There is no American precedent for Detroit's bankruptcy filing. The largest U.S. city to ever file for bankruptcy, Detroit was once an industrial mammoth that produced all those American cars Americans used to drive. But this is capitalism, and competition is a relentless reality of the game. Survival in a capitalist system is reliant on how an entity matches up against a competitor; this includes you and people of your age and skill set that compete over a limited amount of jobs. Those jobs reward employees with monetary compensation- which is also limited- that in turn is used to purchase necessities, purchase non-necessities, and very rarely invested. In New York you would be hard pressed to find the type of factories that only a couple of decades ago fed families and lured in workers to Detroit. But New York has an industrial history of its own, one that boomed and declined leaving thousands unemployed under a transformed socioeconomic landscape.
Migration is a cause and effect phenomenon. 1898 marked the year that the U.S. invaded Puerto Rico during the Spanish-American War. Since then Puerto Rico has been inexorably linked to the U.S. both politically and economically. In the 1940's the American government and American industrialists kick started industrialization on the small island by developing an industrial sector that produced pharmaceuticals, machinery, and chemicals. Factories popped up throughout the island with the promise of more jobs, more wealth, and a higher quality of life (defined as such by Americans, of course). "Operation Bootstrap," as this campaign came to be known, did not work out as planned for various reasons; one of these being American economic recessions that did much more damage abroad than in the U.S. itself. Increasing unemployment due to the failure of Operation Bootstrap made it impossible for many Puerto Ricans to survive and thus began the migration to the mainland.
Puerto Ricans came to the U.S. in largest quantities during the 1950's and 60's. Many arrived in New York just in time to witness the manufacturing sector disappear over the next couple of decades . In The Political-Economic Context, written by Clara Rodriguez, it is stated that in 1960 60% of employed Puerto Ricans in New York worked in manufacturing. Hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs simply vanished from 1960 through 1980. The change in the economic landscape of New York would continue until jobs in manufacturing became rarities. This shift had disastrous effects on the Puerto Rican community, which had adjusted to a blue collar way of life that thrived mostly on the ability to find work in manufacturing. For example, the Puerto Rican community saw itself faced with the challenge of competing for white collar jobs while lacking decent public education. They had to compete against whites for jobs predestined to be filled by whites. By "predestined" I simply mean that the socioeconomic advantages of whites over minorities made employment less of a competition than it was made out to be by advocates of the "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" theory. There is also the sad reality of racist employment practices, and American racism in general, that had to be contended with.
Like Puerto Rico and the Puerto Ricans that found themselves scrambling to adjust, Detroit and its citizens have been victimized by American economic instability. Capitalism as a whole has erratic tendencies with no favorites to whom it assures long term success. For Detroit there is no white collar job takeover or the rise of service jobs to soften the blow. The economic reality of the one time auto industry capital of the world is a flat line that has caused population decreases and a loss of tax revenue in the process. What bankruptcy means for Detroit, its citizens, and those that have left the city is still unknown. But if we take a look at history the future seems dismal for this abandoned population that once constituted the backbone of the American workforce.
These are examples of American populations that encounter the reality of what blue collar employment is. Technological changes and resource shortages can have similar effects on a sector of the workforce with very little political power. The unbalanced distribution of wealth produced by capitalism also creates powerless populaces that have no option other than adjusting to changes they have no control over. In most instances that adjustment requires higher education and training, which are also influenced by racial and economic hierarchies. With a bailout of some form most likely under way for Detroit the ongoing problems of the working class will not be resolved, they will simply be alleviated for the time being. Unfortunately, this has been widely reported as a governmental issue where the blame falls mostly on an inept city government. As cliche as it may sound we would be mistaken to overlook the fundamental flaws of capitalism in this case.
- Alex Moran (@MoonbeanMarcos)
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