Infrastructure Woe

[Willi]

City of Detroit and State of Michigan will quickly come to a CrossRoads. Do people want repaired roads, clean water or the toilets to flush ?

Having all 3 happen involves money - municipal bonds, borrowing, interest. Can it all happen at ONCE , by simply printing money from the Feds ? What threshold of taxation will residents be willing to endure ?

Many countries have partly privatized infrastructure through public-private partnerships [[“PPPs” or “P3s”). When private businesses are taking the risks and putting their profits on the line, funding is more likely to get allocated to high-return projects and complete in the most efficient manner.

Around 56 percent of all Americans have a subprime credit rating, the average monthly car payment in the US is $474, and 52 percent of homeowners are overextended on their mortgages and “cannot even afford the house that they are living in right now.”

The Congressional Budget Office predicts that the economy will stall by 2017 because Americans will continue spending, but wages and wealth won’t be going up .

Total US debt is now almost $59.4 trillion [[ government, businesses, and people) Just 40 years ago it was only $2.2 trillion .................................................. .............

[Detroitnerd]

Cool story, bro.

[MikeM]

The sky is falling.

[313WX]

City of Detroit and State of Michigan will quickly come to a CrossRoads.
Do people want repaired roads, clean water or the toilets to flush ?

Having all 3 happen involves money - municipal bonds, borrowing, interest.
Can it all happen at ONCE , by simply printing money from the Feds ?
What threshold of taxation will residents be willing to endure ?

Many countries have partly privatized infrastructure through
public-private partnerships [[“PPPs” or “P3s”).
When private businesses are taking the risks and putting their profits on the line,
funding is more likely to get allocated to high-return projects and completed
in the most efficient manner.

Around 56 percent of all Americans have a subprime credit rating,
the average monthly car payment in the US is $474 ,
and 52 percent of homeowners are overextended on their mortgages
and “cannot even afford the house that they are living in right now.”

The Congressional Budget Office predicts that the economy
will stall by 2017 because Americans will continue spending,
but wages and wealth won’t be going up .

Total US debt is now almost $59.4 trillion [[ government, businesses, and people)
Just 40 years ago it was only $2.2 trillion .................................................. .............

Have you contacted your fair leaders in the great city of Warren and your state/US representative to express your concerns and solutions, as I suggested before?

[Willi]

I don't have a solution - We PAY people to think - they're called representatives.
Maybe you would like to raise their salaries for their performance excellence so far ?

[313WX]

I don't have a solution - We PAY people to think - they're called representatives.
Maybe you would like to raise their salaries for their performance excellence so far ?

You gave them the power to make the changes you want through the voting process. But they won't know what changes you want unless you tell them...

[Willi]

I talk to them plenty - but I'm only 1 man. How many are you 313WX ?

[jt1]

City of Detroit and State of Michigan will quickly come to a CrossRoads.
Do people want repaired roads, clean water or the toilets to flush ?

Having all 3 happen involves money - municipal bonds, borrowing, interest.
Can it all happen at ONCE , by simply printing money from the Feds ?
What threshold of taxation will residents be willing to endure ?

Many countries have partly privatized infrastructure through
public-private partnerships [[“PPPs” or “P3s”).
When private businesses are taking the risks and putting their profits on the line,
funding is more likely to get allocated to high-return projects and completed
in the most efficient manner.

Around 56 percent of all Americans have a subprime credit rating,
the average monthly car payment in the US is $474 ,
and 52 percent of homeowners are overextended on their mortgages
and “cannot even afford the house that they are living in right now.”

The Congressional Budget Office predicts that the economy
will stall by 2017 because Americans will continue spending,
but wages and wealth won’t be going up .

Total US debt is now almost $59.4 trillion [[ government, businesses, and people)
Just 40 years ago it was only $2.2 trillion .................................................. .............

Thanks for this post: I needed a Friday afternoon shitstorm for entertainment. You have filled that need.

[ABetterDetroit]

City of Detroit and State of Michigan will quickly come to a CrossRoads.
Do people want repaired roads, clean water or the toilets to flush ?

Having all 3 happen involves money - municipal bonds, borrowing, interest.
Can it all happen at ONCE , by simply printing money from the Feds ?
What threshold of taxation will residents be willing to endure ?

Many countries have partly privatized infrastructure through
public-private partnerships [[“PPPs” or “P3s”).
When private businesses are taking the risks and putting their profits on the line,
funding is more likely to get allocated to high-return projects and completed
in the most efficient manner.

Around 56 percent of all Americans have a subprime credit rating,
the average monthly car payment in the US is $474 ,
and 52 percent of homeowners are overextended on their mortgages
and “cannot even afford the house that they are living in right now.”

The Congressional Budget Office predicts that the economy
will stall by 2017 because Americans will continue spending,
but wages and wealth won’t be going up .

Total US debt is now almost $59.4 trillion [[ government, businesses, and people)
Just 40 years ago it was only $2.2 trillion .................................................. .............

Huh what? O, no problem dude this is detroityes.com and you thought you were on gunboards.com or the survivalistforum.com It happens all the time. Just the other day I was at allfordmustangs.com and I ran into some guy who relentlessly ripped on mustangs and I said "B'ham is that you?" and when he confirmed we had a good laugh.

[RO_Resident]

Many countries have partly privatized infrastructure through
public-private partnerships [[“PPPs” or “P3s”).
When private businesses are taking the risks and putting their profits on the line,
funding is more likely to get allocated to high-return projects and completed
in the most efficient manner.

You don't even have to go to other countries. The Detroit-Windsor Tunnel has been a PPP for a while, operated by Macquarie/Alinda/American Roads/Syncora/who the heck knows over the years.

The proposed new bridge will be a PPP, most likely a design-build-finance-operate concession.

[Willi]

IF Detroit and Michigan invested in the public goods it so desperately needs,
the jobs that it so desperately needs will be created ;
and they will be jobs that actually create useful stuff.

We have glaring deficits in numerous public goods ; like education, transport, energy, infrastructure;
along with equally important ones like parks, community centers, social services.

A little more socialism in society crushes the USA caste system with the Haves vs. The-Have-Nots
A bit of investment in common wealth with legions of people employed in rebuilding the decrepit stuff.

A quote from Harvard Business Review :
We strive for a billion flavors of junk that we slave over
only to impress people we secretly hate
so we can live lives we don’t really want
with money we don’t really have
by doing work that sucks the joy out of our souls
The greatest, worthiest, and noblest of all things that mankind has ever built
are not apps, drones, corporations, or profits. They are societies .

"""""O, no problem dude this is detroityes.com"""""

Yes, I would like to see Detroit prosper once again - work, build, create a real city once again.

[ABetterDetroit]

IF Detroit and Michigan invested in the public goods it so desperately needs,
the jobs that it so desperately needs will be created ;
and they will be jobs that actually create useful stuff.

We have glaring deficits in numerous public goods ; like education, transport, energy, infrastructure;
along with equally important ones like parks, community centers, social services.

A little more socialism in society crushes the USA caste system with the Haves vs. The-Have-Nots
A bit of investment in common wealth with legions of people employed in rebuilding the decrepit stuff.

A quote from Harvard Business Review :
We strive for a billion flavors of junk that we slave over
only to impress people we secretly hate
so we can live lives we don’t really want
with money we don’t really have
by doing work that sucks the joy out of our souls
The greatest, worthiest, and noblest of all things that mankind has ever built
are not apps, drones, corporations, or profits. They are societies .

"""""O, no problem dude this is detroityes.com"""""

Yes, I would like to see Detroit prosper once again - work, build, create a real city once again.

"A little more socialism"???
That's the battle cry you have?
Seriously, please wake up and take a deep drag on the coffee, because if you want to effect change for the have nots in American society that has to be the least thought out plan to change a damn thing. The wealthy are getting what's left of the middle class to pick up their banner and fight to protect their wallet and your best idea is socialism? Jesus, audit a marketing class or American history. Please contribute to the cause with workable dialog. Graduated Income Tax, yes the amazing capital raising power of the Graduated Income Tax. In fact the largest income provider the world has ever seen bar none. Tick that bitch up a few and you have real money, stand on your milk crates talking about "Socialism" and you're just plain not doing shit but pissing people off.

[Hermod]

"A little more socialism"???
That's the battle cry you have?
Seriously, please wake up and take a deep drag on the coffee, because if you want to effect change for the have nots in American society that has to be the least thought out plan to change a damn thing. The wealthy are getting what's left of the middle class to pick up their banner and fight to protect their wallet and your best idea is socialism? Jesus, audit a marketing class or American history. Please contribute to the cause with workable dialog. Graduated Income Tax, yes the amazing capital raising power of the Graduated Income Tax. In fact the largest income provider the world has ever seen bar none. Tick that bitch up a few and you have real money, stand on your milk crates talking about "Socialism" and you're just plain not doing shit but pissing people off.

I saw a graph one time on the internet and wish I had saved it. It ran from 1950 to 2010. The y-axis was income tax receipts to the government as a percentage of GDP. All the way through the sixty years, the line didn't waver all that much from the 91% bite of the 50s through the 70% initiated by JFK, down to the 28% by Reagan, the 39.6% of Clinton, and the GWB tax cuts, the lie of the graph waggled around 14-16% of GDP the whole way.

[Gpwrangler]

"... Tick that bitch up a few and you have real money...

Mine is "ticked up" enough thank you. Flat tax everyone. There is no free lunch.

[Zacha341]

In the meantime up in Lansing it's the usual polic'tricking': stalling out on what needs to be done for politics ala who'll be the face behind raising taxes to deal with the infrastructure issues etc until 'after' the elections. The same nonsense going on in DC.

[Willi]

People need infrastructure of all sorts and that involves Labor, lots and lots of it.
Folks with jobs pay taxes - and that gives revenue back to a community.
Real jobs for decent people that truly want to work to provide for their families.
Scrappers, drug dealers, hustlers, con artists, criminals aren't contributing a thing.

The hard reality is Un-employment is still cranked-up way high, many people exhausted benefits.
Those people are no longer tracked, recorded, or reported in any manner.
You could ADD 30% easily to this graph, probably still be accurate at [[25% +) about 1/4 in 2014


Local politicians need to JumpStart it All by re-thinking the labor force
Use a 1000 people with jackhammers, another 1000 with pick/shovel, etc., etc. fix the roads.
Repeat, re-distribute labor teams as necessary to clean, build, renovate the city in general.
Crank up the old system of mentoring people, learning from senior contractors, apprenticeships.

Increase the use of PPP's
The use of a project labor agreement [[PLA) usually results in cost overruns and higher construction costs.
Qualify non-union contractors who wish to make lower-cost bids, and employees who wish to work non-union.
STOP rewarding union officials that fund political campaigns. Re-New Detroit with a different thought process.
Treat folks fair, for a fair days work, and if they are dependable showing up daily, on time, etc.
then after 6 months throw them some health insurance and Whallaa, the city revives itself.