Tag: Bankruptcy (page 2)

A forum hosted by U.S. Rep. John Conyers Jr. and aimed at answering the public's questions discussed the "extraordinary consequences" of Detroit's bankrupcty filing and encouraged residents to fight the decision.

"We are here today because of the devastation visited upon this city," said moderator Michael Eric Dyson, a professor at Georgetown University. "Now we are facing the fact that democracy is being systematically denied to hundreds of thousands of people in this city."

MORE

Detroit, the once beautiful jewel of Michigan, tortured with decades of progressivism, Cronyism, and corruption, just cannot stop failing.  Somehow, in the midst of a bankruptcy, preceded by the spending of 15 or so billion dollars as yet unearned, and the jail sentences of ONLY a few of the officials responsible, the city still must do stupid things, like build water play fountains it cannot afford.

Or make work.  From Fox2:

"They served up free ice cold bottled water and delicious grilled hot dogs. The T-shirts looked good reading "Palmer Park Splash Park" and the ribbon cutting went well. Just one little glitch at the new park, there was no water! A water main break dried up the splash park for its grand opening!

"We had a mishap with a water main that broke," explained Detroit Mayor Dave Bing. "We have a water system that's 100 years old so those things happen."

Outside of the progressive politics, corruption related to same, and a lack of respect for what USED to be the jewel of the Midwest, it was greed.  Greed, that is explained no better than by Bill Johnson:

"History, however, shows this looming crisis might have been averted if the employees unions and pensioners had shown more flexibility forty years ago in restructuring city pension benefits. Instead, the intractable opposition demanded the city stay on a dead end course to default.

As far back as 1974, then-Mayor Coleman Young proposed what was considered reasonable changes to Detroit's pension programs. Because labor and retirees are a potent political force, the City Council shot down the mayor's changes."

Not so much.

Read the rest at Johnson's blog.

We seldom use such direct attacks in a title even though the content has tended to be more direct as of late.  And though we openly wonder on why certain pursuits exist, the Detroit bankruptcy really drives home a point that cannot be ignored.  The bankruptcy had to happen, and even though happening later than it should have been, Snyder gets some credit for doing what is needed.

For the remainder of the message however, Stephanie quotes Forbes and opines:

"In light of Detroit's bankruptcy case getting national attention, many people have missed this little development:

Detroit's Tunnel To Canada Follows The City Into Bankruptcy.  

Since 1930, Detroiters have had two choices to reach Windsor, Ontario across the U.S.-Canadian border: the Ambassador Bridge or the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel.

Now, the tunnel's operator has joined the city in seeking bankruptcy protection. It's blaming two reasons, according to Reuters: reduced traffic across the border, and the same kind of unmanageable debt burden that led to the city's Chapter 9 petition.

If Michigander's might recall, Governor Rick Snyder, as part of his campaign platform, ran advocating for a second bridge to Canada to be built, using at least partly, taxpayer money.  One has to ask, in considering this little plan of his, did he not research the profitability of the two existing means by which to get to Canada (the Windsor Tunnel and the Ambassador Bridge)?  If he didn't do the research that makes Governor Snyder just stupid.  If he did do his due diligence, he would have seen the enormous operating losses of the Tunnel."

When the Chi-comms are now making fun of you...

The governor actually does something that makes sense, (and only 2-3 decades late) and the protectors of leftist failures jump into action. And, the kids are getting hurt feelings. Yesterday's Detroit Bankruptcy filing made little Rose cry.  She thought she had beat the bad man to the punch.  So she has retaliated:

"Aquilina said she would make sure President Obama got a copy of her order."

Detroit's assets and connected operations are ALL potential targets of a chapter 9 bankruptcy. Wheter its the electric service or an island, OR a publicly financed display of polished feces on a marble stand. The Detroit News reports of Kevyn Orr's warning to Detroit Administration that nothing is 'off the table':

" The city's new emergency manager has told the Detroit Institute of Arts it may "face exposure to creditors" if the city is forced to seek bankruptcy protection, a spokesman said Thursday night.

"This is a precautionary measure," said Bill Nowling, spokesman for Kevyn Orr, the city's emergency manager.

Nowling said while there is "no plan on the table to sell any asset of the city ... it is possible that the city's creditors could demand the city use its assets to settle its debts."

All of the warnings of financial collapse to the Detroit administration and city council have fallen on deaf ears for decades. For those same decades, the answer has been to personally raid the city piggy bank, allow infrastructure to fail, and the voters have rewarded that decision making with reelection and support; reinforcing bad decision making.

Clearly its time to cut the city loose to its destined end.