The Problem(s)

Failure of the city Government

Becoming 18.5 billion dollars in debt doesn't happen overnight. The city government contributed heavily to Detroit's decent into debt and bankruptcy going all the way back to the 50s. After WWII white families began moving out of the crowded city into the suburbs, taking tax revenues and leaving behind vacant buildings. This escalated into an exodus after the 1967 riots and caused a poplation loss of over a million people. The 1950 census put Detroit's population at 1,849,568, in 2010 the population was reported 713,777. That's an awful lot of tax revenue going elsewhere. As the city population drastically shrank Detroit's government become oversized. In 2001 there was 1 city employee for every 51 residents. Effective steps to downsize were not taken, and some mayors added employees to the payroll.

Retired employees added to the drain with their retirement pensions. Attempts to solve the pension problem have failed too. Now disgraced Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick pushed for the city to sell off pension certificates. His plan turned into a $2.8 billion debt, on top of what was already owed, and nearly forced bankruptcy in 2008. Borrowing money that the city couldn't repay was the final straw, in 2001 alone the debt was doubled by loans. Kwame was also notorious for borrowing money, adding to his failures. Current Mayor Dave Bing also borrowed over $250 million in a failed attempt to keep the city out of bankruptcy.

Rampant corruption has wasted thousands of dollars and man-hours. The most public case has been Kwame Kilpatrick's 2008 trial. Kilpatrick was convicted of bribery, fraud, and racketeering on top of a sex scandal. Unfortunatley he is not unique. Seven building inspectors were found taking bribes, the pension system is being investigated for fraud, and the Detroit Public School system is a complete mess. All of these problems have taken desperately needed money out of the system and burned still more cash on the task to clean out the corrupt employees.

Over-reliance on the Car Companies

What is Detroit known for? Cars. Home to GM, Ford, and Chrysler Detroit has risen off of their success, and been hit hard by their failures. You can't throw a rock in the city or surrounding suburbs without hitting at least three people who work for the car companies. When layoffs hit the companies the jobless workers had no other industry to turn to. Instead there was a lot of qualified people unable to get a comparable job.

Crime

Crime has become an epidemic and an unfortunate identifier for Detroit. The city has been near the top of every chart for crime and is considered one of the most dangerous cities in America. While the crime rate has dropped since the 1970s, when the rates took a soaring climb, it still is a major issue with the city. In 2012, according to the FBI Uniform Crime Report, Detroit had the highest violent crime rates of cities with over 200,000 residents. That's not something that attracts businesses or investments to a city that needs them. Part of this goes back to the failure of the city government, with the loss in revenue the Detroit Police Department has been cut and in some cases neglected entirely. Just in the last ten years the force has lost 1,300 officers, dropping from 2003's 2,700 officers down to 2013's 2,419 officers. In theory the crime rate is dropping in the city, but it is probably cause by crimes not being reported anymore. More than one Detroiter has written off the police, in one case it took five hours for an officer to show after a home invasion. The drop in population is a huge indicator of how bad the danger has become. It started with the riots and kept going. If a city can't protect its citizens it won't have citizens for long.

How it Got so Bad (In a Nutshell)

There are a lot of reasons as to why Detroit is the way it is now. But, these are the leading causes that led to the on-going bankruptcy.