Is Kevin Orr living too large?

[nain rouge]

I think this whole argument about poverty [[to go back a few posts) requires us to analyze what poverty is. Is poverty relying on government checks? Making minimum wage? Or something else?

According to the U.S. government, an individual making only $12,000 a year isn't living in poverty, so long as that person isn't married or supporting anyone else. But who among us wouldn't consider that person impoverished? It's relatively easy in this country to make $10-14 an hour if you have a high school degree and can keep yourself relatively together, but rising above that is nearly impossible if you don't have the right college degree and connections.

For many of us in that $10-14 bracket, life is a constant frustration, having enough to get by but never enough to get ahead, each setback in life a major financial headache. And I think when it comes to the topic of poverty, that's what a lot of disgruntled Americans are referring to. We get sick of the constant grind - employers with no loyalty that view us a replaceable, doing jobs that feed off of exploitation and seemingly arbitrary expectations, and the rewards carefully calculated to be just barely enough to keep us fed and working. That's poverty.

Maybe I'm bitter, living within the bowels of the service industry. But I see an economy that preys off of the tired and uninformed, those too busy to realize they're being fleeced by an environment that screams, consume, consume, consume, all served by an underclass as equally dazed.

And in Detroit, I see a populace disillusioned, the past exploitation having been so obvious that many gave in to the wrong routes. That's ultimately why I think you can't fix Detroit without fixing society first. We're broken. Just think of how many suburbanites can be traced back to a war-torn street in Detroit. We have no roots, no strong social structures to keep the average neighborhood healthy over the decades. All is slowly creeping decay. First it's inner city Detroit. Then it's Six Mile. Now it's Warren, Hazel Park, or Oak Park. What's next?

I realize this rant has gone in some odd directions, but I guess I've had some feelings I've needed to get off my chest. Big events like Detroit's municipal bankruptcy can do that. Let's pray we find a way.

[Wesley Mouch]

I didn't intend to imply that the status quo is acceptable. That's why I said he makes some valid points - but he is exaggerating. It is not easy but he is certainly implying it is impossible - which it isn't.

I was going to argue that you aren't fighting a political machine to get bills paid, because the problem is more a cash flow problem. But then I reconsidered. It is a political machine. Sometimes a very irritating one. But not the impossible situation he is describing.

I would like to see the city administration become a place where he would be able to make changes for the better. Its that simple. A place where its difficult, but not impossible to make improvements isn't what will bring Detroit back. We need to aim high.