[PRCo] Depression Detroit

[Phillip Clark Campbell]

"One measure of how tough times are in the Motor City: 
Some of the
offenders in jail don't want to be released; some who do 
get out
promptly re-offend to head back where there's heat, health care
and
three meals a day.

...Detroit has — by many measures —
replaced New Orleans as America's most beleaguered city.


The
jobless rate has climbed past 21 percent, the embattled school 

district
just fired its superintendent, tens of thousands of homes and
stores
are derelict and abandoned, the ex-mayor is in jail for a
text-messaging sex scandal. Even the pro football team is a pathetic
joke — the Lions are within two losses of an unprecedented 0-16 season.

And overarching these and many other woes is the near-collapse of the
U.S. auto industry, Detroit's vital source of jobs and status for more
than a century."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081220/ap_on_re_us/motown_blues



Phil