Motor City is Bankrupt

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 7/18/13 at 7:06pm

The largest American city in history filed for bankruptcy today.The writing was on the wall but sorry to hear they went forward with this. The economy is (slowly) improving but we can't forget about cities like Detroit and Cleveland.



Politico Story

[best12bars]

Posted: 7/18/13 at 7:11pm

Detroit, belly up.

Kodak, gone.

Pan Am, gone.

Changing ... it keeps changing ... quick draw it all, Georgie.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 7/18/13 at 7:41pm

The should ask Diana Ross for a bailout.

[javero]

Posted: 7/18/13 at 8:18pm

When I was last there 4 years ago the city seemed in a state of utter despair. Those online comments were tough to get thru.

NYC, Philly, and DC have made comebacks so I'm hoping that Detroit will as well.

A few years ago I received an email from some Libertarian Randite who was encouraging investors to band together to buy out the city's current property owners, level the city, and convert it to tracts of organic farm land to supply the Whole Foods-set. I'm all for the free market but not completely displacing a population whose roots in the city go back several generations.

Updated On: 7/18/13 at 08:18 PM

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 7/18/13 at 8:19pm

Detroit has been a **** hole for the last 10 years.

There's a city that needs a total enema.

[broadwaydevil]

Posted: 7/18/13 at 8:58pm

Lots of cities have recovered from bad times, but this is particularly grim.

Here's to hoping time will heal all wounds and Detroit will come back better than ever at some point (it'll take decades)

[winston89]

Posted: 7/18/13 at 9:45pm

In all honesty, I can't think of this story without thinking of an old Onion article. I believe the headline was "Detroit burns itself for insurance money." But all kidding aside, I feel that this is sad and I do hope that they recover sooner rather than later.

[Elphaba]

Posted: 7/18/13 at 9:50pm

an amazing city with amazing people. I do hope they can can come back.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 7/19/13 at 12:25am

I did a show at Michigan Opera Theatre back in 06 during the Tigers/Cardinals World Series. It was very telling to me that even after a World Series game nobody would stay in downtown Detroit to celebrate a win or mourn a loss. I joked that I never felt unsafe walking at night between the Opera House and the hotel we were staying at because not even the criminals bothered to stay downtown after dark.

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 7/19/13 at 10:20am

That's very true, AEA. My husband is from Michigan and so we go back every couple of years. It is heartbreaking to drive through downtown Detroit.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 7/19/13 at 10:59am

"Detroit is the South's revenge,"--Lanford Wilson, BURN THIS.

[Elphaba]

Posted: 7/19/13 at 11:54am

at one time I lived in the poorest zip code in the US, and that was in Detroit, where the stadiums now stand. Not once in 6 years did I ever feel unsafe walking around. Yes, they have Devil's night, yes there are issues...but ever city has issues. Don't believe all the hype. There are many good things about and in Detroit.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 7/19/13 at 1:06pm

Will Howdy Doody have to move?

"It turns out the city also owns the original Howdy Doody marionette from the 1950s TV show, from the estate of puppeteer Buffalo Bob Smith — and that has become an odd flashpoint as people across the region try to figure out how the bankruptcy filing hits home."
Save Howdy's House!

[mikey2573]

Posted: 7/20/13 at 12:01am

Some interesting stats on the now bankrupt city of Detroit.
The unemployment rate has tripled since the year 2000 and is double the national average.
The murder rate in Detroit is the highest in 40 years.
It takes an average of 58 minutes for police to respond to any call.
40% of the city's street lights do not work.
Approximately 78,000 abandoned homes an businesses.

Detroit is the poster child of the Democratic party -- 50 years of Dem mayors, Dem city councils, and Dem union bosses have turned it into a flashback to East Germany. Margaret Thatcher was right -- eventually you DO run out of Other Peoples' Money.
But wait, didn't Obama say this? Quote: "We refuse to throw in the towel and do nothing. We refuse to let Detroit go bankrupt... I bet on American workers and America ingenuity, and three years later, that is paying off in a big way."

Yes -- he DID say that!!
Let's face it, If President Obama had a city, it would look like Detroit.

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 7/20/13 at 12:26am

[mikey2573]

Posted: 7/21/13 at 11:46am

Opinion: Detroit got what it deserved

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/07/19/opinion-detroit-got-what-it-deserved/2567559/

If the residents of Detroit want to blame any person or organization for its Chapter 9 filing, they only need to look as far as the unions that controlled labor there and the politicians who ran it the past four decades. Detroit earned its bankruptcy the easy way — through greed, the desire for political power and poor planning.

Kevyn D. Orr, the city's emergency manager, offered interested parties a likely way to avoid the bankruptcy filing just weeks ago. Employees of Detroit, past and present, could share the pain of the restructuring of financial obligations with bond holders. Each blamed the other for the city's problems. Each said the other should absorb the brunt of a restructuring. Neither budged. Orr ran out of options, as two city pension funds went to court to try to protect their assets, motivated by a final grab for Detroit's money.

The media's take on Detroit was to post pictures of rundown and vacant homes and to publish the estimates of Detroit's obligations — about $19 billion. The press also has pointed out the clear conclusion that bond owners will take cents on the dollar.

Unions will have parts of pension obligations voided. City workers will lose their jobs. The two largest employers in Detroit are the school system and the city itself.

These workers dwarf the number employed by General Motors and Chrysler. Ford barely has a presence in Detroit any more.

Detroit is a city where the employee base is tilted away from private enterprise — a rarity, if not a uniqueness.

Another fact the media mentions as it measures Detroit's fall from grace is the drop in its population from 1.8 million in 1950 to just above 700,000 in 2010. In fact, if only those two points in time are the basis of an analysis, it is misleading.

The city's population did not start to fall sharply until after 1970. The 1973 oil crisis that rocketed gas prices up and the deep recession of the early 1970s dealt Detroit's car industry a blow that made the size of the city's government unsustainable.

Detroit's tax base began to tumble. Anyone among union leaders and elected officials could look at the numbers. The costs to sustain Detroit as it had been for two decades were impossible to maintain.

But the city kept spending. Unions wanted to keep their power as well as preserve jobs. Politicians did not want to admit they were running a dying city, say as much to voters and begin a battle with unions to lower labor costs.

Both parties are to blame. Which should be blamed more cannot be measured exactly. Bond holders do not deserve the kind of responsibility that those who ran Detroit do. However, they, and their bankers, were willing to keep the city afloat by buying paper that was risky. They took the risk and fed Detroit with money. Now, they get to take the sort of damage that goes with risking to much, too often and for too long.

As the people of Detroit and experts tear apart the history of iconic American city, some blame will be placed with the car companies. But they built Detroit — Detroit did not build them. It is not fair to say they destroyed her.

These public corporations, with obligations to shareholders, may have been among the few wise parties. The Big Three automakers exited slowly, as city services dissolved and Detroit became a less desirable place to live and do business.

Detroit's elected officials have lost all of their power. Orr has it, and soon a court will. Unions and their members can only wait to see how badly they will will be gored as part of the Chapter 9 process.

All of them knew a long time ago that the city was beginning to founder and each party tried to hang on to as much money, and privilege, as possible. Now, each gets to suffer the consequences.

[romantico]

Posted: 7/21/13 at 11:56am

Updated On: 7/21/13 at 11:56 AM

[strummergirl]

Posted: 7/21/13 at 12:34pm

And......

https://twitter.com/daveweigel/status/358243105759170561

..... pretty much all of that.

[mikey2573]

Posted: 7/21/13 at 12:58pm

Of course, it should be noted that the flame war between Obama and Romney was over differing opinions on a bailout for the U.S. auto industry — not over the bankruptcy of the actual city.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 7/21/13 at 1:21pm

Insert crazy talking fried egg gif here

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 7/21/13 at 1:34pm

I have never felt any political loyalty to the Unions (could we get any more general?) but I completely disagree with you, Mikey.

Detroit unable to catch up with technological advances and changes within manufacturing is the #1 reason. They need to promote a culture of positive change and progression and growth, but the corrupt city officials found it more beneficial to hold their people down. Detroit will learn from this with or without the Unions. Don't try to pin this on just one collective of people.

And no, I DON'T HAVE PROOF FROM ABC NEWS OR CNN. So take a deep breath before you even consider responding.

[mikey2573]

Posted: 7/21/13 at 4:40pm

Hiroshima nearly 70 years after an atomic bomb.
Detroit nearly 60 years after the Democratic Party took control.

Updated On: 7/21/13 at 04:40 PM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 7/21/13 at 5:01pm

Now Suestorm is on hiatus.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 7/21/13 at 5:13pm

mikey,

Why don't you face FACTS and realize that Detroit's downfall was due to greed. Companies did not invest in future technology and couldn't keep up with changing times.

Big companies would rather have their profit margin increased than spend anything on infrastructure.

"SEND IT OVERSEAS!!!"

Which is the problem with most of our country today. It's just falling apart because the right would rather line their own pockets than invest.

And they call themselves 'job creators'...

[suestorm]

Posted: 7/21/13 at 5:16pm

Aaawwww thanks! I reallt missed you guys too! Xoxox