Detroit sings the blues

Submitted by ub on

Find it at Longitude 83 Degrees 9' 11" W / Latitude 42 Degrees 28' 54" N, but it finds itself in deep doodoo. Detroit city officials are urging a judge to approve their plan to get out of bankruptcy, and solve some really bad crap by wiping out billions in debt and spending $1.7 billion on improved services services for the Motor City.

Judge Steven Rhodes is expected to rule on November 7 whether the largest public bankruptcy in U.S. history is fair and feasible. It's an up-or-down ruling: He can't choose parts he likes and scratch others.

The city also known as Motown lost 27 percent of its population since 2000 and can't afford to raise taxes to increase revenues.

Bond insurers with more than $1 billion at risk fought the city during much of the trial, but now are on the sidelines after settling for cash, real estate and long-term leases on certain assets. General retirees who had hoped the Michigan Constitution would protect them from pension losses agreed to a 4.5 percent cut last summer after Rhodes said there is no shield.

Private talks between Detroit and three counties are also leading to a spinoff of the water department into a regional agency.

Is Detroit actually a city on the rise? http://cnnmon.ie/1DYEtea

Detroit trial ends, judge to rule Nov. 7 on bankruptcy plan http://reut.rs/12TEnr1

But the real question, which begs to be asked... Is Detroit a wake up call for the rest of the country? Like Detroit, The United States of America has unfunded liabilities, to the tune of hundreds of trillions. Like Detroit, it’s cosseting the government class and expanding the dependency class, to the point where its bipartisan immigration reform actively recruits 50–60 million low-skilled chain migrants. Like Detroit, governing institutions in USA are increasingly the corrupt enforcers of a one-party state. Like Detroit, America is bifurcating into the class of community organizers and the unfortunate denizens of the communities so organized.

Detroit All Star Revue Sings the Blues » My Damn Ch...: http://youtu.be/QZfU7xsQe6c