Detroit Rock Bottom: City Announces 2.5 bn Debt Default

reply to post by marg6043


Bank of America, Royal Bank of Canada, Chase hold some of them.
Other financial instruments are held my various other entities.
And the Pension systems.

I dont' have a source....but I had read that earlier.

reply to post by DontTreadOnMe


Interesting how states can fall into debt with the same type of institutions that we common citizens get in debt with.

Very, very interesting.

Now wonder the Fed keeps feeding the bankers in Walls street at a tune of billions a months. Is a vicious cycle and the worst side of it is that is not end to it.

reply to post by marg6043


Detroit has been making made financial decisions for decades....and has had their heads in the sand for much of that time.
They kept borrowing money...money they had to know they could never pay back.
In Detroit, many people and businesses don't pay their property taxes...or their water bills.....taking even more revenue away from the City.

reply to post by DontTreadOnMe


Are your from Detroit? here in my neck of the woods the city takes away soo much from businesses that new small businesses can not make it within the first year.

Then is penalties for everything, the only complains I always hear from the city is how much it cost to keep up with the retirement of government employees.

reply to post by darkbake


Pellet guns are no match against thugs armed with pistols and assault weapons.

reply to post by marg6043


I live in the region.

Detroit is the largest city in the state.
And, at one Detroit it was one of the largest cities in the US...and metro Detroit was one of the most prosperous areas of the country.
There is no doubt that some of the cities woes are due to what has befallen the auto industry.....and how manufacturing has been stolen away from the US.

Detroit was unwilling or unable to diversify or plan for a future without that manufacturing.
Unions have prevented the City from privatizing anything ....most cities in teh region at least have private garbage pickups.
Many people in the city seem to want to blame the banks totally for what has happened to Detroit.
What has happened to Detroit has not happened in the last 5 years...more like 50 years and there is plenty of blame to go around.

reply to post by DontTreadOnMe


Yes Detroit used be one of the best cities in the nation, but while privatization is a good thing it comes with its downfall, fees will go up as privatization always have to do with profits and as usual they have to feed the share holders.

When our garbage became privatized it double within the first year and now we are paying three times what we use to pay before it became privately run that also happen with the water.

Somebody have to profit.

Perhaps they will allow some privatization now that the city is in need.

reply to post by marg6043


Detroit runs the regional water system.
Well, run it in to the ground is more like it.
It's run by the City with union workers.
Our suburban rates and sewage rises a lot every year....as we pay for an aging infrastructure.....and plenty of corruption...right now the sewerage rates are about double the water rates

reply to post by DontTreadOnMe


I knew that the unions had a strong hold in Detroit but I had not idea that their power reached farther, for some reason I believe it was only within the industrial manufacturing sector.

But they also control the city? no wonder the city is so restricted on what they can do.

We have the same problem and is not unions, but the water goes up and so the sewer equally, we blame it to the fact that in this part of the state most people owns their own wells so the ones like us that live in suburban areas and depend on the private own city water system have to pay for those that do not.

They try to make those with wells to pay taxes just for using a well, but it was defeated.

reply to post by marg6043

The parks, buses, garbage, and the typical city services....the city and unions even run the public lighting for the streets and public buildings in Detroit. And then the regional water system.

The City also owns Cobo Hall and the Joe Louis Arena (where the Red Wings play hockey)...AFAIK most sports venues are now owned by large companies....

Very strong unions presence in Detroit.

reply to post by DontTreadOnMe


Thanks for the enlightenment, I was starting to believe that unions were already death, but I see they are still well and alive in Detroit, even when most of the manufacturing is gone, I guess unions could not fight enough to keep the manufacturing industry from being outsourced.

This may deserve its own thread, but there has been some discussion about selling the art in the Detroit Institute of Art to pay off the city's debts; it's one of the grandest collections in the country.

www.toledoblade.com...

“We don’t have any plans on the table to sell anything, but we have to have a clear understanding of all the city’s assets and how they provide value to the city,” said Mr. Nowling, adding that both long and short-term values are being considered. Major assets fall into about 15 categories, of which the DIA is one, Mr. Nowling said. Others include Belle Isle (a 982-acre island park in the Detroit River), the Detroit Zoo, electrical grids, 100,000-plus vacant properties, various buildings, Detroit City Airport, and the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, which, he noted, provides a regional service, deriving 80 percent of its revenue from outside the city. Mr. Orr has requested a copy of the museum’s entire inventory, the vast majority of which is owned by the city.

“This is completely unprecedented. We just don’t know how this is going to play out,” said Annmarie Erickson, DIA vice president and chief operating officer. “The museum will not sell art unless compelled to do so.” That specter was mere cocktail-party conversation a year ago, she said. “When the emergency manager was appointed, that’s when we knew we were in a different situation.

Unfortunately, Detroit has come to the inevitable. The city itself is not nearly as bad as the national media would have the nation believe. The situation is unique.

That said, transferring the water department into a regional entity like it should have been from the start will help since It accounts for something like half the cities long tem debt. There is a reason why the water department was key in the recent Kwame case.

The DIA will be exempt. It's one of the few assets that is a positive and recent laws have the DIA shared between the surrounding counties for funding.

reply to post by signalfire


The DIA, the zoo and similar assets will be spared...as they are sen needed when the city comes back....and I can see that point.

The pensioners seem to be in Orr's sights, however. Guess it's okay to harm people in his quest to make a name for himself as the man who handled the largest city bankruptcy in US history.....and that is coming.....

Whats the problem? Just raise taxes for revenue, institue a bunch of entitlements to attract people.

Its got to be that easy, right? Thats the model every city in the US follows and its not like theyre all bankrupt. Oh, wait....

Well theres always OCP.


Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

reply to post by thisguyrighthere

n Canada, an official community plan is a comprehensive plan created by an incorporated municipality which dictates public policy in terms of transportation, utilities, land use, recreation, and housing. OCPs typically encompass large geographical areas, a broad range of topics, and cover a long-term time horizon. The process of creating an OCP is today often referred to as a Community Vision.

Wikipedia: Official Community Plan

On October 19, 2010, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) as authorized under Section 1497 of the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (Dodd-Frank Act) announced the release of a third round of funding made available through the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP3) for the purpose of stabilizing neighborhoods by the reduction or elimination of vacant and abandoned residential property in targeted neighborhoods.

Planning and Development (Detroit)

This is what I thought, they are encouraging quality people to move to Detroit, they may even be offering benefits from what I remember.

Reply to post by darkbake

I meant Omni Consumer Products. The corporation that bought Detroit in Robocop.

Too funny its an actual thing that fits the context though.


Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

reply to post by thisguyrighthere


That is hilarious! Ha ha! Oh man
I thought you were from Canada.

reply to post by DontTreadOnMe


Whats the weather like there btw? Iam honestly thinking of moving there.
Also nightlife any good? any weird rules I should know about?

This will be interesting to watch, because in a few years time a lot more cities will be following suit.

66 dollars a month though!! jeez