Detroit files for bankruptcy

[SubGod22]

Largest city to ever do so. I'm not surprised that it's come to this.

[wu_shizzle]

Detroit should have been Liberal utopia.

I blame Bush.

[WuDrWu]

I probably should, but I don't care enough to spend the time figuring out the minutia. I read a little bit but nothing I read surprised me.

The city negotiated insane pensions and benefits to underskilled, overpaid and underworked municipal employees that they had zero hope of ever paying. They prayed that unrealistic growth and tax revenues would somehow cover the obligations. SURPRISE! The numbers have gone the other way.

Of course the unions want no part of any reductions. The city has also engaged in what essentially is a Ponzi scheme to try and recover/hide some of the shortfalls, and is now hoping the casinos will be able to keep some essential services up and running (each nugget is more surreal than the previous) in the interim.

So, depending on whom you believe, the city right now has between 3.4 and 9.2 BILLION in unfunded pension and benefit obligations. They have current revenues of 380 million. Keep in mind the 3.4-9.2 BILLION are zero productivity dollars. If every dollar went to paying pensions and benefits, they would be unlikely to sustain the programs.

The unions are of course crying foul and will argue it's not their fault. And there's a modicum of truth to that.....it may not be technically their fault. But I tell you what......It sure as hell isn't my fault, or the fault of any taxpayer outside the greater Detroit area. It's their mess, let them clean it up.

However, I have ZERO DOUBT the Feds will step in and "save" the pensions...if not at 100%, then damned close to it.

I've been warning of these types of issues for years. Public pensions and college loans are the 24.000 pound gorilla in the room right now. At least with Social Security I feel that some people are aware that it's broken....nobody will do anything about it, but at least there is an awareness.

[pinstripers]

I probably should, but I don't care enough to spend the time figuring out the meaning of minutia.

[Rlh04d]

Detroit is interesting, because I don't know what will ever be able to save it. It amazes me that, beyond even the union aspects, they never grasped the basic economic concepts of heavily relying on manufacturing products from relatively unskilled labor not being a sustainable model in the face of international trade.

Let it fail. Other cities will learn its lesson.

[pinstripers]

Detroit is interesting, because I don't know what will ever be able to save it. It amazes me that, beyond even the union aspects, they never grasped the basic economic concepts of heavily relying on manufacturing products from relatively unskilled labor not being a sustainable model in the face of international trade.

Let it fail. Other cities will learn its lesson.

I do not believe that anyone will learn a lesson from this; or from the next one.

[SB Shock]

Let it fail. Other cities will learn its lesson.

who do you think will be bailing them out - especially the pension? By U.S. Taxpayers via the PBGC (for pensions). Nobody will learn a lesson - bankruptcy is the new "Big Business" in the U.S.

[WuDrWu]

No doubt Obama will eventually bail out the pensioners. He'll wait a bit to do whatever damage he thinks he can do to the current Governor.

[SB Shock]

“We’re going to lay out a new way forward on jobs to grow the economy and put more Americans back to work right now,” Obama said in Detroit in 2011. “I don’t want to give everything away right here because I want you all to tune in.”

I wonder if they are still tuning in?

[SubGod22]

I wonder if they are still tuning in?

Sadly, I bet they are.

[WuDrWu]

As long as they "get" what they think they are entitled to....they will continue to tune in.

[SubGod22]

No wonder Detroit has issues.... Detroit's City Council spends time weighing in on Zimmerman case, puts Motor City issues on back burner

Detroit's City Council has come under fire for spending time this week writing, voting and passing a resolution supporting a federal investigation into George Zimmerman instead of focusing on its own financial blunders and ballooning crime rate.

Zimmerman, a Florida neighborhood watch volunteer, was acquitted July 13 in the shooting death of teenager Trayvon Martin.

The unanimous vote by the members of the Detroit council on a crime that took place six states and hundreds of miles away came just two days after the Motor City’s latest gun-related death – its 176^th homicide of the year.

[1979Shocker]

No wonder Detroit has issues.... Detroit's City Council spends time weighing in on Zimmerman case, puts Motor City issues on back burner

Reminds me of Congress passing different things that have nothing to do with helping the country.

[RoyalShock]

Reminds me of Congress passing different things that have nothing to do with helping the country.

At least that is relevant, misguided or not. Detroit weighing in on a case in Sanford, Florida, is beyond moronic.

[WuDrWu]

9 Councilmembers making north of 71k a year, with health and pension benefits, car, gas and cell phone, and each with a staff of between 4-8 staffers, and a budget of half a million or more.

http://www.freep.com/interactive/article/20130512/NEWS01/130512005/Detroit-city-council-compensation-comparison

It's obvious that a self defense case in Florida is the base of their problems in Detroit.