VOA News: 'Struggling Detroit Seeks Economic Boost'

Source:VOA News- talking to John Mogk.

"Voice of America (VOA) is an American international broadcaster funded by the United States Congress. It is the largest[2][3][4] and oldest U.S. funded international broadcaster.[5][6] VOA produces digital, TV, and radio content in 47 languages which it distributes to affiliate stations around the globe. It is primarily viewed by foreign audiences, so VOA programming has an influence on public opinion abroad regarding the United States and its people.

VOA was established in 1942,[7] and the VOA charter (Public Laws 94-350 and 103-415)[8] was signed into law in 1976 by President Gerald Ford.

VOA is headquartered in Washington, D.C., and overseen by the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), an independent agency of the U.S. government.[9] Funds are appropriated annually under the budget for embassies and consulates. In 2016, VOA broadcast an estimated 1,800 hours of radio and TV programming each week to approximately 236.6 million people worldwide with about 1,050 employees and a taxpayer-funded annual budget of US$218.5 million." 

From Wikipedia 

"Detroit, the heart of America's car industry, was once one of the richest cities in the United States.  But car manufacturers have downsized their work force, and, in recent decades, more than half of Detroit's population has left. Today, the city is one of the nation's poorest." 

From VOA News

With the decline of the City of Detroit the last twenty years or so, with three recessions including the Great Recession, with the decline of the American auto industry which is just starting to rebound and of course with Detroit being the American capital of our auto industry, Detroit has had their own personal recession (if not depression) the last 20 years or so.

And with the decline of public education in Detroit and the rising crime rates. Detroit as a city has been taking a whipping for about twenty years, to the point where they've lost half of its population. 

In 1990 Detroit was a city of about 1.5M people and a metro center of about 5M people, about the size of Philadelphia. The fifth or sixth largest city in America and one of the top ten metro centers in America and of the the wealthiest cities in America. To today they are still a big city but about half the size and one of the poorest cities in America. 

Detroit was so tied to the auto industry, sort of how Los Angles is tied to the entertainment industry, that when the auto industry is doing well, Detroit is doing well and when the Auto Industry is not doing well, neither is Detroit. And when the auto industry plummets like the last ten years, Detroit has plummeted. Their tax receipts have plummeted and as a result so have their public education, crime has gone way up and people have moved out as a result.  

When a city, even a big city like Detroit depresses, they tend to lose their population. As least the people who can afford to move out, like well-educated, middle class people, and the wealthy. And they take their money with them, which has cost Detroit a lot of people, but economic activity and development as well.