Detroit is depressing. I knew this was true, but I did not understand what that meant until a recent visit. The photo to the left best describes the city. As I rode “the People Mover” around downtown I met this woman. She is homeless and it is winter in Detroit. She rode the warm compartment around the city at least twice before I left. She told me of places she heard there might be jobs. Behind her, General Motors’ building glistens in the sun, in front of her lies a modern decaying city.

“The bank is something more than men, I tell you. It’s the monster. Men made it, but they can’t control it.”

- John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 5

“How can you frighten a man whose hunger is not only in his own cramped stomach but in the wretched bellies of his children? You can’t scare him– he has known a fear beyond every other.”

- John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 19

That being said, if I had the money, I’d invest in Detroit. Home prices are down 40% from their peak, and those are the homes people want to live in. There are entire blocks of abandoned homes selling for hundreds of dollars each. If Detroit ever turns around, money will be made. Steinbeck may best describe the crippling depression of Detroit, but Warren Buffet best explains how to profit from it.

“Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful,”

- Warren Buffet

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Los Galanes in Mexicantown.

Los Galanes in Mexicantown. One of the few booming areas.

Michigan Central Station. Abandoned January 6th, 1988.

Foran’s Irish Pub, Downtown.

Abandoned skyline

“People Mover” 2.9 Mile track around the downtown

Canada, from the “People Mover”

Detroit