IPFS News Link • Economy - Economics USA
IPFS News Link • Economy - Economics USA
The central planners in government needed the powerful
corporations, and the powerful corporations came to depend on the
bureaucracy, too. The marriage worked well for the politicians
and for their corporate cronies, but Detroit itself entered a
decades-long decline. America watched as Detroit slowly bled people,
jobs and revenue. Politicians tried spending money. They tried raising
taxes. The more they taxed and spent, the faster the city declined.
Detroit still had its "Big Three" auto manufacturers, until two of
its crown jewels, General Motors and Chrysler, imploded in 2008 under
the weight of reckless and subsidized mismanagement.
Instead of allowing market forces to rebuild Detroit and the
auto industry, the United States handed billions of dollars to General
Motors and Chrysler.
Five years later, the city of Detroit is bankrupt and almost $20 billion dollars in debt. Meanwhile, General Motors has a cash balance of over $20 billion, still
owes the taxpayers over $10 billion dollars that outgoing CEO Dan
Akerson said will not be paid, and the company continues to benefit from
an unprecedented $18 billion tax gift from the bankruptcy.