Originally Posted by
corktownyuppie
The only way we can come anything close to a 1950s Detroit would be for us to re-emerge as the world's leader in some highly innovative technology, be the only city [[or one of the few) in the world that can provide it. Then find some way to eliminate the legacy costs that have been built up over the last 60 years from the fortune which we once created. Then we need to find some way of eliminating all of the people in the area who are unable to directly or indirectly participate in this new economy.
That's how Detroit became what it was in the 1950s. Every business was a giant growth engine, tripling...quadrupling production and profits annually. There's no mature industry that can triple its profits once its the size of GM. Going from $10MM to $30MM is fun. From $30MM to $90MM is lots of fun. From $100B to $300B is impossible.
I am not content becoming a mid-size city. I'm reluctantly accepting that it's all we can be right now. We need to rightsize and stabilize. From that point we can start planting the seeds for the giant growth industries of the next generation.
Solely focusing our efforts on those seeds now would be like planting them in a land filled with toxic waste. Sure, they might grow, but once they look strong enough to be something big, we're going to transplant them to Silicon Valley or Austin, Texas. If we're lucky, maybe Ann Arbor.
This new Detroit is going to be a 30-60 year process. Then, maybe, then, we'll be a top 5 city again.