1948 Detroit to 2014

[Buba]

On AH-com there's a thread launched for this. The 1948 city (with fudged, yet unrevealed city limits) replaces the 2014 version.
IMO the OP gives off strong pink fluffy unicorns dancing on rainbows vibes concerning the city's prospects, expecting the 1948 city to thrive in 2014.
I expect the city to be bankrupt inside 6 months if not earlier, as the car assembling factories will be closed once all in-situ parts have been used up - so, a week? After that almost the whole working population goes on the dole as the entire supply chains for the DT cars gone, not to mention that all tooling in all local factories belongs in a museum and not much of what they can make (cars definitely not!) meets any UT safety or environment standards.
Although I expect car collectors to pay top Dollar for the cars the Big Three does manage to churn out during that hypothetical week
What do you think? Detroit thrives - maybe as a theme park tourist attraction - or does it become a ghost town?

 

[stevep]

That does sound like an economic disaster waiting to happen. Not to mention how well the inhabitants are likely to [not] adapt to 2014 values!

 

[Buba]

Yup.
Uptime politicians are just going to lurve those +2M (let us look at Metro Detroit) voters ...
Voters who'll just lurve Obama ...

 

[stevep]

Yup.
Uptime politicians are just going to lurve those +2M (let us look at Metro Detroit) voters ...
Voters who'll just lurve Obama ...

Its not just going to be race, although that will be a factor. "What do you mean about equal wages for women! And why the hell can't I grope the barmaid as she's bringing my drinks?" Or "what do you mean its legal for a couple of poofs to get married!"

 

[Buba]

You, are of course, correct. I used the example of Obama, e.g. of not being able to call him a "nigger" as the tip of the iceberg representing all such - ahem - diversity issues.

BTW - besides the headquarters of the Big Three and the remnants of the car making industry, what else does 2014 USA lose by having Metro Detroit replaced by its 1948 counterpart? What industries Services? Company HQs?
All US car making now in Right To Work States? Won't the ISOTed UAW love it ...

I also wonder how badly is Winsdor (or simply Detroit spillover in general) affected.

 

[Bear Ribs]

If current Detroit can't stay a healthy city today, why would Detroit with Infrastructure 70 years out of date (No internet in the whole city) and a population with skills that have been obsolete for 70 years (nobody has ever seen a computer, in fact the transistor was invented only a year before), be more functional?

 

[Spartan303]

Detroit of 1948 is in much better shape economically and development wise than 2014 Detroit. Seriously, that isn't a joke. allow me to explain...with memes!

White flight happened in the 60s when the Democrats started playing the same games they do today, and the City went downhill from there. Taxes went up, revenues went down, crime spiked while funding for the police floundered and The Unions demanded their share of an ever shrinking pie. Businesses either went belly up or left.

Now ya got a bunch of people from the 40s who are going to be flabbergasted by what's happened. These people are not technically displaced in the traditional sense, but they are displaced by time and their skillsets outside of labor wont match up in todays world. But at least Detroit isn't a Hot mess the Democrats spent 60 plus years creating, so there's that. Though it'll probably resemble the other Detroit before too long.

 

[Buba]

Yes, v.1948 is a city not yet wrecked by later events, starting with demolition of neighbourhoods to run expressways through them. It has an operational tram system!
For those not yet banned/bold enough to post on AH-com:

https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/motor-citys-2nd-chance-a-detroit-isot-from-1948-to-2014.504152/

 

[Spartan303]

Somewhat surprised my account there still works.

 

[Buba]

But at least Detroit isn't a Hot mess the Democrats spent 60 plus years creating, so there's that.

If I am reading things correctly - the start of wrecking the city with freeways - and serious damage to public transport - was under Republican leadership:

Albert Cobo - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Bear Ribs]

But these people are going to be almost instantly driven over by an economic truck. They don't have the skills to make anything to sell. Most of them have no useful education and even their highest-trained people have obsolete skills and knowledge. They're basically third-worlders except worse, because even the black-and-white television is new and advanced technology for them, and because instead of having third-world prices they have to pay US prices for everything.

 

[Buba]

But these people are going to be almost instantly driven over by an economic truck.

Yup.

They don't have the skills to make anything to sell. Most of them have no useful education and even their highest-trained people have obsolete skills and knowledge.

Politicians jump in with Federally funded assistance programs? To train the DTs, help them adjust to UT world?
Also - re-educate them - in the Communist sense?
In a country with 300M people - is keeping another 2M on the dole until they die a problem?

 

[Bear Ribs]

Yup.

Politicians jump in with Federally funded assistance programs? To train the DTs, help them adjust to UT world?
Also - re-educate them - in the Communist sense?
In a country with 300M people - is keeping another 2M on the dole until they die a problem?

The problem there is that the political groups who would like to keep them on the dole until they die are not the ones 1948 Detroiters will vote for. The downtimers will not be inclined to look favorable on the LGBTQ crowd, modern Feminism, heck they're about twenty years before the civil rights movement even happened.

 

[Spartan303]

Yup.

Politicians jump in with Federally funded assistance programs? To train the DTs, help them adjust to UT world?
Also - re-educate them - in the Communist sense?
In a country with 300M people - is keeping another 2M on the dole until they die a problem?

I wouldn't quite go that far. There would certainly be assistance programs to bring education and skills up to par for today. And with the attention of the entire world there is a lot less room for seedy shenanigans. The problem is going to be culture shock. These are a people from a different time whose values they had then are not exactly embraced in the modern day. Especially Modern day Michigan. This is going to lead to all sorts of things going side ways that I cant even fully anticipate them.

 

[Buba]

Ten years, not twenty, before the push for Civil Rights kicks off.
True that the DTs are not likely to vote UT Democrat - but would they vote UT Republican? Most?many? 2014 Republicans are raging poof fondling commies for the '48 folks ...

 

[Spartan303]

Ten years, not twenty, before the push for Civil Rights kicks off.
True that the DTs are not likely to vote UT Democrat - but would they vote UT Republican? Most?many? 2014 Republicans are raging poof fondling commies for the '48 folks ...

They're likely not to vote for a while for several reasons. Despite the political parties being the same the politics of today are very different than what they once were. Another is that most of these people were likely dead in the modern day. How do you get them into the system? Something new or resurrect old certificates? Paying taxes and bills, drivers licenses and so on. No one is going to be worried about voting for a while as the basics need to be sorted out first.

 

[Buba]

BTW - I looked up the Governor:

Rick Snyder - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Interesting ...

 

[Wolf of Arrakis]

This is a public relations disaster waiting to happen if I am being totally honest here. 1940's US is so different from 2010's US it like comparing 18th century Prussia to Germany today.

 

[HerbertVonKarajan]

Hello, I just noticed that you all actually found my little metropolitan freak show on AH.com.

Reading through the conversation here, I will make this one frank statement. This story IS going to be a big mess, whether it be civil rights, a global economic meltdown, downtimes vs uptimers in a culture war per se, Rick Snyder possibly fucking shit up even worse with Flint and maybe trying to put in an emergency manager for Detroit (hehehe, that is gonna be a fun little thing to write), lost infrastructure, right to work laws, neo-liberals and Neo-Conservatives trying to sink their teeth into Detroit, possible idealism and a whole load of cynicism, car manufacturer warlordism... Etc

It's gonna be a big fat mess, but it is gonna be a fun one, and if I don't decide to embrace the cynicism, it might just make the America of this new timeline somewhat better, but it will deal with a whole lot of shit to get to that place.

I hope you all don't see it as some blindly idealistic story and enjoy the wild ride, because it may be a fun one!

Oh, I also forgot to mention above, a certain Whiz Kid is gonna make an appearance, and some Vietnam War veterans aren't gonna be happy if- or rather once, they discover that he is alive.

 

[Spartan303]

I look forward to seeing it.