Still working to recover. Please don't edit quite yet.

Michigan emigration

From Anarchopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
This article contains content from Wikipedia
An article on this subject has been nominated for deletion on Wikipedia:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/
Exodus from Michigan

Current versions of the GNU FDL article on WP may contain information useful to the improvement of this article
WP+
NO
DEL

Since 2001, more than 400,000 people have fled from the United States (WP) state of Michigan in a migration equivalent to an exodus, caused by the late-2000s recession. This is the equivalent of the combined populations of Grand Rapids, Warren and Sterling Heights - the second, third, and fourth largest cities in that state.[1] Michigan endures one of the worst unemployment rates in the United States of America.[2] Government officials had feared that educated people leaving would discourage enterpreneurs from creating new jobs within the state of Michigan.[2] According to the official 2011 recount of the 2010 United States Census, Michigan's population plummeted to 9,876,187 people.[3] The last time that Michigan's population reached that low was back in 2000.[4]

Authorities in former East German (WP) cities had to literally shut off electricity to neighborhoods that they couldn't support during an exodus period that was similar to Michigan's.[5] Urban planning in the 21st century has become mainly about downsizing towns and cities that have reached chronic hardships with their economy.[5] The late 2000s global economic crisis has hit local and regional governments particularly hard because they also lost money on the Libor banking rate-fixing fraud when it lowered interest rates.[6]

Summary[edit]

This historic crisis is the least understood crisis in the state of Michigan - being either ignored or downgraded in importance during the past decades.[7] Flint, once considered one of the most productive cities in America, was dependent on Wikipedia:General Motors for their livelihood from the early 20th century[8] until then-current chairman of General Motors Roger Smith took 60000 jobs away from the area in the early 1980s.[9] Even though General Motors was gaining billions of dollars in profits from the sales of automobiles, Smith convinced the Wikipedia:United Auto Workers union that they were going bankrupt in order to give them hundreds of millions in aid dollars.[9] Smith would use this money to replace the automobile workers in Flint with those in lower-paying Mexico (WP).[9]

Out of those people who have left, 18000 of them had Wikipedia:college degrees and 12000 of them attended grades Wikipedia:kindergarten through Wikipedia:twelfth grade.[7] $1.2 billion in Wikipedia:paychecks have been lost due to outmigration to other states.[7] The Wikipedia:2010 United States Census has confirmed that more people have left Michigan since 2000 than have arrived at Michigan to live; the other 49 states have reported population increases.[10] The change from 2010 to 2011 only shows a 0.08% decrease in the population for that year. However, the massive emigration in previous years had already devastated Michigan's economy for people who want a steady job, a sustainable retirement, along with those who want to pursue higher education (WP). Some of these costs won't come into effect for decades but it means higher Wikipedia:income taxes (for those who stay behind) and deteriorating government services (for people who cannot leave the state due to various reasons).[7] When people leave a state and never come back, the economy shrinks so that the remaining people cannot support the Wikipedia:infrastructure.[7] Population loss has been reported to be the highest near downtown Detroit (a 25% decrease) and Northwestern Michigan (showing a 10% to 20% decrease) while population growth has remained the most positive in parts of Western Michigan (some districts received a 10% to 20% increase).[10] There has only been infrequent instances in other places where population loss had the same magntiude as the "exodus from Michigan.[7]"

Opportunities for a post-secondary education along with the needs of the young people and the Wikipedia:full-time jobs (that produce a Wikipedia:living wage for residents) are being pushed out of the state.[7] Softball teams are left without coaches and organizations are left without volunteers as people leave Michigan in droves.[7] Home values are being weakened by abandoned apartments and houses.[7] These are being aggravated by the layoffs and mergers being conducted at once well-paying workplaces such as Wikipedia:General Motors and Ford.[7]

As the population of Michigan continues to diminish, its clout in the Wikipedia:United States Congress will diminish.[7] The state will have to cope with less influence in future U.S. presidential elections and electoral votes will decline as districts are forced to be merged and the number of Michigan's congressmen who serve their tenure in Washington, D.C. (WP) for their local district will decrease.[7] There are currently 15 congressional districts; the state formerly had 19 before population decreases caused four districts to be declared redundant. While the 19th congressional district was disbanded back in 1983 (and a few others were disbanded during the 1990s), plans are underway to absorb the 15th congressional district into the 9th congressional district by 2013.

Possible solutions[edit]

Positive[edit]

The Wikipedia:government of Michigan could pass a series of Wikipedia:right-to-work laws that could allow more residents to acquire jobs.[11] Another solution would be to cut down on expensive government mandates.[11] Cutting the taxes on Wikipedia:single business enterprises and making cutbacks in the $40 million USD budget that would equal the loss of extra tax revenue is another solution that will get people back in Michigan (and working again).[11]

Laid-off workers in the automobile industry have been retraining themselves for new jobs; which may create growth in other sectors of the economy like Wikipedia:education.[12] The other economic sectors may find economic recovery plans of their own in the near future.[12] However, it is not guaranteed that people will move back to Michigan once jobs become plentiful again.[12]

Wikipedia:Florida and Wikipedia:Texas have been reported to be the most popular places for Michigan emigrants to find new jobs; securing an opportunity to escape poverty that is rapidly disappearing from their former home state.[13] Wikipedia:Unemployment is the main factor in driving people out of Michigan.[13] New careers and warmer climates are also attracting some to the state of Wikipedia:Nevada; which enjoyed the highest population growth in the 2010 United States Census.[2][14] Retirement and better educational opportunities are driving Michigan emigrants out of the state; as Michigan's retirement homes and colleges fall into decay due to lack of government funding.

Negative[edit]

One report suggested there were efforts to consider bulldozing swaths of the city of Flint and "razing entire districts and returning the land to nature" in an effort called shrink to survive.[15] This concept is formally known as Wikipedia:planned shrinkage; most of the houses being demolished in Flint will eventually be transformed back into forests and meadows.[15] People had to deal with decline in Flint for decades while the rest of the country considered it to be a social taboo.[15] The economic conditions in Flint made it economically feasible to destroy abandoned buildings;[15] unlike Wikipedia:Toronto, Wikipedia:Canada where they hold historic status and cannot be demolished. More than 5000 houses are set to be demolished in Flint due to safety reasons and to raise property values on the houses that are left intact.[16]

There are also plans in Detroit to contract the Wikipedia:urban sprawl by transforming its current urban grid into a collection of small urban centers surrounded by a rural setting.[15] Allowing cities to shrink must happen in a sustainable way; rather than a destructive pattern.[15] Detroit wants to demolish 10000 abandoned buildings in accordance to their Wikipedia:Residential Demolition Program.[17] The inner suburban regions of Detroit are also facing massive reconstruction after the economic woes of the late-2000s began.[18] Another element to this story are the losses of jobs in the automobile industry that are driving the people out the city.[18] Sections of Detroit have become urban farms due to the abandoning industries and commercial business that once made up the greater metropolitan area.[5] Entire blocks and neighborhoods have been converted back into Wikipedia:prairie, complete with Wikipedia:pheasants, Wikipedia:grouse, and the occasional Wikipedia:coyote.[19] While the return of the natural wildlife and the lowered pollution levels have helped to increase the Wikipedia:quality of life in Detroit slightly, it does not help to create jobs for the people who live in the city.

Officially, Wikipedia:Detroit’s unemployment rate is 27%, but the Detroit News suggests that nearly half of this city’s working-age population may be unemployed.[20] Reducing the number of buildings (and eliminating the number of established buildings for workplace sites) may reduce the chance for people to regain full-time employment in the race. Due to environmental laws, offices and factories cannot be rebuilt once the land that a building was built on is returned to its "natural state."

References[edit]

  1. Move Away from Michigan at Escape Michigan
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Exodus from Michigan continues at Detroit News
  3. Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for the United States, Regions, States, and Puerto Rico: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2011. (CSV) 2011 Population Estimates. Wikipedia:United States Census Bureau, Population Division. URL accessed on December 21, 2011.
  4. Michigan's population drops below 10M at Detroit News
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 RACHEL NOLAN (interviewer), Jonathan Mahler (interviewee) (December 19, 2011). "Behind the Cover Story: Jonathan Mahler on Benton Harbor". The New York Times. http://6thfloor.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/19/behind-the-cover-article-jonathan-mahler-on-benton-harbor/. Retrieved 2012-01-02. </li>
  6. http://www.democracynow.org/2012/7/19/matt_taibbi_libor_rate_fixing_scandal Matt Taibbi: Libor Rate-Fixing Scandal "Biggest Insider Trading You Could Ever Imagine", Democracy Now!
  7. 7.00 7.01 7.02 7.03 7.04 7.05 7.06 7.07 7.08 7.09 7.10 7.11 Leaving Michigan Behind: Eight-year population exodus staggers state at Detroit News
  8. Report about Flint, Michigan
  9. 9.0 9.1 9.2 Error on call to template:cite web: Parameters url and title must be specified Warner Brothers. VHS video
  10. 10.0 10.1 USA Today 2010 Census
  11. 11.0 11.1 11.2 Exodus from Michigan is underway at The Argus-Press
  12. 12.0 12.1 12.2 Automobile Industry Impact on US Economy at Cars.LovetoKnow.com
  13. 13.0 13.1 Report: People Leaving Michigan Faster Than Coming In at Fox 17 (Michigan)
  14. Texas Adds Four Congressional Seats as State's Hispanic Population Grows
  15. 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 15.5 Tom Leonard (12 Jun 2009). "US cities may have to be bulldozed in order to survive: Dozens of US cities may have entire neighbourhoods bulldozed as part of drastic "shrink to survive" proposals being considered by the Obama administration to tackle economic decline.". The Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/5516536/US-cities-may-have-to-be-bulldozed-in-order-to-survive.html. Retrieved 2012-01-02. </li>
  16. Flint demolishes record number of abandoned homes at MiNBCNews
  17. Residential Demolition Program - Mayor's Office - City of Detroit at DetroitMi.gov
  18. 18.0 18.1 Ellen Dunham-Jones (June 27, 2011). "What About the Suburbs?". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/03/28/the-incredible-shrinking-city/is-planned-shrinkage-the-new-normal. Retrieved 2011-12-31. </li>
  19. Neighborhoods being demolished at TribunoDelPueblo
  20. "Nearly half of Detroit's workers are unemployed". The Detroit News. December 16, 2009.
  21. </ol>

Wikipedia:Template:MIHistory