Saving And Reviving Detroit: The Profit Motive Has Postive Impact

It's funny how humans always find a way to survive and innovate.

Dan Gilbert, of course, is challenging the weird belief that nothing gets done without government.

Watching 60 Minutes I caught a very important message people have made but still generally goes unheeded. Namely, the bankruptcy of Detroit and its ramifications were sown long ago. It's something to think about for leaders and citizens who simply refuse to acknowledge debt once out of control will destroy. No person or communities are immune to this fact and reality.

The dirty truth that if cities facing similar dark prospects it will be renaissance men with private equity that will save it. The profit motive, in this instance, is what will save civilizations.

/Progressive heads explode everywhere.

To most of us not indoctrinated with flimsy anti-corporate rhetoric, this is all self-evident. Who cares if a person like Dan Gilbert, who is literally single-handily turning Detroit into his own private Florence, profits from his risk? If the project succeeds, millions of people could stand to benefit.

The spill over effect could be immeasurable. Conversely, government intervention often have negative unintended consequences. For example, institution minimum wage standards in American Somoa thus damaging the tuna industry.

Of course, there's a lot to do as these comments reveal.
  
The Gilbert Model:
Sell a bunch of bad mortgages = get paid
sell the bad mortgages to investors = get paid
when mortgages go bad get govt bailout = get paid
get $5000 each to go fix the bad mortgages = get paid
don't pay sales tax on sky scrapers = get paid
keep quicken employee city of Detroit taxes for running a business in city = get paid.
Pay bribes/gifts to Kwame to keep him quiet. 

So what's this genius solution? Gilbert is bringing in companies who are actually relocating and with that comes jobs, and this is the comment they come up with? Loserville is dataway, chump.

"Hey how about allocating some of your big Dan Gilbert dollars to make sure the pensions stay intact for the 19,000 retired civil servants who built the city and now stand to lose everything."

Gilbert had nothing to do with those public pension deals. It's a shame the bankruptcy is disrupting pensions but it's not his responsibility and is under no obligation to fulfill such a request. These people are something else expecting someone else to bail them out. And what about people in the private sector who lost their pensions? Do they figure in this person's demand?

Watch the 60 Minutes report here.