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It seems to me that the proximate cause of Detroit's problem is this massive flight of high-value (in the economic sense) population. I don't see even an echo

It seems to me that the proximate cause of Detroit's problem is this massive flight of high-value (in the economic sense) population. I don't see even an echo of that happening in the US; certainly not at the level that it could be considered a problem.

NoPiece 13y ago
The problem with Detroit is unsustainable debt. Depopulation is just one of many contributing factors. The depopulation has been slow, very long term, and predictable. The debt could have been avoided by scaling back spending as the the population decreased. Or an effective Detroit government might have even taken steps to improve the city so people didn't leave or even moved in.
bmelton 13y ago
That may not currently be a problem, and as I'm not a psychic, it may never be a problem, but it's certainly more likely to happen from over-taxing the top 10-20%, and/or overtaxing businesses. History has examples of a nation trying to fix its financial woes through taxing the rich, and generally, the rich simply leave. Currently, Americans are renouncing their citizenship at record levels due to FATCA[1] and emigration from the US is at elevated levels since it spiked in 2009[2]. [1] - http://money.msn.com/now/post--more-americans-are-renouncing-their-citizenship http://money.msn.com/now/post--more-americans-are-renouncing... [2] - http://www.indexmundi.com/g/g.aspx?c=us&v=27 http://www.indexmundi.com/g/g.aspx?c=us&v=27