up searching for a job more than a year ago.  That would add about another 100,000 people to the unemployment figure in Detroit.

In other words, Detroit is a complete and total mess.

Even the mayor of Detroit acknowledges that the unemployment situation is a lot worse than official figures indicate.

At a jobs forum in Washington D.C. earlier this month, Detroit Mayor Dave Bing said that the unemployment rate in Detroit is actually "closer to 50 percent."

So what has happened in Detroit?

Detroit used to be the mecca of auto manufacturing.  But over the past couple decades factory after factory has been closed only to be reopened elsewhere in the world.

Now those jobs are gone forever.  For millions of people in Michigan, the American Dream has become the American Nightmare.

But what is going on in Detroit is just a microcosm of what is going on in the United States as a whole.

For decades everyone has stood by and watched as millions of jobs have been shipped off to China, India, Mexico and dozens of other nations.

Millions of Americans were all too glad to scoop up products made by slave laborers in places like China for a few pennies less than products made in America.

U.S. politicians were all too glad to sign one-sided trade agreements with other nations that closed the doors of other nations to American products while opening the doors of the United States to a flood of cheap imports.

Now the manufacturing base in the United States has been decimated and it is not coming back.

Millions of jobs have been lost forever.

Now blue collar workers all over the U.S. find themselves in direct competition with millions of workers in China and India and Mexico who are making only a small fraction of what they make.

How in the world can they compete?

The truth is that this is the end of the world for the blue collar worker of the United States.

There will be no recovery for factory workers.

In fact what we are seeing in Detroit will ultimately spread across the U.S.

The foolishness of decades of bad policies in Washington D.C. is now starting to hit home.

So pay close attention to what is happening in Detroit.

It will be hitting your hometown soon enough.

Detroit Michigan

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  • Kevin Cullis

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  • http://www.buyerbeaware.blogspot.com David Jeremiah

    Speed has a limit depending on the Vehicle. Acceleration has a limit depending on the Factors. So has exponential Borrowing a limit depending on the Empire. Borrowing 1 Trillion a year for 20 years on a 20 year budget deficit in sight and no new ideas except wage war – we are heading towards another economic crisis sooner than later, I say ! http://www.buyerbeaware.blogspot.com

  • http://www.seobro.com seobro

    Obama’s solution is to pass HELLth care. That way we can saddle american industry with costs even more. I imagine he will raise taxes soon.

  • wolf

    I’m from Europe, but I have seen Detroit and it is really sad.
    But I have also seen a bit US and I have experienced the attitude of the lovely american which I really love. But this scares me.
    We in Europe lose also a lot of jobs to Asia or somewhere else. But the answer can only be: EDUCATION.
    We want by cheap – European as well as American. But we want get paid expensive!
    How does that fit?
    Only if we can do things what others cannot do. Let the chinese produce cheap. OK.. we safe money.
    But we develope and make products the world has never seen before.
    But this needs EDUCATION.
    And here is US in a big disadvantage compared to Europe.
    This is our challenge for this century.
    My opinion.

    Wolf

  • http://www.artistnos.co.uk Colin Hall

    With so many million adults in the UK reliant upon benefits to live, I would question the legality of any government judging the validity of any un-ememployed persons ability to work upon health grounds. My logic is based upon the individuals right to mass peaceful protest and the fact that any government might see participating in this activity may signal that an incapacity benefit claimant would be able to work if they are able to protest.

    By signaling that an individual may lose their financial support if they actively campaign against the same organisation that controls their livelyhood, the government is using scare tactics to control the behaviour of a group of people who have reason to protest more than other groups in the UK.

  • Ralf

    As long as there is still enough tax money to be spent on munitions and bombs in Afghanistan, Irak, Libya and wherever, it can’t be that bad.

  • Anthony

    DETROIT IS WONDERFUL! Ground zero my ass….I hate these out of town articles. Sure Detroit has unemployment, crime, and a homeless problem. However, Detroit is filled with blue collar, hard working, Americans of every ethnicity. It’s truly a melting pot that begun with the industrial revolution. We have a beautiful downtown area filled with sports arenas, championship teams, world class restaurants, Eminem & Kid Rock, MOTOWN and the birth place of TECHNO, and of chores we have the BIG THREE. We have people and family’s who have nothing, but still donate their time and what little money they have to make a difference in OUR CITY. I AM DETROIT AND I’M PROUD TO CALL THIS CITY HOME! GOD BLESS DETROIT!

  • http://mosthostserver.com/ Darren

    Like Anthony said: the midwest has its ups and downs like any place. No need to bash Detroit.

  • Johannes S.

    A great city have been destroyed by proxy. Blame the
    idiots, the politicians and so forth. That criminal cabal
    and vandals.

  • Mark

    The world has become a small place. In order to do well, we must compete with the rest of the world. If we want to keep our jobs, we have to produce our products and services better, cheaper and faster than every one else. If you think that government tariffs or regulations are going to protect us from the rest of the world, you are dreaming.

    At the same time, if you think that companies like to be imposed with one tax after another, or burdened by this or that regulation at the whim of a nonchalant public figure who is concerned with her own reelection, you need only to look at Detroit to see what happens when you are too hostile to industry.

    The United States prospered when the government had not been the great nanny that it is now. When the government did not meddle in our lives, we did much better.

  • machine

    These pixs are from old run down factorys from the 60s lol.The companys who left those builds went to better new buildings lmfao.Leave it to the media to cause a fake interptition lol.This article could have caused a few people maybe more not to invest money or time into Detroit.Every little bit helps but the media has to survive also because it’s a company too lol.