Dick Folrida's dog and pony show

[DetroitPlanner]

Thinks we are all suckers!
http://prospect.org/article/ruse-creative-class-0

[Hamtragedy]

You think that's bad, remember the name Art Laffer, and his Laffer curve? Since being Reagan's economic advisor, over 30 years ago, we are still waiting for his trickle-down economics to bear fruit.

Some opponents claim it worked brilliantly, although in reverse, in our recent socialist bail-out of the banks, but don't tell that to the socialism bashing-numbnut types on the right.

[iheartthed]

A broken clock is right twice per day:

"I'm not saying abandon these places," he says. "I'm saying, number one, invest in their assets, number two, invest in their connective fiber" to other cities. He is an advocate of building high-speed rail to link cities like Detroit, Buffalo, and Milwaukee to Chicago and Toronto. What he really opposes, he says, is propping up industries like auto manufacturing. He recognizes that expecting people to leave home for his creative hubs is "gut wrenching" and laments the "massive geographic inequality" that will result.

If any city could benefit from such an investment it is Detroit.

[JBMcB]

You think that's bad, remember the name Art Laffer, and his Laffer curve? Since being Reagan's economic advisor, over 30 years ago, we are still waiting for his trickle-down economics to bear fruit.

None of the elements in those sentences are related in economics. You are conflating a half dozen economic and non-economic principals.

[Gannon]

Richard Florida has never proposed anything other than 'perceived value'...at his speech at Orchestra Hall six years ago, his whole premise was based upon his terribly expensive eyeglasses. It actually excited him that the eyecare industry was able to establish 'value' enough to get him to spend $600 when a few years earlier he was astounded by glasses half that price.


I stopped listening to him after that...

[Rolfsy]

Not rushing to Folrida's defense, but nothing in the article points to him calling Detroiters 'suckers'. He's stating an obvious fact - sometimes things break down to the point most sane people will walk away. Detroit has been a longshot for 40 years or more, and the odds just keep getting longer.

I think what he's really saying in this, if he was thinking of Detroiters as the audience specifically, is that Monster Factory Town 1942 Detroit is not coming back. Which makes sense, if only because there's no geographical reason that the entire auto industry should be located in one spot. Plus, mechanization has ruined factories as neighborhood-fillers [[maybe another reason so many advise against chasing smokestacks?).

[bailey]

Not rushing to Folrida's defense, but nothing in the article points to him calling Detroiters 'suckers'. He's stating an obvious fact - sometimes things break down to the point most sane people will walk away. Detroit has been a longshot for 40 years or more, and the odds just keep getting longer.

I think what he's really saying in this, if he was thinking of Detroiters as the audience specifically, is that Monster Factory Town 1942 Detroit is not coming back. Which makes sense, if only because there's no geographical reason that the entire auto industry should be located in one spot. Plus, mechanization has ruined factories as neighborhood-fillers [[maybe another reason so many advise against chasing smokestacks?).

Unfortunately that message still fails to penetrate the willful ignorance of most of the local leadership and populace. No matter who the messenger is... be it John "the jobs arent coming back" McCain in 2008 or Richard Florida today, people will line up to shoot him rather than addressing the issue.

[DetroitPlanner]

Not rushing to Florida's defense, but nothing in the article points to him calling Detroiters 'suckers'.

You're right, but the writer cannot say something like that and not be sued for Libel. He has however made the arguement that Florida's work may not be all that it appears to be.

[rooms222]

I think that the recession and deflation of real estate prices is hurting the least hot areas of the country, including our own. This is accurate, even if it goes against his prior statements.

Metro Detroit has been through a lot, and has both people, buildings, and assets that are not being used in an optimal or productive way. This includes large parts of the city and the suburbs. Many people also feel trapped in their homes and in the region because they are underwater or can't afford to live in a higher cost of living area. Many stores, factories, and even museums are closed due to lack of finances.

Repurposing the assets of the region is going to be important. There is the hope that our educational assets will not wither away during these hard times, and that people can be trained to become productive, with the constraints of what we have or what we can create, as the numbers of semi and unskilled jobs are unlikely to come back, and, to the extent they do, they will be lower paying and more particular about who is considered employable.

The good news is that Metro Detroit still has strengths, particularly in the reconstituted auto industry. It is not what it once was, but there will continue to be a core of engineering talent in Metro Detroit, a supplier network, a more viable Big 3 with their headquarters here, more concentrated domestic assembly facilities, and the EPA testing facilities for emissions and fuel economy in Ann Arbor [[which means every automaker selling in the US has some presence here in Metro Detroit). These assets insure some migration to Detroit, and some potential for future development along a tangential path to develop things inspired by the skills needed, but not dependent upon the auto industry.

[Gannon]

That night Florida conquered Orchestra Hall...when Kwhyme was introducing the RockStar Economist, he was heckled by someone in the crowd. The Big Diamond was boasting about the deal he had just cut with Matty Maroun about the old Train Station, and had just uttered the line, "...and you KNOW how much we love old buildings...", as someone two-thirds back in the middle hollered, "What about the Madison-Lennox?!".

I caught his reaction...

[DetroitPlanner]

I don't disagree with his HSR statements. In fact we are improving the trip from Detroit to Chicago right now. We may not have the billions it would take to make a 200 mph trip possible, but we should be able to shave off a lot of time by just making the track operate more efficiently. One example is the Junction Yard in Detroit, improvements will save 15 minutes between the Detroit and Dearborn Stations alone.

I always thought of him as a charlatan, a Henry Hill screaming "We gots trouble!! Right here in River City!!" A man with no real plan. His backpeddaling on the Cool Cities is quite humorous as is he telling the lady whose neighborhood is disappearing around her that she is screwed. It is a far different story than he was peddaling earlier when the govts were giving him thousands of dollars on how to save thier cities.

[Baron_Haussmann]

This article is over two years old - why are you posting this now?

[Ravine]

This article is over two years old - why are you posting this now?

We're getting a lot of stuff like that, around here, lately; the other one to be wary of is the bit where someone shovels out a thread from ages ago and pops it back to the top of the list by posting on it.

[Gistok]

We're getting a lot of stuff like that, around here, lately; the other one to be wary of is the bit where someone shovels out a thread from ages ago and pops it back to the top of the list by posting on it.

I noticed that too Ravine... and sometimes it may catch you off guard thinking it was a brand new thread... until you start reading thru it without realizing it until you come across one of your own posts! Or you see someone's post who you know has been gone a long time [[Karl, CC Batson, Brian, Stlgasm, Jelk, Skulker, et al)...

One of my favorites was someone who opened a 2 year old thread, and was bitching at a former forumers comments... until I told him "quit yer bitchin', that guy's been gone for years!"

[illwill]

You ever notice that the positive threads only have about 2 or 3 comments on them. And a negative Detroit thread can go on for days. This has become a "Bash Detroit" website over the past couple of years. As an original lurker, I remember when we just talked Detroit and we weren't so critical about making Detroit into this fairy tale trendy city. We understood that Detroit is what it is...and we loved it without all of the trendy stores, people and restaurants.