Detroit: Too Broke to Bury The Dead

[quote name='fatherofcaitlyn']Detroit probably just needs to be ceded back to the wild.

Let the wild dogs and roving gangs eat the dead. Build a barricade, dig large ditches, blow up all of the bridges in and out of town.[/QUOTE]

Seconded. I went to Harpos on Friday... it scared me. Nuke it all.
 
[quote name='georox']Seconded. I went to Harpos on Friday... it scared me. Nuke it all.[/QUOTE]

I don't know. A nuke might reduce their numbers, but the survivors ... Holy shit!

Then again, I don't think anything introduced from outside of Detroit would have any effect on them.
 
[quote name='mykevermin']http://money.cnn.com/2009/10/01/news/economy/_morgue/

Article and video at the link.

What are your thoughts? We spend an awful lot of money to die.[/QUOTE]


A few thoughts come to mind...

1) The cost of death really is too high.

2) This is what life insurance is for.

Now that being said, I know it is easy to say everyone should have life insurance and some will say they can't afford it. My response to that is where are your priorities? It is highly irresponsible to go without life insurance and pass the cost of funeral arrangements, estate tax, and all the other nonsensical cost of death to family. Even when I was out of work I still had life insurance.

There really needs to be empahsis on financial planning above and beyond anything else taught in school. I see a lot of people in my own family that don't have life insurance, don't have wills, don't have savings of any kind, and don't spend money intelligently and it makes me wonder how things will be in the future.

Are there times where people can do all the right things in still be in a financial hole? Absolutely, especially in the current economy, but there is more to the story than the article shares IMO. People need to get life insurance while they are young and healthy and get locked in to good rates. While young you can get a rate that could be less than $35 a month or less for basic insurance which is all you really need unless you have a family/kids.
 
Make detroit a giant prison! That'll solve everything.

He agrees with me

escapeny.jpg
 
Knowing the politics of Detroit. They're probably keeping the dead around so they can vote in the next election.
 
Myke, I guess I am the only one that is going to actually respond to your question instead of trying out a half-assed comedy routine.
 
I understand the life insurance argument, but Wayne County has been head and shoulders more depressed than the rest of the country for around half a century (since the 1960's riots, though there are far more causes than that).
 
I'm sorry, but in my opinion, paying to bury or cremate someone is just plain stupid. To me, it's just idiotic to waste enormous amounts of money on coffins and funerals. I don't know about you guys, but I want to be buried in a cheap box made of plywood and thrown in the back yard. There's no reason for my family to have to cover the cost of a large funeral. I'm not going to be offended that my family didn't spend $10,000 on casket just to put it in a hole in the ground.

I think you're right GuilewasNK, that people need to sort their priorities. If you want to have a nice funeral, YOU pay for it. You need to get a life insurance policy to cover the costs of the funeral. (And to cover the cost of any debt you leave behind.) However, if someone dies and they don't have life insurance, again, you need to prioritize and realize that an expensive funeral isn't necessary. As hard as it is to bury your loved one in the back yard, it might have to be done, because if you can't afford it, it's not OK to just leave the body at the morgue for long period of time.

I realize that religious beliefs probably wouldn't agree with this, but a home burial is better than no burial.
 
[quote name='VipFREAK']People in the funeral business have got to earn a living some how too...[/QUOTE]

Yeah, but death is an absolute. Business will always be there. I believe in free enterprise, but I have no idea if the funeral business is as competitive as others.
 
[quote name='GuilewasNK']Yeah, but death is an absolute. Business will always be there. I believe in free enterprise, but I have no idea if the funeral business is as competitive as others.[/QUOTE]

I was being more sarcastic than anything else but yeah. They know they have the market cornered. It's not like you can do it online or go somewhere else.
 
[quote name='fatherofcaitlyn']Detroit probably just needs to be ceded back to the wild.

Let the wild dogs and roving gangs eat the dead. Build a barricade, dig large ditches, blow up all of the bridges in and out of town.[/QUOTE]

Time Magazine basically said the same thing. They said they should pay to move people to smaller areas that would be easier to police and provide services to. The completely empty areas should then be razed and turned into parks and other greenways. It was a decent idea but many of the private property types would go ape shit over it.
 
[quote name='AdultLink']Make detroit a giant prison! That'll solve everything.

He agrees with me

escapeny.jpg
[/QUOTE]
I think most people are already trying to escape from Detroit.
 
[quote name='fatherofcaitlyn']Detroit probably just needs to be ceded back to the wild.
[/QUOTE]

It basically already has been.
Every time I go to Comerica Park to see a Tigers game, I'm reminded of it.
 
In Warren or Roseville it's not that bad (definitely not high-class) but it's weird, once you cross 8 Mile it's like you just drove into the post-apocalypse.
 
[quote name='VipFREAK']I was being more sarcastic than anything else but yeah. They know they have the market cornered. It's not like you can do it online or go somewhere else.[/QUOTE]

Costco sells caskets... its not joke either. They ship fast and are pretty nice.

I dont think its legal to bury in the back yard as been suggested... maybe I am missing the sarcasm.
 
[quote name='Snake2715']Costco sells caskets... its not joke either. They ship fast and are pretty nice.

I dont think its legal to bury in the back yard as been suggested... maybe I am missing the sarcasm.[/QUOTE]

Actually, I was being serious. And no, I looked it up, and it's legal in many states, including my state (Illinois). I know it's a drastic measure, but you have to do what you have to do.
 
Well, I actually live in Detroit which is in Wayne County and it is sad how many deaths happen in my area. On the news every other day is somebody asking for help for burial costs for a love one that has past in a sudden way. Shit, they are building another big funeral home about 2 blocks away from my house which is sad cause of the deaths but business is booming for the funeral homes around here. A lot of folks I know are trying their best to get away from here but cause of the economics they can't.

Its amazing how in a span of 50 years Detroit went from a thriving industrial town where jobs were plentiful to a place where most companies have moved away or trying to and caused the city to be in the condition it is since people had to move where the jobs are which aren't in Detroit or its surrounding areas.
 
I'd be interested in seeing how Flint has fared during the last few years. If things were bad when Moore shot Roger and Me, i can only imagine what it must be like now.
 
[quote name='cdeener']Its amazing how in a span of 50 years Detroit went from a thriving industrial town where jobs were plentiful to a place where most companies have moved away or trying to and caused the city to be in the condition it is since people had to move where the jobs are which aren't in Detroit or its surrounding areas.[/QUOTE]

http://www.amazon.com/Origins-Urban...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1255213101&sr=8-1

This book is phenomenal and I highly recommend it.
 
[quote name='rumblebear']How are most of these people not homeless? Is the rent super low there?[/QUOTE]

I heard houses in the crappiest parts of Detroit cost like $20,000 or something, so I can't see rent being very high.
 
[quote name='fatherofcaitlyn']Detroit probably just needs to be ceded back to the wild.

Let the wild dogs and roving gangs eat the dead. Build a barricade, dig large ditches, blow up all of the bridges in and out of town.[/QUOTE]

It's not as bad as Flint. The mayor recently renamed the town Thunderdome. Saginaw is getting just as bad. The root cause is two things: the cities rely too much on one industry (automotive) and the auto industry is in the shitter, the other thing is gang violence so fucking bad that when someone gets shot nobody talks because they are afraid their house will get zipped by 9mm the next night. So the law is basically worthless because in order for the law to work, you need witnesses to put the ignorant gangbanger gutter trash in prison.

Note to people thinking about purchasing a home in the post above. If a neighborhood has homes with boarded up windows, you don't want to live there.
 
[quote name='AdultLink']http://www.homes.com/Content/Listin...listing_status=FOR-SALE&City=DETROIT&State=MI

305 listings for $100-$500 detroit homes.

[/QUOTE]

There was a story that made the news around here (I think last year) of someone buying a home for $1. I've seen it, it makes these houses look nice.

Honestly, the only people who actually live in Detroit anymore are the very poor, or hipsters who want to seem very poor. I don't actually live in Detroit, it's just the closest major city.
 
[quote name='crunchb3rry']Note to people thinking about purchasing a home in the post above. If a neighborhood has homes with boarded up windows, you don't want to live there.[/QUOTE]

And you sure as hell don't want to start a business there.
 
[quote name='crunchb3rry']Note to people thinking about purchasing a home in the post above. If a neighborhood has homes with boarded up windows, you don't want to live there.[/QUOTE]

The 4 houses I linked to have worse issues. If you notice the holes in the wall, I'd be afraid to go inside and have the 'house' cave in on me.
 
[quote name='fatherofcaitlyn']And you sure as hell don't want to start a business there.[/QUOTE]

Unless you are selling crack. Which would make those premium commercial lots.

[quote name='JolietJake']I'd be interested in seeing how Flint has fared during the last few years. If things were bad when Moore shot Roger and Me, i can only imagine what it must be like now.[/QUOTE]

What's really sad is Flint used to be a Leave It To Beaver kind of town when my dad was younger. Everybody fucking left to move to Saginaw and turned a city that used to look like Bedford Falls into a gangland shantytown shithole. Now outlying "rural" areas are getting a lot of urban scum on their inner city exodus. The house next to me looks like Sanford & Son live there, like a fucking scrapyard.
 
What would happen if Detroit was dissolved into the four or five towns centered around the good areas of town and everything else was considered county?
 
[quote name='fatherofcaitlyn']What would happen if Detroit was dissolved into the four or five towns centered around the good areas of town and everything else was considered county?[/QUOTE]

You'd have to destroy the 'county' so that large gangs/gangsters/terrorists/evil geniuses don't build some kind of base there.

As far as I'm concerned most of Detroit needs to be demolished. Nobody would go there, so it would make a great... base of operations.
 
You guys say that the city should just be demolished, but Detroit is more than just a once-great cluster of car factories. There is so much historical value. Detroit's one of the oldest cities in America. It was originally a French fort during the colonization of America (and it was pronounced day-twa). Because Detroit's just across the river from Canada, it was the destination for very many escaped slaves in the Underground Railroad. Also because of the close proximity to Canada, Detroit was a haven for Rumrunners and Speak-easies in the 1920's. Demolishing Detroit would be like tearing down the Anne Frank house, or burning the chair that Abraham Lincoln was shot in.
 
Historical value doesn't mean shit in America. In Europe they keep that stuff around. Here, we bulldoze that shit and put in a Starbucks.
 
[quote name='numbier_wun']You guys say that the city should just be demolished, but Detroit is more than just a once-great cluster of car factories. There is so much historical value. Detroit's one of the oldest cities in America. It was originally a French fort during the colonization of America (and it was pronounced day-twa). Because Detroit's just across the river from Canada, it was the destination for very many escaped slaves in the Underground Railroad. Also because of the close proximity to Canada, Detroit was a haven for Rumrunners and Speak-easies in the 1920's. Demolishing Detroit would be like tearing down the Anne Frank house, or burning the chair that Abraham Lincoln was shot in.[/QUOTE]

Okay then, leave it as a modern day Fallout 3 replica.
 
[quote name='crunchb3rry']Historical value doesn't mean shit in America. In Europe they keep that stuff around. Here, we bulldoze that shit and put in a Starbucks.[/QUOTE]

As much as I hate to say it, no we don't. I work on the Navy base is Great Lakes, IL, and we have 50 or 60 year old buildings that we invest millions of dollars into, just to keep them running. We could easily build new, more efficient ones for the same price, but these buildings have 'historical value'.

I agree though, bulldoze the place to the ground. If we don't, we're just going to have to quarantine the city soon anyway.
 
[quote name='crunchb3rry']Historical value doesn't mean shit in America. In Europe they keep that stuff around. Here, we bulldoze that shit and put in a Starbucks.[/QUOTE]

How I wish this were true (well, not completely of course). We put far too much value on "historic" buildings that are decrepit and ugly. I'm not saying tear down Mount Vernon or anything, but just because something was built in the 1930s does not make it of value to a community.
 
Discovery could film the next season of The Colony there. They wouldn't even have to do it up like a bombed out city.
 
[quote name='crunchb3rry']Unless you are selling crack. Which would make those premium commercial lots.



What's really sad is Flint used to be a Leave It To Beaver kind of town when my dad was younger. Everybody fucking left to move to Saginaw and turned a city that used to look like Bedford Falls into a gangland shantytown shithole. Now outlying "rural" areas are getting a lot of urban scum on their inner city exodus. The house next to me looks like Sanford & Son live there, like a fucking scrapyard.[/QUOTE]
I can't imagine it's gotten any better. I couldn't believe how bad it was when i saw Roger and Me. I wonder how that rabbit lady is.
 
[quote name='JolietJake']Discovery could film the next season of The Colony there. They wouldn't even have to do it up like a bombed out city.[/QUOTE]

And the History Channel could use it for their 'Life After Humans' show. Maybe something like 50 years after humans. :lol:
 
As for the cheap houses - while a rundown, cheap house would be better than being homeless, it doesn't matter if the house is only $100. Property taxes alone would probably be enough to keep anyone who would be desperate enough from being able to buy/own it.
 
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