Most people who hear about Detroit's possible bankruptcy assume that gross mismanagement is the main cause.
Actually two of the major causes are a quirk of geography combined with insidious greed on the part of people who to this day are getting rich off of Detroit but not helping pay the bills for it.
First, the geography lesson. Detroit just happens to be wedged tightly into the northeast corner of Wayne County. Wealthy northern suburbs begin just across the street, but they're not only separate cities as in most metropolitan areas.
In Detroit's case, another county begins just across the street -- not that far north of downtown Detroit. Voila! Nobody north of that street has any responsibility for the south side of the street.
In fact, this is the street (8 Mile Road) that Eminem described so eloquently a few years ago -- the dividing line between two worlds.
Details below an orange squiggle.
Granted, to the east of Detroit a gaggle of wealthy suburbs are in the same county -- "the Grosse Pointes," consisting of Grosse Pointe, Grosse Pointe Park, Grosse Pointe Farms, Grosse Pointe Shores, Grosse Pointe Woods and Harper Woods.
They're mostly very well-off, yes, but a tiny part of the metro area.
Mainly, to the east of Detroit it's Lake St. Clair. So far, no one has developed suburbs in the lake. To the southeast is the Detroit River and Ontario; any development there is in another nation. To the southwest and west of Detroit are some suburbs, but generally not the home of the area's extremely rich.
And to the north, Detroit's city limits is the Oakland County line (8 Mile Road). Walk across the street and you're in the fourth-wealthiest county in the U.S. among counties with more than a million in population.
Now, mind you, with all you hear about Detroit collapsing around its own ears, the fact is it's still one of America's top financial centers, a top center for high-tech employment, and our No. 2 source of engineering and architectural megatalent, the latter no doubt largely a heritage of the auto industry.
But those investment bankers and wealthy executives live across the street in Oakland County, so if they live in palatial homes, the property taxes on those homes aren't much help to Detroit.
Those same suburbs have their own exclusive shops as well, so the sales tax on luxury purchases doesn't necessarily help Detroit, either.
Detroit collects taxes off a huge number of vacant lots and derelict buildings -- if it collects at all. From what I read, a good many properties are simply abandoned and nobody pays even the minimal tax.
How many billions in taxes is Detroit NOT collecting because of sweetheart deals offered to multimillionaires from Oakland County and elsewhere?
A quick search didn't give me a figure on that, but I'm sure it's comparable to the messes our elected officials have signed for all across the country.
But look around you. This is how America operates today. The idea that the people getting wealthy off the system should help maintain the system has become a big joke among the people sucking up the wealth.
Get this, taken from Robert Reich's Blog about Detroit:
"Any hint they should take some responsibility has invited righteous indignation.
" 'Now, all of a sudden, they're having problems and they want to give part of the responsibility to the suburbs?' scoffs L. Brooks Paterson, the Oakland County executive. 'They're not gonna talk me into being the good guy. "Pick up your share?" Ha ha.' "
Then Reich asks the key question: "Buried within the bankruptcy of Detroit is a fundamental political and moral question: Who are 'we,' and what are our obligations to one another?"
That question is answered in the news every week: If wealthy investors make bad investments, the taxpayers are supposed to pony up another bailout.
Never mind that the taxpayers may already have ponied up millions to prop up the investment in the first place. (Nevada residents reportedly will subsidize the new Tesla battery factory to the tune of more than $1 billion -- over 20 years. Let's hope they break even.)
Also never mind that in many cases, taxpayers continually subsidize these deals with more millions to allow low-paid employees to exist and pay for child care.
But, of course, if those investors hit the jackpot and make a killing, then no -- the profits are theirs and the public shouldn't even expect them to pay taxes to maintain the system until the next killing comes along.
It's a sweet deal for the already-rich, of course, and if they lived in Honduras or India, nobody would probably register surprise that their greed knows no bounds.
And obviously, even in America, there are plenty of voters who don't care, either.
In Detroit, 8 Mile Avenue makes the contrast too stark to miss. For most of us, the distinction is less graphic and we just end up wondering where that stench of corruption could be coming from.