The Wall Street Journal reports today that with the closing of the Lochmoor Chrysler Jeep dealership on the East Side of Detroit, it is now impossible to purchase a new Chrysler or Jeep vehicle in the city of Detroit.
Lochmoor was one of the 789 dealerships Chrysler dropped recently while in bankruptcy. That dark nugget of information was part of a larger story about the city that was so bleak we can't bring ourselves to retell it here.
Suffice to say, that no national grocery chain operates a store in a city in which 30 percent of residents are on food stamps. And -- gasp! -- there are only four Starbucks outlets within city borders.
Oh, and what becomes of Lochmoor Chrysler Jeep? It becomes a used-car dealer and has agreed to sell the upcoming Mahindra & Mahindra mini pickup trucks.
greenpony says:
11:05 AM, 06/16/09
In an area where unemployment is already high at 13.6%. That's about one out of seven people.
moparbad says:
11:08 AM, 06/16/09
Gary Indiana and Detroit Michigan
No national chain grocery stores. No Chrysler dealers.
Gary does not have even ONE new car dealership.
At least Detroit has 4 Starbucks, Gary has none. Gary does not even have a Walmart, or a Target.
Detroit is less bleak than Gary.
dlibby says:
11:28 AM, 06/16/09
Detroit has 9 times as many people as Gary. I been through Gary and Detroit (from Detroit) and while i think Gary looks bleak it isn't as bleak as Detroiy, IMO of course.
dlibby says:
11:29 AM, 06/16/09
Wow spelling check FTW! I meant Detroit of course, and I've been to Gary....
estreka says:
12:07 PM, 06/16/09
Detroit is such a complex enigma. People there are screaming for jobs, most are blue collar, yet no business is willing to go there.
Detroit is the epitome of just how dire our manufacturing base is in this country.
cwc1 says:
05:39 PM, 06/16/09
With 30 percent of its residents on food stamps, Detroit is a monument to the inevitable failure of the welfare state, and how it robs people of their potential to be productive. By subsidizing the very thing it supposedly aims to prevent, it results in more and more dependency spread around to even more people.
petrolhead85 says:
07:57 PM, 06/16/09
Are there really only four Starbucks outlets in all of Detroit? Wow. That seems just weird to me. Mind you, I've never been anywhere near Detroit. I live in a city of about 120,000 and there are 14 outlets within the city limits, including 2 in the mall alone.
firstwagon says:
10:21 PM, 06/16/09
"Detroit is a monument to the inevitable failure of the welfare state, "
It's equally a sign of the failure of a totally free market system. By allowing everyone to do whatever they please, it's easy to abandon those who fall behind.
There's a very real chance that Detroit is a window into the future of what could happen to the rest of the US as other world economies leave it behind.
cwc1 says:
07:04 PM, 06/17/09
^Not.
The US government has its hands in nearly everything which continually mucks up the free market. We have not had a true free market system in this country for generations. They're now just trying to take over the rest of it, leaving all of us much poorer and with much less freedom, as they confiscate and squander our money. Government's solution to its own failures is always more of the same - if only we had more control and had had more of your money, we would have been successful. That is a good illustration of insanity.
estreka says:
08:53 PM, 06/17/09
Cwc, you should read the argument we're having on Karl's blog.