General Motors and the City of Detroit: A Study of Urban Decline

Introduction In 2008 the automobile giant General Motors (GM) filed Chapter 11 Bankruptcy and became the largest corporate bankruptcy in American history. Less than a decade later, in 2013, the City of Detroit followed suit and filed a Chapter 9 Bankruptcy, which would also become the largest municipal bankruptcy in history. economic declines of General Motors and Detroit are viewed as benchmarks for the State of Michigan and the American economies. lessening presence of American manufacturing concerns has facilitated the declines of cities such as Detroit as the corporate quests for global expansion continues. Consequently, the problems of unemployment, housing loss, and economic displacement have diminished the luster of the American Dream for many. Displaced American workers are struggling to find a future. However, there has been no government or corporate initiative to accommodate the industrial workers of the past in the 21st Century. Without addressing the issues of wealth creation, education, and job training for the indigent, and the role of contemporary laborers in a global market, we will fan the flames of a class division that will become increasing apparent and volatile. This paper attempts to parallel the rise and fall of General Motors, as a multinational corporation, with the economic decline of the City of Detroit. city and the auto industry are inexplicably linked and reflect the problems of industrial towns entering the 21st Century. transnational influence of GM is focused upon because it places the problem in a more global perspective. It is hoped that this will illustrate how a growing underclass of displaced, disenfranchised citizens is emerging on the American landscape. Creation of the Town American industrial revolution inspired the creation of the company town. Small American communities built around a major employer. These employers became the nucleus for economic and civic life in many American cities. The early Town was like a large family, says Oliver J. Dinus, Associate Professor of Studies at the University of Mississippi (Mohn, 2013). They provided job security, most often for the entire working life of the employee. They also provided a sense of membership and community to their workers. Company towns were paternalistic, providing everything from housing, schools, libraries, places of worship, stores, and parks to better hygiene and medical services (Mohn, 2013). In the 20th Century, Ford Motors, General Motors, and the Chrysler Corporation transcended the concept of the company town to make Detroit an industry town. It became an employment paradise with not one, but three major corporate employers in one industry. At its apex in 1960 the City of Detroit, Michigan was America's 4th largest city with 1.8 million residents. It had approximately 298,000 manufacturing jobs and symbolized the resurgence of the American economy from the Great Depression (Snyder, 2013). Detroit's primary industry was automobile manufacturing, the major employers were the Ford Motor Company, General Motors, and the Chrysler Corporation. Collectively, they became known as The Big 3. During times of war these factories were also converted into munitions plants. This dual purpose provided the auto industry with a secure place in American culture. Golden Era of Opportunity automobile industry was also a major employer of African Americans and other under educated American workers. It has been estimated that by 1930 approximately 120,000 African Americans had migrated from the south to the northern city which borders Canada during the second wave of what is known as The Great Migration. largest percentage of new arrivals came from Alabama, while many others came from Georgia, Tennessee, and Kentucky (BlackDemographics.com). It was the same path of the Underground Railway which ushered runaway slaves from plantations in the South to the freedom of the North or to Canada, with which it shares an international border. …

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