Detroit is going down because Detroit is a bad city run by bad people. The leaders have been racist and narrow-minded. It is unsafe for white people to go there. Rather, it is unsafe for non-black people to go there. Actually, the safest thing to say is probably that Detroit is just an unsafe place for PEOPLE. Who wants to work somewhere like that? The attitude of a city definitely plays a role in how businesses in that city flourish (or in the case of Detroit, don't).
I now live in Toyota Japan. It is an extremely beautiful city with excellent facilities. Sure there is problems with traffic, but Toyota IS a automobile city. The superb attitude in Toyota (especially when compared to Detroit) can only have a positive impact on the success of Toyota.
Even so, Japanese automakers are sweating bullets over Korea and China. They have been for years. These countries are making the same moves that Japan did all those years back.
In the end, business practices and the mood of the people involved with those businesses have a very strong relation with the success of said businesses. Blaming countries for certain problems is just making them a scapegoat. American automakers should evaluate the way they do business and how they can change in order to regain their marketshare.
Not that I really give a damn either way...
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