The chains said "We can't make any money by selling the same stuff for the same prices as we do where we don't get robbed every day." So they left. In essence, Detroiters voted the chains out of the city. ------------------------------- It would have been nice if the retailer could have deducted accountable losses directly off the tax bill, this would have leveled the playing field.
No matter how hard you try, there is no hope for Detroit. Not for another 50 years. All the momentum points down, down. At some point, some government agency will be entrusted with razing whatever is left and rebuild. But you have to clear out all the cats, dogs, cockroaches & garbage first.
Sometimes I think this is planned, based on the fact that I have faith in the intelligence of our gov't and forecasters. Then on the other hand, how can gov't be so dumb? It's either apathy, or this ship is too big a ship to steer. I'm inclined to believe the ship is too big to steer. Too many pilots.
Wouldn't matter. Grocery stores in the city can not turn a profit in that combination of laws and crime. Even if the tax code were changed to say "OK, you lost five million on your one downtown store, so that's five million less in taxes you owe" all that does is change that store from a loser to relying on the fickle government to break even. The government would have to make the store profitable. Something like "OK, you lost five million, so you owe six million less in taxes." Then Detroiters would pass more regulation that stores have to provide free food, or accept any form of personal check or some other form of legal theft and the store would be back in the red. Detroit voters use the long arm of government to "stand up for black people" - a catch phrase that means "take money from outsiders." Guess what happens when a city does that? The outsiders leave. Or they stay and go bk.
For sure. The US is now like an airliner with 10 pilots in the cockpit, 2 flight attendants and 300 overweight, hungry passengers flying through a hurricane and the Chinese at the control tower.
The system has been gamed so that decisions to delay gratification are no longer rewarded. The end gratification of spending saved money or passing it to heirs is forfeited through inflation, taxes, Wall Street fraud and moral hazard bailouts of those who didn't plan for the future. This penalizes the average American who works like a dog for 50 years in the hope of a comfortable retirement and something to pass on to descendants. Take that hope away and the worker bees will be much less productive. This is what they are risking. Short term thinking has led to this problem.
That becomes a sort of "double taxation". First on your labor & then on your savings. Oh, yeah, then there's the tax on death. Triple taxation? So there's absolutely no incentive to save and the only way to make it is by lying, stealing or cheating? Sounds like the land of whoppertunity!
Only suckers work for a living and pay their bills. Better to take the fun path of the grasshopper, then use the government to take from the ant during winter - the best of both worlds, woot!