The Suburban Experiment

[Pat001]

Sprawl is a red herring. The worst mistake America made was de-industrialization. And both parties are to blame. America and Detroit were booming until we began closing thousands of factories and exporting millions of manufacturing jobs to foreign countries. When people have good paying jobs, money and hope for the future, the other problems tend to take care of themselves.

[Satiricalivory]

Sprawl is a red herring. The worst mistake America made was de-industrialization. And both parties are to blame. America and Detroit were booming until we began closing thousands of factories and exporting millions of manufacturing jobs to foreign countries. When people have good paying jobs, money and hope for the future, the other problems tend to take care of themselves.

Wrong, Detroit and every US city's issue is forced government-subsidized sprawl. De-industrialization is just a bullshit media talking point to distract you from the real problem, a problem we could easily fix if all levels of government and American culture wasn't so screwed up.

Detroit still has an economy the size of Hong Kong and over 5 million people. There was never a reason to cannibalize the city for suburbs.

[EastsideAl]

Detroit still has an economy the size of Hong Kong and over 5 million people. There was never a reason to cannibalize the city for suburbs.

Still looking for that upvote button.

But the statement should be that there was never a good reason. Sadly though, I think we all know the reason why, and it is an extremely stupid one.

[expatriate]

Sprawl is a red herring. The worst mistake America made was de-industrialization. And both parties are to blame. America and Detroit were booming until we began closing thousands of factories and exporting millions of manufacturing jobs to foreign countries. When people have good paying jobs, money and hope for the future, the other problems tend to take care of themselves.

In all fairness plants were closed when the only industrial power to survive unscathed from WWII increasingly had to compete with the rebuilt economies that would work for less. Consumers decided that a better product at a lower price was reasonable thing to do. Housing & highway construction was one of the few activities that could not be outsourced. Unfortunately we decided to abandon our cities and start from scratch rather than rebuild them as did our former enemies and allies.