Nice attempt at a documentary, but

This film is more about attempting to pull on your heart strings, blame the evil corporations, and not interviewing enough unbiased experts. I made a study of not only Detroit, but Gary Indiana as well. (That city is in far worse shape). The current problems in Detroit come down to:

1. Mismanagement of city funds by corrupted managers.
2. Overfunded city pension plans. This is a problem in most big cities in blue states. Chicago is about to have to declare bankruptcy due to their pension woes.
4. Union manipulation and corruption. Spoiled worker's mentality and work ethic.
3. Manufacturing plants leaving. This is certainly part of it, but many large cities have lost major manufacturing and are not in the shape of Detroit. Also, see reason number 3.

I am surprised Bush was not blamed.

So time and time again, Detroit has been offered funds and plans to get the city back on track. Instead, the money was either stolen or squandered by corrupt city managers. Funds for services were also illegally shifted. Add the ridiculous lifetime pension plans put in place when "times were great", and now there is no way to sustain that cost. This is why the federal courts denied their bankruptcy the first 2 times.

So how do you fix it?

It seems like every film school grad finds a problem and dashes off to shoot it. This film certainly shows the woes and talks about GM leaving, but you do not hear one word about the corruption, unions, or pensions. Not sure why they show the opera house full of white people. What does this supposed to imply? That car companies pay for it? So they should hand their money to the poor? Manipulation of the uneducated.

Many companies have tried to bring their operations to Detroit, (The tax benefits are outstanding and land is so cheap), but do not come once they are exposed to the mentality of former UAW workers. Why people think they are worth $35.00 per hour, especially when they di not go to college? You know why? Unions. Even Michael Moore's movie "Roger & Me" showed where they started a "back to work" program for former UAW workers. They show a Taco Bell and the manager tells Moore that the "UAW workers could not handle the fast pace and were lazy, so they quit." Even in this movie, the axle workers taking the 0.50 per hour cut for the top guys was just unacceptable. How about NO job. Wait! People like me pay for it in unemployment. That's the ticket!

My mother was a Teamster for 16 years (not by choice), and my family in MN were in the mining union, so I have personal experience too. I have seen illiterate dock workers making stupidly good money for a job a trained monkey can do, then strike every two years to get more money, and they DO get it. That did it for me on Unions.

For Detroit to be saved, it will take the right leaders, a serious change in resident attitudes about real wages and hard work, and a realistic, but tough, plan. There is no growth without some pain. Deal with this, or goodbye Detroit.