An 'Affront to Democracy' Steers Detroit Toward Austerity

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http://www.thenation.com/blog/175351/affront-democracy-steers-detroit-toward-austerity#axzz2ZV5U8cc2

Recalling the partial meltdown of a nearby nuclear power plant a decade earlier, and a book that revealed the extent of the crisis, Gil Scott Heron sang in 1977, “We Almost Lost Detroit.”

The city survived, and remains home to 700,000 Americans and the symbolic center of the nation’s auto industry. But after decades of neglect by federal and state officials, and a meltdown of American manufacturing, Detroit is facing exceptionally hard economic times.

Detroit is up against plenty of threats. But the most pressing political threat over the past several months has come from a Republican governor who seeks to impose his will on a city that did not choose him or his austerity agenda.

On Thursday afternoon, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder made his move.

And the notion that the people who live in America’s great cities must govern their own affairs took a huge hit.



Read more: An 'Affront to Democracy' Steers Detroit Toward Austerity | The Nation http://www.thenation.com/blog/175351/affront-democracy-steers-detroit-toward-austerity#ixzz2ZV6HtemC
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