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Posted on 07/25/2013 8:01:52 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
I’m sad. Detroit is my native city. Its decline from being arguably the world’s richest city to being America’s “first Third Word city” is tragic, politically criminal, and a warning to other Americans.
The official declaration of Detroit’s bankruptcy last week could not have come as a surprise to anyone familiar with the Motor City’s atrocious financial condition. The city had no hope of ever recovering from its colossal over-indebtedness, and without a central bank standing by to create fiat credit to augment its insufficient revenue—the scheme that is the only thing keeping the even more colossally over-indebted national government solvent—the only question was when someone would pull the plug.
Fiscally speaking, Detroit had been in the “walking dead” category for years. Last Thursday’s announcement by Detroit’s emergency manager, Kevyn Orr, finally acknowledged the inescapable facts.
Clearly, some Michiganders are still in denial and refuse to face those facts. Last Friday, Ingham County Circuit Judge Rosemarie Aquilina insisted that the Chapter 9 bankruptcy declaration be withdrawn, stating the Michigan constitution forbids any action that would decrease the pension benefits of public employees. In the first place, Judge Aquilina should read my article about will and abandon the delusion that a constitution can alter reality by making nonexistent funds magically appear; in the second, it is an unjust constitution that confers a protection on public employees that private-sector employees don’t have. A sounder constitution would have prohibited the city government from gaining control of employees’ retirement funds contributions and instead have mandated that those contributions all go into a private fund in the workers’ names where the city couldn’t touch them.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
As I've said in most Detroit threads to which I've responded, the solution is amazingly simple:
It's not that tough, and it's a good model for other cities that have grown too large and fallen into this trap.
Yep, looks like chocolate. Taste like $h!t.
One would think New Orleans can survive or get by on its tourist and convention revenues to the city. Memphis a little less so but Detroit has no such horse in that race.
Sponges and leeches have only so much OPM to draw from until the well runs dry which it has but old addictions are hard to break.
Sounds like a plan. There are many burbs surrounding Detroit and two cities within its boundaries, though those two are probably on shaky ground too.
But to keep a port/railhead function running, you only need an employee base of 10 thousand people. That may end up being the only remnant of those three cities.
The liberals will want to merge the ‘burbs with Detroit to make them pay for everything. Then people will leave the burbs too.
that is what bankruptcy is for, on central location.
I was ammused by the protests at the “surprise filing”. Bankruptcy filings as a rule tend to be last minute surprises. If anything the state court judge violated federal law by violating the automatic stay. (opens state judge to federal sanctions)
the pensions should have asked the bankruptcy judge for relief from the stay, in order to pursue a state court action. (which the bankruptcy judge would have said no anyways)
I suspect this state court judge is just part of the long line of Detroit corruption.
That's been tried many times before and hasn't worked. The libs are not in the drivers seat or even in the car any more.
I had to delete my own post there. Even sarcasm can take us off subject here...
I seem to recall another Mae West quote about never wearing orange because sailors will try to jump on you...:)
Detroit ISN’T wearing any orange, and there aren’t any willing sailors out there.
Touchy business, that of a parasite. You want to be able to drop off before the victim is bled dry; if you don't, you're no better off than your victim. This isn't all that difficult. Anyone watching the declining revenues as taxes increased could have anticipated that there would be a point at which the system would break as Zimbabwe's did. And what saved Zimbabwe eventually was a massive infusion of foreign cash, and that is precisely what the Detroit city council was hoping for.
They've been disappointed so far but I would be willing to bet that it isn't over. Why?
The ideology that causes Judge Aquilina to believe that political action—policies, laws, even constitutions—can make reality conform to one’s political vision is the very ideology that already has devastated Detroit.
The reason is that the ideology Stossel identifies here has found a home at the federal level. It has permeated the 0bama administration and the Democrat party in general. They'll find the money, and it will be from somebody they don't like. That's what redistributionists do.
This is bad enough on the level of the United States, a victim which will be the slowest of all to bleed out. If there were a world government, however, or some international body capable of taxing everyone, well, then the parasite would have an even larger victim to exsanguinate. It does explain the progressive passion for world government and the UN, doesn't it?
In the 1050's Memphis was voted the country's cleanist city,safest city, and quietest city of any city of its size in the country. Its black population then was around 33%. Now (2012 data),Memphis’ violent crime rate of 871.88 crimes per 100,000 residents ranks only behind Flint, Mich.; Detroit; St. Louis; and Oakland, Calif.The percentage of blacks in Memphis is 64.1% which is 6th in the country.
Maybe communists will quit promising what it is that they are not capable of delivering.
LLS
For some reason, one thing I don't recall in "Atlas Shrugged," was Rand specifically naming the act of unions and politicians getting in bed together, and sucking a city's taxbase dry. I supposed of course, it doesn't matter what you call them--a moocher is a moocher.
Rancid and rotting chocolate.
This stinks. I have been involved in muni-bond sales in the past and worked closely with the bonding attorneys to submit all financial documents and future covenants to demonstrate future stability.
My point here that someone or some persons were in cahoots to allow them to continue to issue bonds that they knew were likely to be defaulted on. Even if they try to blame it on “staff lied to us about our finances” the elected officials should have caught these schemes at every budget workshop or presentation. The first thing in every budget discussion I have ever been a part of is the current debt and how is that being paid for, followed by this is how much is left to pay for current services, and finally this is what is left over after depositing money into secure reserve accounts to pay for any new services.
"Only I'm not going to say I am working for the welfare of my public, because I know I'm not. I know I'm delivering the poor bastards into slavery, and that's all there is to it. And they know it too. But they know I'll have to throw them a crumb once in a while, if I want to keep my racket...."
“They’ll find the money, and it will be from somebody they don’t like. That’s what redistributionists do.”
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0bama and crew are downplaying a bailout. 0bama and crew lie. Therefore, there will be a bailout by some other name. I’m betting with you.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/feds-showing-little-enthusiasm-detroit-bailout-082050360.html
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