Can we learn anything from Detroit's bankruptcy?

Joe Stiglitz shows us that Detroit's bankruptcy didn't just happen.  It's the result of our governmental failures plus the growing economic inequality.  Some of these failures are: "underinvestment in infrastructure and public services, geographic isolation that has marginalized poor and African-American communities in the Rust Belt, intergenerational poverty that has stymied equality of opportunity and the privileging of moneyed interests (like those of corporate executives and financial services companies) over those of workers."  And our inability to control the financial industry. "Rather than saving our communities, our politicians focused more on saving the bankers, their shareholders and their bondholders."

We need to provide better public transportation, an education system that promotes a modicum of equality of opportunity, and a system of metropolitan “governance” that works not just for the 1 percent, nor even for the top 20 percent, but for all citizens.

And on the national level, we need policies — investment in education, training and infrastructure — that smooth America’s transition away from a dependency on manufacturing for jobs.

Detroit’s bankruptcy is a reminder of how divided our society has become and how much has to be done to heal the wounds. And it provides an important warning to those living in today’s boomtowns: it could happen to you.