The Spark

the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist

“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx

Detroit:
Death by Capitalism

Jul 20, 2009

A Detroit father and his three children died of carbon monoxide poisoning in their house recently.

Vaughn Reed had been laid off from his job at an auto parts company in January and had big medical bills for his wife and youngest child, both of whom require expensive breathing machines. He had filed for bankruptcy in June. Despite the fact that regulations prohibit cutoffs during bankruptcy proceedings, DTE Energy cut off their electricity on July 16.

When DTE did not immediately turn the electricity back on, Reed set up a borrowed gasoline-powered generator in order to power the breathing machines.

Early in the morning of July 17, carbon monoxide from the generator killed Reed and his three children. Reed’s wife barely escaped with her life.

The day after Reed and his children died, the Michigan Public Service Commission announced they were going to allow DTE to start raising electric rates again next month!

The state couldn’t have made it more clear where its compassion lay–with DTE profits–not with human life!