The 2020 Covid-19 Recession and Detroit

[Wheels]

The cost of the auto bailout wasn't what was troubling. It was the precedent set by intervening to save private sector companies. To give another example, the three major U.S. airlines were crying foul just a couple of years ago about how Middle East carriers like Etihad, Emirates, and Turkish Airways were being unfairly supported by their governments, and creating unfair competition. This was a huge factor in why U.S. carriers stopped flying directly to cities in the Middle East [[Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Istanbul, etc.), although they claimed it was because of security risks from ISIS fighters. Now they'll likely all need to be bailed out by the U.S. government themselves to survive and it all looks hypocritical.

What cost of the auto bailout? That money was paid back with interest. None of this money will ever be paid back!

[iheartthed]

What cost of the auto bailout? That money was paid back with interest. None of this money will ever be paid back!

Very low interest because the automakers couldn't afford to do it in the private markets. Also, this money will be recovered through taxes.

[Metro25]

It's funny for the last ten years auto has been reprimanded for needing a bailout in 2008, people acted like it's somehow an unstable business [[even though we all know financing in New York got the biggest bailout of all time), now every company but auto seems to need a bailout.

Oh and now auto is saving our asses with the production of ventilators.

[DeLemur]

Yes they are. They can do this for the future as well. Let's be honest about the relationship with China not being good enough to rely on key economic goods being produced there.

How does our manufacturing base capture the production of the products we don't feel comfortable letting China make anymore?

It's funny for the last ten years auto has been reprimanded for needing a bailout in 2008, people acted like it's somehow an unstable business [[even though we all know financing in New York got the biggest bailout of all time), now every company but auto seems to need a bailout.

Oh and now auto is saving our asses with the production of ventilators.

[ABetterDetroit]

How does our manufacturing base capture the production of the products we don't feel comfortable letting China make anymore?

The same exact way everyone else who needs jobs is attracting business. With lower taxes.

Seize the opportunity and pick suitable sized properties in the public domain in Detroit. Call out 3M and Honeywell and tell them we need to get N95 masks manufactured right here in Detroit for American and Canadian markets. Detroiters suffered greatly in this pandemic and badly want to be part of the solution. Pick from the list of properties and the sale price is $1 and the property tax will be abated to zero for 30 years.

Since it worked for NHL hockey players, office workers, and auto industries lets start using the same tool to diversify and get into the new rapidly expanding market of domestically produced health provider safety products.

[Rock N Rye]

The wholesale printing of money always carried specter of inflation but who knows now since all the major economies are doing it at once.

Inflation is generally a situation of too many dollars chasing too few goods but with demand very low, and likely to remain so with so many laid off and snake-bitten, that situation seems unlikely.

A business-talking head said last night,'maybe five years'.

The money the Fed creates inflates mostly inflates the value of assets because so little ends up in the hands of spenders.

[Rock N Rye]

Imagine if we come out the other side of this having built out an extraordinary amount of green infrastructure. That would be fantastic. We have a chance depending on what happens in November.

When there is a Democrat President again, the Tea Party will re-emerge and act like they care about the debt.

[Zacha341]

^^^ Someone will need to... beyond acting like they 'care'! Hah.

[Danny]

GHETTO ALERT!!!

A five year old Detroit Black girl just died from COVID-19 without any pre-existing conditions.

Can COVID-19 mutate?

https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/...9-in-michigan/

[Danny]

WARNING: If you open society in the midst of COVID-19, you will all open DEATH!!!

Only the blessed ones with the His gift of life will survive.

Thus saith Jesus Christ, KING OF KINGS LORD OF LORDS.

[Bigdd]

A five year old Detroit Black girl just died from COVID-19 without any pre-existing conditions.

Can COVID-19 mutate?

https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/...9-in-michigan/

That's sad.

Children do die from the regular flu also. Rare, but it does happen. CDC says 125 children died from the flu this past Winter.


Presumably it will mutate. Viruses mutate every 10 months or so,... [[which is why vaccines don't work much, having an efficacy rate of just 2.3%). It takes 18 months or more to develop one [[and that's if you do almost no safety testing),... but of course, 8 months or more ago the virus you developed the vaccine for has already mutated into something else.

Which brings up more questions, like,.. Will the mutated versions be weaker than the original?

Will the anti-bodies people get from Covid-19 help protect them somewhat from covid-20 ?

And also,.. when will the first mutation hit? How long has this SARS-COV-2 really been around? Since December? Or has it been around much longer? Lying in a low state since September,.. and we only have 3 months until the first mutation hits?

[DeLemur]

The multimillionaires have to pay more in taxes and support this fiscal stimulus.
They used to pay 80,70,60,50,40% now they only pay 38%. They actually pay less, because they make most of their money in stocks and investments, which is 15% taxed. On top of that, they make all the money in this economy. What was it? Estimates of 80% of the last economic growth period goes to the top 1%.

Its a joke. Workers, regular people are getting barely anything. You complain they don't pay Federal Taxes? They have nothing. They used to make $28hr with benefits and now they make $16hr without.

This "good economy" wasn't anything for anybody. Never before have we experienced a "good economy" on paper that felt like nothing. Don Trump who inherited his wealth from his daddy isn't going to do anything about it either. Hell he gave all the corporations a tax cut and they promptly bought their stock shares so their upper brass would make more money.

[401don]

GHETTO ALERT!!!

A five year old Detroit Black girl just died from COVID-19 without any pre-existing conditions.

Can COVID-19 mutate?

https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/...9-in-michigan/

It sounds like she contracted the virus from her father, after she had already tested positive for strep throat. The strep would have made it much more difficult to fight off the Covaid infection.

[ABetterDetroit]

Awful. My condolences to the little girls family. Difficult to make sense of tragedies like this. Children have to be protected.

[ABetterDetroit]

I think everyone is fully aware that Uncle Sugar has the power to turn on the money printing machines anytime they want and they have in this crisis, like never before in history. They are running full speed now.

Unfortunately, Michigan and Detroit have no such power and have no choice but to stand in line with the other 49 states hoping for federal aid. The difference maker in determining which states come out of recession the fastest does boil down to what things states do individually to help themselves out of recession by making smart decisions.

Both the State of Michigan and the City of Detroit already are predicting large revenue shortfalls coupled with covid-19 related increased expenses exacerbating the budget problem at the local levels.

Of course tough choices will need to be made and costs will have to be cut. That is a given. But belt tightening and hoping the economic problems go away has failed spectacularly around here before. Just pointing out the obvious.

Where are we going to find new revenues at the local level when everything is already getting squeezed? New taxes seems inevitable.

A first suggestion could be revisiting that gasoline tax. 45 cents a gallon was and is severe but maybe 20 cents a gallon sounds more reasonable now considering the current price of oil?

A second could be a temporary increase in the income tax. Maybe 1/4 or 1/2 point on incomes over 75k or another threshold?

Revenue sharing at the local level would have to be part of the thought process. Local governments are going to get hammered if it is cut like they did last time around.

[Colombian Dan]

What I never understood about Metro Detroit is the need to continuously build and expand freeways when the over all population has been relatively stagnant for decades. The state of Michigan wasted billions of dollars on unnecessary road projects.

[313WX]

What I never understood about Metro Detroit is the need to continuously build and expand freeways when the over all population has been relatively stagnant for decades. The state of Michigan wasted billions of dollars on unnecessary road projects.

And they're wasting billions more right now to unnecessarily widen I-75 and I-94.

[JonWylie]

And they're wasting billions more right now to unnecessarily widen I-75 and I-94.

To be fair, a lot of the I-94 work is going to improving the bridges and restoring street grids that have been cut off. The state is getting a little smarter about how they build their highways.

[Gistok]

To be fair, a lot of the I-94 work is going to improving the bridges and restoring street grids that have been cut off. The state is getting a little smarter about how they build their highways.

Exactly... that plan of many years ago to widen I94 to 5 lanes is DOA. The bridges between Conner and I-96 ALL need to be replaced. The state is doing so 3 bridges at a time. They are doing it to make a wider span for the bridges... so that a 4th lane could be added in the future.

[Ray1936]

What I never understood about Metro Detroit is the need to continuously build and expand freeways when the over all population has been relatively stagnant for decades. The state of Michigan wasted billions of dollars on unnecessary road projects.

Thank you, Dan.....You're right on. I never could for the life of me understand the construction in 696 that totally screwed up traffic for minimal benefits.

[Metro25]

Pretty sure we all know the reason behind OC's highway obsession and it was a little creature called L. Brooks Patterson.

That being said Detroit is about to take on one of the most dramatic highway removal projects in the country with the removal of 375 plus the ramp on Jefferson and about half of an interchange.

[ABetterDetroit]

Pretty sure we all know the reason behind OC's highway obsession and it was a little creature called L. Brooks Patterson.

That being said Detroit is about to take on one of the most dramatic highway removal projects in the country with the removal of 375 plus the ramp on Jefferson and about half of an interchange.

Personally I think this is a great project but with massive revenue shortfalls on the horizon at all levels of government I highly doubt that this one will happen anytime soon unless Uncle Sugar decides to foot the bill as stimulus of some kind.

[Metro25]

It's not meant to start until 2024 or 2022 at the earliest so I dont see there being an impact, you also forget they're doing this to cut costs because the bridges are too expense to maintain and rebuild and they cant just let them continue to rot.

[renf]

Has this pandemic slowed work on the Gordie Howe International Trade Crossing Bridge. So far as I know, the Canadian government listed 2024 as the anticipated year for the possible opening of the bridge?

[Jimaz]

An interview of Les Gold was broadcast on WWJ today. He said he's beginning to see more pawning than buying. People are pawning more electronics than gold. He's concerned people won't be able to get them out of hock if the local economy doesn't improve.