Say It Out Loud: Detroit! Your BLACK and YOUR PROUD!

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By Joseph B. White

Bloomberg News

The GM headquarters building is seen in the distance past a run down building in Detroit, Michigan

Say it out loud: Detroit!

That’s all you have to do. Detroit. The Motor City. The Arsenal of Democracy. Motown. Techno. Detroit Rock City. “Imported from Detroit.” The city that put the world on wheels. The city that built the American middle class. Muscle cars. Marvin Gaye. Jack White. Kid Rock. Like a Rock. The D. Eight Mile. Miguel Cabrera.

This is a city with serious brand power, even if right now it has little else.

Detroit’s special place in American popular culture is just one reason why the city’s bankruptcy filing Thursday is such a big deal, even if it hardly qualified as a surprise. Detroit is the one-word metaphor for all the anxiety about American decline – even if the reality is that the Southeast Michigan economy all around Detroit is rebounding thanks to the increasing success of the hometown car makers.

The resurgence of the Detroit Three auto makers from their collective near-death experiences during the Great Recession drives the optimism expressed by a broad swath of Detroiters that eventually – after some tough decisions are made and painful losses absorbed – the city can rebound. Detroiters are used to seeing the mighty of the auto industry rise, and fall, and rise again on a roughly ten-year cycle.

Just like America, the Motor City was on top of the world in the 1950s and 1960s. So was the city’s most famous corporate citizen, General Motors Co. Their trajectories since then follow similar tracks.

In the immediate aftermath of World War II, General Motors was a powerhouse. It owned roughly half the U.S. car market, and could have grabbed more if its leaders weren’t worried about federal trustbusters. GM had two relevant rivals: Ford and Chrysler. It set the pace for automotive design and technology. Toyota 7203.TO -0.15%, BMW BMW.XE +0.29%, Volkswagen VOW3.XE -0.03%? They were making their first steps onto the world market after recovering from the havoc brought by bombers made in Detroit.