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Detriot was once the richest city per capita in the US, in the 1950s. It is now the second poorest city per capita in the US, an actual wasteland. SF seems to b

by mjfl 4y ago

Detriot was once the richest city per capita in the US, in the 1950s. It is now the second poorest city per capita in the US, an actual wasteland. SF seems to be headed in a similar direction. It's because the people that live there simply don't live on this planet - they don't have to. It is so wealthy that there's no penalty for being delusional. Until it's too late of course. And that's when the weight of fate punches you 6 ft under the ground, and you never recover.

grumple 4y ago
I didn't realize how wealthy Detroit was. It really highlights how far the fall was, and that any city can experience this collapse.
- bombcar 4y ago
  Much of it was people leaving Detroit city proper and moving into the suburbs around it which are technically separate independent cities. The metro area still went vastly downhill and the manufacturing never recovered (many of the US car manufacturers moved elsewhere).
  - alephnerd 4y ago
    It's been similar in the Bay Area since the 70s-80s. A common joke here in SF is "What's present are you getting your 4 year old? A house in Marin/Walnut Creek". Also if we're being honest, SF was never the tech hub of the Bay Area - it was always Santa Clara County. Before the 2010s, the only major software company here in SF was probably Salesforce and that's because Benioff is a townie.
  - TheRealDunkirk 4y ago
    Twenty-five years ago, my nice, quiet, little Fortune 250 was "merged" with another Fortune 250 called Meritor, which subsequently went full-corporate-raider on my company, and pillaged it until all that was left was the carcass, which they then sold to PE. In the 3 years that they put on their show, I would occasionally work at a place they had renovated in downtown Detroit. It was a model turnaround! The city is recovering! The CEO, Larry Fuckin Yost(1), won "CEO of the year" from... someone or something. And, yeah, it was nice, but they had to put 12' fencing around it, and I was told not to leave the property on foot. Across the street were a row of derelict houses. On my first visit, I saw a semi tractor parked on the street in front of them. I asked why he would stop there, on the street, in front of those houses, and was told that the driver was likely getting a blowjob from a crack whore. I guess little has changed in the decades since. 1) I'm guessing at his middle name.

by mjfl 4y ago

grumple 4y ago

I didn't realize how wealthy Detroit was. It really highlights how far the fall was, and that any city can experience this collapse.

bombcar 4y ago
Much of it was people leaving Detroit city proper and moving into the suburbs around it which are technically separate independent cities. The metro area still went vastly downhill and the manufacturing never recovered (many of the US car manufacturers moved elsewhere).
- alephnerd 4y ago
  It's been similar in the Bay Area since the 70s-80s. A common joke here in SF is "What's present are you getting your 4 year old? A house in Marin/Walnut Creek". Also if we're being honest, SF was never the tech hub of the Bay Area - it was always Santa Clara County. Before the 2010s, the only major software company here in SF was probably Salesforce and that's because Benioff is a townie.
- TheRealDunkirk 4y ago
  Twenty-five years ago, my nice, quiet, little Fortune 250 was "merged" with another Fortune 250 called Meritor, which subsequently went full-corporate-raider on my company, and pillaged it until all that was left was the carcass, which they then sold to PE. In the 3 years that they put on their show, I would occasionally work at a place they had renovated in downtown Detroit. It was a model turnaround! The city is recovering! The CEO, Larry Fuckin Yost(1), won "CEO of the year" from... someone or something. And, yeah, it was nice, but they had to put 12' fencing around it, and I was told not to leave the property on foot. Across the street were a row of derelict houses. On my first visit, I saw a semi tractor parked on the street in front of them. I asked why he would stop there, on the street, in front of those houses, and was told that the driver was likely getting a blowjob from a crack whore. I guess little has changed in the decades since. 1) I'm guessing at his middle name.