The Man Behind the Destruction of Detroit

Detroit’s bankruptcy began during the 20-year (1974-1994) tenure of Mayor of Detroit Coleman Young. As the Wall Street Journal’s Steve Malanga explains:

Today, Detroit sits in bankruptcy court as the largest municipal Chapter 9 case in American history. Much of the commentary about the city’s decline has focused on global economic forces that displaced auto manufacturing jobs and public unions whose demands emptied the till as Detroit foundered.

The truth is that Detroit was a failed city long before it became insolvent, thanks to a virtual collapse of its municipal government during Young’s 1974-1994 reign as mayor. A radical trade unionist who ran as an antiestablishment candidate reaching out to disenfranchised black voters, Young lacked a plan except to go to war with the city’s major institutions and demand that the federal government save it with subsidies. Critics called it “tin-cup urbanism.”

As the city’s government became increasingly less effective, whites and then middle-class blacks fled. “He left the city a fiscal and social wreck,” the eminent political scientist James Q. Wilson wrote in a 1998 article in The New Republic, “The Closing of the American City.”

The truth is that Detroit was a failed city long before it became insolvent, thanks to a virtual collapse of its municipal government during Young’s 1974-1994 reign as mayor. A radical trade unionist who ran as an antiestablishment candidate reaching out to disenfranchised black voters, Young lacked a plan except to go to war with the city’s major institutions and demand that the federal government save it with subsidies. Critics called it “tin-cup urbanism.”

As the city’s government became increasingly less effective, whites and then middle-class blacks fled. “He left the city a fiscal and social wreck,” the eminent political scientist James Q. Wilson wrote in a 1998 article in The New Republic, “The Closing of the American City.”

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E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

Preparing your investments and family for when disaster strikes.

E.J. Smith is the Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH, where he completed course-work in Practical and Defensive Handgun, Conceal Carry Pistol, Shotguns, Precision Scope Rifle and Kidnapping Prevention. E.J. plays a Yamaha Recording Custom drum set with Zilldjian cymbals. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zilldjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West and Paris. Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@youngresearch.com. Sign up here to receive all the best content from Richardcyoung.com each week.