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xchrom

(108,903 posts) Sun Jun 29, 2014, 06:46 AM Jun 2014

Babies Are More Likely To Die In Detroit Than In Mexico Or Thailand

http://www.businessinsider.com/infant-mortality-rates-in-detroit-2014-6

Old tires rest near the abandoned Packard Automotive Plant December 13, 2013 in Detroit, Michigan.

The city of Detroit has seen a steady decline over the past few decades. A combination of factors, including a dwindling population, high crime rates and widespread unemployment, have earned it the title of one of the nation's Most Dangerous Cities.

Now, the city has also gained the reputation as one of the worst places to be born.

The infant mortality rate in Detroit is now worse than that of some developing countries. Bloomberg recently reported that in 2012, Detroit "saw a greater proportion of babies die before their first birthdays than any American city, a rate higher than in China, Mexico and Thailand."

According to an investigation published in January by The Detroit News, "Infant mortality is the No. 1 killer of Detroit children; violence is second. In 2011 alone, 130 of the 208 Detroit children who died that year had not yet marked their first birthday."

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/infant-mortality-rates-in-detroit-2014-6#ixzz361XtlXN5

6 replies

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Babies Are More Likely To Die In Detroit Than In Mexico Or Thailand (Original Post) xchrom Jun 2014 OP

esp. without water! ellenrr Jun 2014 #1

My thought exactly. This is about to get a lot worse. Squinch Jun 2014 #2

RT makes contextless commonalities into outrageous exceptions. Igel Jun 2014 #3

Pravda with a new name and logo. Throd Jun 2014 #4

The link is from Business Insider, people! Quantess Jun 2014 #5

haha- Quantess: don't take away people's heat to bomb RT! :) ellenrr Jun 2014 #6

ellenrr

(3,864 posts)

1. esp. without water!

Reply to xchrom (Original post)

Sun Jun 29, 2014, 09:49 AM

Jun 2014

RT talks about what most American media won't"

http://rt.com/usa/168992-united-nations-detroit-water-cutoff/

Squinch

(50,949 posts)

2. My thought exactly. This is about to get a lot worse.

Reply to ellenrr (Reply #1)

Sun Jun 29, 2014, 09:53 AM

Jun 2014

Igel

(35,300 posts)

3. RT makes contextless commonalities into outrageous exceptions.

Reply to ellenrr (Reply #1)

Sun Jun 29, 2014, 04:33 PM

Jun 2014

It's all for the spin.

Recently a town in Texas reported that it was running low on water. RT pointed out how the county had experienced population growth and the upshot was it was horrible planning.

Twenty seconds later Google provided the information that the town itself had lost population but that it had been experiencing and extreme drought for years. It was only because of planning that it hadn't run out of water already, and there was planning in place to make sure that by the time the groundwater failed recycling and water imports would kick in. *That* was the story in the US press, whence RT picked its facts.

RT selectively left out what didn't suit its spin: The world is horrible except for Russia and its close allies, and the world is against Russia and its close allies.

Take the Detroit water shutoff. You hear about how horrible it was--but not that it's regular practice in most places that if you don't pay your utility bills you have the utilities shut off and that this typically is not 15 days after you fail to pay your bill for the first time. That it's fairly regular practice for must-have utilities to have some sort of averaging and subsidy arrangements available but you have to sign up for them. That routinely NGOs have some funds available. Instead you heard about the number of pending shut-offs and not how many would actually be shut off or the programs that woudl avoid shut-off). You heard about how many families with kids might be affected, not how many families with kids would be affected. You heard about water privatization and its evils, not that the Detroit water is still a public service and, as such, is rolled into the bankruptcy proceedings and has a high debt-load.

RT is long on spin and is fairly confident that having been told all they want to hear, its readers won't bother to look up the other things they need to know to form a reasoned opinion.