If liberals had even an ounce of integrity they should be ashamed of themselves for how their greed took apart this once great city. DetroitâThe city of Detroit filed the largest municipal bankruptcy case in U.S. history Thursday afternoon, culminating a decades-long slide that transformed the nationâs iconic industrial town into a model of urban decline crippled by population loss, a dwindling tax base and financial problems. The 16-page petition was filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Detroit. Gov. Rick Snyderâs office was making plans this afternoon to hold a Friday morning news conference at the Maccabees Building, 5057 Woodward in Midtown, according to a source. Itâs the same location where the governor declared a financial emergency for Detroit on March 1. Under state law, Snyder is required to approve a Chapter 9 filing. As of Wednesday, Snyder said he had not received any such request from Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr. Sources close to the governor said the situation is fluid, adding that Snyder intends to study Orrâs recommendations and related documents âfor a couple of daysâ before making his decision. A bankruptcy filing would come as an Ingham County judge is preparing Monday to hear arguments from retirees to block any attempt by Snyder to authorize a bankruptcy. A filing would produce an automatic stay of all pending litigation and would cap a month of intense talks between Orrâs team and creditors, which largely have failed to restructure as much as $20 billion in debt and long-term liabilities. News of an imminent filing prompted lawyers for the cityâs pension funds to request an emergency hearing this afternoon in Ingham County Circuit Court to block a bankruptcy authorization. Orrâs spokesman, Bill Nowling, could not be reached for comment. And state officials contacted by The News on Thursday declined to discuss the matter. A Chapter 9 filing would leave the restructuring to Orr and a federal bankruptcy judge and could take years, experts say, despite hopes by the governor and Orr that the case can be wrapped up in a year. A bankruptcy judge could trump the state constitution by slashing retiree pensions, ripping up contracts and paying creditors roughly a dime on the dollar for unsecured claims worth $11.45 billion. During a month of negotiations, Orr has reached a settlement with only two creditors: Bank of America Corp. and UBS AG. They have agreed to accept 75 cents on the dollar for approximately $340 million in swaps liabilities, according to a source familiar with the deal. The bankruptcy plan is expected to closely follow Orrâs restructuring proposal that was unveiled to creditors on June 14 â a proposal that drew criticism from some creditors who said the cuts were too deep and did not include the sale of city assets, including Belle Isle and a Detroit Institute of Arts collection worth billions. He proposed paying most of the money owed to secured creditors while pension funds, unions and unsecured bondholders would receive, in some cases, 10 cents on the dollar. The filing is expected to trigger a costly, long and precedent-setting battle by creditors and Detroitâs bankruptcy case could become a template for the treatment of pensions in the largely uncharted world of municipal bankruptcies. Unsecured creditors could take the biggest hit in bankruptcy court. Orr wants them to share a $2 billion payout on approximately $11.5 billion worth of debt, which includes an estimated $9.2 billion in health and pension benefits and $530 million in general-obligation bonds. Instead of paying creditors in full, Orr would use $1.25 billion over the next decade to buy police cars and fire trucks, replace broken street lights, tear down burned-out homes, fight blight and improve city services. Orr wants to stabilize the city, woo new residents, provide essential city services for Detroiters, lower property taxes and transfer costly departments, including the water department to an outside group. Once the nationâs fourth largest city, Detroit was hailed as an industrial hub with nearly 2 million people. Today, after a half-century of residential flight, high unemployment, a significant reduction in state funding, plummeting income and property taxes, corruption and chronic mismanagement, the bankruptcy filing solidifies the city's standing as a model of urban decline. The filing would serve as a grim reminder of the bankruptcies that hit the auto industry four years ago. Unlike the cases of General Motors and Chrysler in 2009, the White House offered no financial help. Snyderâs staff is making plans to explain the bankruptcy decision during appearances on Sunday morning talks shows, including Face the Nation and Meet the Press, according to one source. A Chapter 9 petition could be filed by Detroit over the weekend. The first-day papers would be expected to explain why the city is eligible to file Chapter 9 bankruptcy, namely that Detroit is insolvent and that good-faith negotiations have failed to solve the financial problem. The city would have to file a plan of adjustment that explains how the city would treat its debt and explain how Detroit would handle future tax revenue and spending. Itâs possible, experts say, that Orr could elect to file his restructuring plan with the cityâs initial Chapter 9 petition. The case would be assigned by Alice Batchelder, chief judge of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which spans Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee. Any judge in the four-state region could be assigned the case, though Batchelder will weigh potential political concerns and decide who has the time and capability to handle a complex, large case. Some legal experts predict the case would be filed in Detroit but assigned to a judge from outside the city to avoid any potential conflicts of interest. From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130718/METRO01/307180103#ixzz2ZQu6MiL0
Liberal greed? Really?? Or lack of innovation? Pittsburgh didn't roll over and die when the steel mills closed. Next thing ya know the republican mind will blame Those people.
YES, really. Well that and liberal corruption stupidity political correctness and spending beyond their means. But yes.
Yes, its all about liberal greed from the greedy UAW chasing all the manufacturing jobs out of town to the greedy government pensions pushing the city into insolvency, the 1-2 punch of lazy greedy liberalism.
These three items would have ensured that this would have never happened: 1. Term limits. 2. Mandatory balanced budgets. 3. Swift death penalty for corrupt elected officials. The government is nothing more than a paper tiger. But, the problem is that 95% don't know or believe what I just wrote, because they live their lives, every day, in fear of the thugs who they think control their destiny. If people were smart/confident enough to live their own lives without feeling the need to be told what to do, we would have a whole different country. Kinda like the one we used to have.
Three points: 1. Pensions are already in court to try to stop it. 2. Unions will probably join the Pensions. 3. Detroit still wants $20 Billion from U.S. taxpayers to pay the debts.
Liberal rampages too, how many times did they "burn baby, burn"? I wouldn't live in a city that had those riots and burnings. People with talent will pick up and leave, employers will offshore, etc.
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Detroit Bankrupt: Kevyn Orr Asks Federal Judge To Place City Under Chapter 9 Bankruptcy Protection By COREY WILLIAMS and ED WHITE 07/18/13 07:21 PM ET EDT AP "DETROIT â Once the very symbol of American industrial might, Detroit became the biggest U.S. city to file for bankruptcy Thursday, its finances ravaged and its neighborhoods hollowed out by a long, slow decline in population and auto manufacturing. "The filing, which had been feared for months, put the city on an uncertain course that could mean laying off municipal employees, selling off assets, raising fees and scaling back basic services such as trash collection and snow plowing, which have already been slashed. "Only one feasible path offers a way out," Gov. Rick Snyder said in a letter approving the move. "Kevyn Orr, a bankruptcy expert hired by the state in March to stop Detroit's fiscal free-fall, made the filing in federal bankruptcy court under Chapter 9, the bankruptcy system for cities and counties. "Orr said Detroit would continue paying its bills and employees. "But, said Michael Sweet, a bankruptcy attorney in Fox-Rothschild's San Francisco office, "They don't have to pay anyone they don't want to. And no one can sue them." "The city's woes have piled up for generations. In the 1950s, its population grew to 1.8 million people, lured by plentiful, well-paying auto jobs. But like many American cities, Detroit began to decline late that decade as developers starting building suburbs. "Then beginning in the late 1960s, auto companies began opening plants in other cities. Property values and tax revenue fell, and police couldn't control crime. In later years, the rise of autos imported from Japan started to cut the size of the U.S. auto industry. "Detroit lost a quarter-million residents between 2000 and 2010. Today, the population struggles to stay above 700,000. "In recent months, the city has relied on state-backed bond money to meet payroll for its 10,000 employees. "Orr was unable to persuade a host of creditors, unions and pension boards to take pennies on the dollar to help with the city's massive financial restructuring. If the bankruptcy filing is approved, city assets could be liquidated to satisfy demands for payment. "Orr said Thursday that he "bent over backward" to work with creditors, rejecting criticism that he was too rigid. "Anybody who takes that position just hasn't been listening." "The bankruptcy could last through summer or fall 2014, which coincides with the end of Orr's 18-month appointment, he said. "Snyder determined earlier this year that Detroit was in a financial emergency and without a plan for improvement. He made it the largest U.S. city to fall under state oversight when a state loan board hired Orr. His letter was attached to Orr's bankruptcy filing. "The citizens of Detroit need and deserve a clear road out of the cycle of ever-decreasing services," Snyder wrote. "The city's creditors, as well as its many dedicated public servants, deserve to know what promises the city can and will keep. The only way to do those things is to radically restructure the city and allow it to reinvent itself without the burden of impossible obligations." "A turnaround specialist, Orr represented automaker Chrysler LLC during its successful restructuring. He issued a warning early on in his 18-month tenure in Detroit that bankruptcy was a road he preferred to avoid. "In June, he laid out his plans in meetings with debt holders. Some creditors were asked to take about 10 cents on the dollar of what the city owed them. Underfunded pension claims would have received less than the 10 cents on the dollar under that plan. "Orr's team of financial experts said that proposal was Detroit's one shot to permanently fix its fiscal problems. The team said Detroit was defaulting on about $2.5 billion in unsecured debt to "conserve cash" for police, fire and other services. "Despite Mr. Orr's best efforts, he has been unable to reach a restructuring plan with the city's creditors," the governor wrote, explaining that bankruptcy protection was "the only feasible path to a stable and solid Detroit." "Detroit's budget deficit is believed to be more than $380 million. Orr has said long-term debt was more than $14 billion and could be between $17 billion and $20 billion. "Orr's decision to file now may have been influenced by lawsuits filed by some city workers and retirement systems to prevent Snyder from approving a bankruptcy request from the emergency manager, said Detroit-area turnaround specialist James McTevia. "They have argued that bankruptcy could change pension and retiree benefits, which are guaranteed under state law. "Orr has said federal bankruptcy laws trump state law in this matter. "A bankruptcy judge will stay all the litigation, McTevia said. "One court will adjudicate all these," McTevia said. "Some are concerned that a bankrupt Detroit will cause businesses large and small to reconsider their operations in the city. But General Motors, which filed and emerged from a Chapter 11 bankruptcy, does not anticipate any impact to its daily operations, the automaker said Thursday in a statement. "GM is proud to call Detroit home and today's bankruptcy declaration is a day that we and others hoped would not come," the statement said. "We believe, however, that today also can mark a clean start for the city. "Detroit has more than double the population of the Northern California community of Stockton, Calif., which until Detroit had been the largest U.S. city ever to file for bankruptcy when it did so in June 2012. "Before Detroit, the largest municipal bankruptcy filing had involved Jefferson County, Ala., which was more than $4 billion in debt when it filed in 2011. Another recent city to have filed for bankruptcy was San Bernardino, Calif., which took that route in August 2012 after learning it had a $46 million deficit. "About 640 Chapter 9 bankruptcies have been filed since Congress enacted a revised Municipal Bankruptcy Act in 1937." http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/...tcy-keyn-orr-federal-chapter-9_n_3619099.html