Thread: Detroit Bankruptcy Detroit Files Largest Municipal Bankruptcy In Hist

Detroit files for largest municipal bankruptcy in US history

Posted on 18 July, 2013 by clyde


Fox News is reporting that Detroit filed for the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history Thursday after steep population and tax base declines sent it tumbling toward insolvency.
The filing by a state-appointed emergency manager means that if the bankruptcy filing is approved, city assets could be liquidated to satisfy demands for payment.
Kevin Orr, a bankruptcy expert, was hired by the state in March to lead Detroit out of a fiscal free-fall and made the filing Thursday in federal bankruptcy court.
The filing leads to a 30 to 90 day period that will determine whether or not the city of Detroit is eligible for Chapter 9 protection, and define the number of claimants who may compete for Detroit’s limited settlement resources. The petition seeks protection from unions and creditors who are renegotiating $18.5 billion in debt and liabilities, according to the Detroit Free Press.
A number of factors — most notably steep population and tax base falls — have been blamed on Detroit’s descent toward insolvency.
Detroit lost a quarter-million residents between 2000 and 2010. A population that in the 1950s reached 1.8 million is struggling to stay above 700,000. Much of the middle-class and scores of businesses also have fled Detroit, taking their tax dollars with them.
Orr was unable to convince a host of creditors, including the city’s union and pension boards to take pennies on the dollar to help facilitate the city’s massive financial restructuring.
He laid out his plans in June meetings with debt holders, in which his team warned there was a 50-50 chance of a bankruptcy filing.
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 10 cents on the dollar under that plan.
A team of financial experts put together by Orr said that proposal was Detroit’s one shot to permanently fix its fiscal problems.
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.

http://gopthedailydose.com/2013/07/1...in-us-history/

Detroit: A City Destroyed by “Progressive” Statism

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By David J. Theroux • Sunday December 27, 2009 10:04 PM PDT • 9 Comments

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Video at the Page Link:

Pajamas TV has just released the excellent video, “A City Destroyed by Liberal Idealism,” which discusses the ruin of the City of Detroit as a result of “liberal” (i.e., “Progressive”) statism. And this disastrous story is repeated in major cities across the U.S. to the extent that government, urban, collectivist policies have been imposed.

For excellent examinations of the destructive effects of such policies and the need for privatization and marketization of urban enterprise, housing, education, security/policing, transportation, and welfare/charity, please see the following books:
The Voluntary City: Choice, Community, and Civil Society, edited by David T. Beito, Peter Gordon, and Alexander T. Tabarrok

Housing America: Building Out of a Crisis, edited by Randall G. Holcombe and Benjamin Powell

Street Smart: Competition, Entrepreneurship, and the Future of Roads, edited by Gabriel Roth

To Serve and Protect: Privatization and Community in Criminal Justice, by Bruce L. Benson

Out of Work: Unemployment and Government in Twentieth-Century America, by Lowell E. Gallaway and Richard K. Vedder

Tags: Books, Business, Civil Society, Corporatism, Drugs, Economics, Education, Employment, Free Market,Government subsidies, Housing, Labor, Land use, Morality, Nationalization, Police, Regulation, Socialism, The State,Unemployment, Urban Issues, Video, Welfare




http://blog.independent.org/2009/12/...ssive-statism/

The Democrats Have Finally Done it- They Killed The Motor City

http://patriotaction.net/forum/topic...sg_share_topic

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http://www.alipac.us/f9/detroit-bank...tirees-283839/