Detroit Tops Chicago & Cleveland on Forbes' "Most Miserable" List

you can take any data that you want and form it to say whatever you want it to say but overall this doesn't surprise me.

Last year's most miserable city drops back thanks to a housing market that never overheated and therefore hasn't crashed like many other metros'. The weather is lousy, corruption persistent and it's a tortured sports market, with no championships since 1964. LeBron James' departure delivered the latest cruel blow last summer.

Crime, unemployment and foreclosures are among the many problems bedeviling Detroit. Motown has closed 59 schools the past two years, and a recent study suggested that the city will need to close half of the remaining 142 public schools over the next two years. The moves would lead to high school class sizes of 62 students.

Hey, don’t forget Washington, D.C made the list (#16) for nightmarish commutes, high income tax rates and declining home prices.

Then there’s DC's sports teams - the Nationals, Bullets, er, excuse me, Wizards, and Redskins, all last place teams the past two years.

If you actually consider Hockey a professional sport, you have the Capitals, the NHL's best regular-season team last year. They promptly folded in spectacular fashion in the playoffs, losing Game 7 of the conference quarterfinals series 2-1 and becoming the first No. 1 seed to blow a 3-1 series lead in the playoffs to an 8th-seed, the (you guessed it) Montreal . . . Canadiens. Sheesh!

And, to top it all off, no lap dances in the District.

Yeah, isn't life grand in the Big D. It is relatively easy to buy crack cocaine on the street corners from those wonder entrepeneur teenage boys. But on the bright side, look at all the great strip clubs where as Arlo Guthrie would say You can get anything you want at a Detroit strip club restaurant. (Credits to Arlo Guthrie)

Detroit may have crime, urban blight and high unemployment, but at least the city council is taking action. They passed a law to prohibit strip clubs from having lap dances or VIP rooms. That should fix all of Detroit's problems.

Detroit is the new whipping boy for everything some people think is wrong with the current state of America. Unions, race, urban decay, poor schools, crime, exodus and no retail. These issues are in all cities, just more visible in Detroit because it hit here first with the decline of manufacturing. Detroit industry built middle class America. With the decline of Detroit industry, we see the beginning of the end of America's middle class. This decay will spread from here and it's not entirely or solely our fault. A lot of decisions went into creating this mess and no one knows what to do to fix it.

If we could get the government to *stop* trying to fix, and thereby break, things, that might be a good start.

GMD, I beg to differ. In the recent financial crisis, facilitated by the banks, the private sector finally did itself in. They required their long-time whipping boy (the government) to step in and save them. This took the form of all the bailouts and FASB 157, the infamous rule change which allowed banks to value their mountainous level 3 assets (CDOs, CLOs, etc.) at mark-to-model rather than mark-to-market. That rule change came down in March of 2009 and coincided with the bottoming of the stock markets and massive reflation since.

After almost a hundred years of economic mismanagement, I think it's fair to say that government has caused more problems than it's solved in that realm.

Supposedly the last election cycle totaled $4 billion. I highly doubt the cumulative total of all the salaries those government officials will earn until their next election will come close to that amount. Thereby they're dependent on fundraising, which probably comes in exchange for selling their vote(s) and control over what they oversee. In short I believe the banking industry lobbied to remove every safeguard and ultimately wound up with enough rope to hang themselves. They did. The only saving grace was to off-load the debt bubble burden onto the government (ie taxpayer) and hope normal would return. Ben Bernanke is a bag man and likely has a whole lot of sh*t on the Fed's balance sheet (which he doesn't want anyone to see/audit.)

HA. That was weird. The reply I typed got inserted mid-way up...

Despite my comments here, guys, let there be no mistake in my love for my hometown. I must say, it is far too common to read bad press about Detroit. Come on people, keep beating a dead horse(so to speak) Let's hear the good news about Detroit, a mayor trying to deal with the huge problems caused by the auto industry reinvention, how about the cultural attractions we have,(not withstanding the great strip clubs in the area, LOL) Call me a Detroit shill, but I will always sing the song of hope for a city that refuses to die.

Amen, Brother Vince, Amen. Look at the reaction to the Super Bowl Chrysler ad with Eminem. It showed the city and the car in a positive light. A conservative talk radio host in Philadelphia trashed the ad for hiding the truth about how unions and liberals have destroyed Detroit and are now seeking to spread this disease around the country. It was an ad to sell a car, not a documentary. But some people need a whipping boy, so Detroit is it because it's proud of taking blue collar folks and, yes, through the power of the labor movement, giving them a chance at middle class life. True, there are excesses in organized labor. Let's fix them, but don't destroy a whole way of life that has brought unparalled prosperity to this great and good country. Labor did not move the jobs off shore, managment did. (Yeah, I know the argument that the decision was made to get away from high labor costs, but that's not for this site.) I know this is a rant, but I am fed up with people claiming that government, labor, liberals and Black people are responsible for the problems of the USA. What would happen if conservatives had unchecked power? Well, we are about to find out. And when they ban strip clubs, you will be happy?

Never been to Cleveland but the SC hobby has taken me to Detroit a few times. Love the SCs. It was cool seeing a Tigers game. Wish I had seen a game at old Briggs Stadium. Had some great BBQ at a place called Slow (did I get that name right, vince? The joint was on Woodward.) But for a hillbilly like me cities (apart from Vancouver) are just for visiting. Sorry Detroit - no offense intended.

So many towns from California on that list.

I can't believe St. Louis wasn't on the list. I expected it to be in the top 10.

Hey farmerart, I'm not sure what restaurant you are talking about. No offense taken. Briggs Stadium (renamed Tiger Stadium) was a fine old ballpark. Detroiters spent many, many times at the park. She came down. Comerica Park is nice, but we miss the old lady.

vince:

I went on the net and found the restaurant. I had the name right - Slow's Bar BQ. But my memory was faulty with the address - it is 2138 Michigan (not Woodward). Not the sweetest area as I remember but EXCELLENT barbecue. That lady from H8S guided me to the place. Bless her soul for all the services she provided that visit!!