Has Seattle started it’s “Detroit-style” economic death spiral?

A once prosperous city with global corporations paying family wages is forced to file for bankruptcy due to billions in debt caused by corruption, greedy politicians, and wasteful policies.  Taxpayers flee and are replaced with those dependent on taxpayer-funded programs.

This is Detroit.

During the 40’s, 50’s, and 60s it was the fifth largest city in America with nearly 2,000,000 residents and its Motown music filled the airwaves.

Massive political corruption dominated the 90’s and the early 2000’s as one -party rule removed accountability. Greedy city and state policies were designed more to increase the size of government and the power of politicians than to help those who needed assistance. Residents moved away (today just 600,000 residents remain – a 66% population decline) and the city’s debts piled up to the point that it was forced to declare bankruptcy in 2013 due to its $18 billion deficit

Today the city is the symbol of rust belt decay and Democrat corruption. It continues to  struggle to attract new businesses to increase its tax base again. But it will likely never become the city it once was.

Seattle is heading down the same path as Detroit.

In the 80s and 90’s Seattle was a boomtown as its grunge music filled the airwaves. Boeing, Microsoft, Amazon, and Starbucks were all growing and Seattle was constantly at the top of America’s most livable cities list.

Tax hikes and anti-business policies caused the region’s corporate leaders to move their family wage jobs elsewhere. At the same time King County became a magnet for our nation’s drug addicts and the chronically homeless population. Downtown Seattle is filled with boarded-up windows and a record-breaking 35% office vacancy rate.

Billions are spent on Housing First programs politicians claim would reduce homelessness, Yet, while the bureaucracy rapidly expanded, homelessness continued to increase – 68% in a decade.

King County’s commercial property tax used to pay 35% of the county’s property tax with residential paying the remaining 65%. Today, commercial tax only pays 17% of the bill with residents picking up 83%.

The City of Seattle’s financial picture continues to worsen as projected deficits have leaped to $500 million causing Socialist mayor Katie Wilson to talk more about “progressive revenue” (i.e. raising taxes even higher).

How long before residents join the businesses which moved out due to high taxes and ineffective government? Is it already taking place?

Will Seattle be the tech version of Detroit – a city ruined by greedy and corrupt politicians who profited from one party rule (see Dow Constantine)?