So were the sweetheart deals made by many in city government.
Vista? Magnum Oil, anyone?
So was the opulence in which elected officials had grown accustomed to living in over the years. Pay to play from Young to Kilpatrick. Remember Ken Weiner? And who could forget the Lincoln Navigator kerfuffle? Detroit PD being assigned as personal body guards for council and hizhonor the mayor himself, while crime shot up exponentially in the rest of the city?
So was the size of city government?
Aside from the Detroit PD when did city government ever downsize to reflect a decreased population?
So were was passed for public schools?
That whole bussing flap aside, if I were to jump in the DMC-12 and go back 40 years and announce to the locals that I would be imposing a locally ran educational system that would practically guarantee the failure of students entering into it and foster government dependency of those "graduating" from it, the race hustlers would initiate another riot and burn the rest of the city (at that time), to the ground.
What future could you possible have, if the next generation (and the one following that), cannot contribute to it?
Was bankruptcy avoidable?
Absolutely!!!
Sadly, Detroit failed on purpose.
Where we go from here is most important.
Do we let those responsible for making poor decision off of the hook for their incompetence and ineptitude?
Or, do we make an example of them (and those who supported them), by making the climb out of the hole they made for themselves as painful as possible so no one would ever think of doing something so stupid again?