We remember the Great Tsunami of 2011 and the destruction of dozens of coastal communities of Eastern Japan. It happened a year ago today.
I also remember what took place in my lifetime when Hiroshima was flattened by the first wartime nuclear bomb.
Here are some photos of the city 67 years later: a triumph of the human spirit and the Marshall Plan causing a miracle of transformation in a broken nation.
Now contrast these pictures with those from Detroit, Michigan. One taken in 1945 and another 2011.
While simplistic answers are always easy to provide, it is worth noting that Japan has no welfare state. If it is going to happen the people must MAKE it happen.
Detroit, on the other hand, has the highest welfare roll in the United States.The city has diminished from a 900,000 population to just over 400,000 and from a mighty economic power house to community with the highest per capita murder rate in the nation where even the Mayor is in Jail.
Perhaps America's largess to the nations should be directed a little nearer home.
Food for thought.
Ian
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