Their time is running out

Detroit.

It's an interesting social moment in the American story. Detroit has proclaimed its self bankrupt and the African-American people are turning out onto the streets, unhappy about the the case of the black teenager Trayvon Martin who was killed by the neighbourhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman. The link between these stories, I believe lays the problem America and in fact, all Western societies have. The economies of these old school capitalist nations is that the economy which underpins jobs and provides the low skill workers with an opportunity to earn a living, has moved off shore. The Race issue in much of America and this country is exacerbated by the unemployment issue. Without a job without money in your pocket you are without self esteem and the option to turn to crime which is an option for all of us, is too attractive, in fact one could say is virtually inevitable !! The situation which then arises is that stereotyping begins in earnest whereby young black men are seen as potential criminals, a view substantiated by the statistics of those arrested. When Zimmerman saw the young black youngster he interpreted the scene and pronounced Martin a criminal. The Civic authorities who are middle class and white, create a judicial situation whereby the jurors are white and the judge leads them to pronounce in favour of Zimmerman. Stereotyping, cause and effect has led to a mass turnout on the streets with the potential of serious disturbance and a Luthar King moment.

In Detroit they have accepted the inevitable, so many bills to pay, so many pension cheques to pay but with an "income base" that has been deteriorating for years with the run down of low-skilled employment. They are insolvent!

America like the UK and Europe have witnessed and even enabled, through short term thinking the dismantling of our manufacturing base. Unable to understand the fabric of the society into which they were born, the decision makers plumped for the cheap manufacturing offered in China and were able to make the short term profit.
The legacy is the broken disillusioned society which will be with us for generations. Only the forward thinkers in the likes of Germany, Holland, Scandinavia have they produced industries that beat anyone, anywhere. Without resorting to cheap labour they have developed large industrial businesses that produce high quality products. They invested in not only the machinery but in the labour force to ensure they had the skills to carry the game. 

Interesting that the Americans found 80 billion dollars to support the motor industry in Detroit but couldn't stump up the 18 billion needed to keep a city running but of course one has to understand the Detroit is manifestly an Afro American city and therefore unlike the Bankers and the Auto Investors they were of less a consequence, at least for now but their time is coming !!!