Quotes from Scott Martelle

The population began dwindling after silk hats replaced beaver hats in high fashion... collapsing the fur trade, in what would become a familiar pattern for Detroit.

So severe is the crisis that in 2011 Governor Rick Snyder persuaded the state legislature to grant him broad and unprecedented powers to take control of fiscally unstable local governments and to abrogate union agreements, a highly controversial maneuver that smacks of malevolent paternalism more than sound public management.

workers with children).1 Crime travels hand

When schools fail the political solution is to blame the teachers. When in reality the biggest hurdle to improving educational results lies with the students and their families. The best teachers in the world can't teach students who aren't in the classroom and supplied with the proper textbooks and other material. Blaming the teachers for broken educational systems is like blaming a ship's crew for not being able to keep a rust bucket from sinking.