I think that the problems that are facing Detroit are a clear example of what happens when politicians ignore the pleading of the people they are supposed to represent. And according to Lew Mandell, that is exactly what happened in Detroit. Lew Mandell is a well-respected economist and has at many times done studies on why Detroit’s economy has been collapsing.

In an interview with PBS Lew Mandell said, “it turns out that the causes of the city’s decline have been well-recognized for nearly 65 years. In fact, Detroit’s leaders commissioned studies investigating the city’s financial woes as far back ago as the end of World War II. Study after study delivered the same results, which were largely ignored.” And later he goes on to say that what the leaders of the city have not being paying attention to is the non-auto manufacturing industry. And as a result of this and taxes that are unusually high for industries that are not auto related they have been leaving one by one, for several decades.

And now after it is too late to do anything the city of Detroit is going bankrupt. A small saving grace is that the state legislature along with the city is trying to find roughly 335 million dollars to offset those whose pensions will be lost and the Institute of the Arts.