Detroit files for Chapter 9 bankruptcy [UPDATED: Detroit is Eligible]

reply to post by Realtruth


I'd like to see an effort made to collect taxes, fines and fees owed the city.
It's got to be multi-millions....and hiring collection agents is got to be more efficient than not collecting any monies at all.

Also, all those city "blocks" that are really one or two houses amid ruins or prairie...those people should be moved.
How efficient is it for city services and utilities to be turned on for one or two houses??

Well that's what you get when you elect a republican that is waging war on the middle class. The middle class moved out and the tax base fails. The poor cant pay taxes and thanks to republicans the rich don't have to. Thank god the people at least slowed down Kasich in Ohio or they would probably be in the same boat as Mich. Keep believing republican lies. The rich get richer and everything else goes to heck.

really? You are a republican? are you really rich? Do you own a major corporation? Oh I see you are just stupid. Myself I can't afford to vote republican

reply to post by damwel

Oh I see you are just stupid. Myself I can't afford to vote republican

You missed Democrat when you wrote that second quoted sentence.
Unless you really think the Democratic Party aren't a bunch of corporate shills also.... then I would refer you to your first sentence.

reply to post by xuenchen


interesting...

the CAFR shows the City is slightly under.. $326.6 million as of June 30, 2012..

and thats nothing in this game...

maybe they should invest into companies outside their own city as other cities do..

Marathon Oil Company 329,266,987 1 3.90 %
Detroit Edison Company 294,567,459 2 3.49
Vanguard Health Systems - Hospitals 252,620,138 3 2.99
Chrysler Group LLC 222,908,419 4 2.64
MGM Grand Detroit LLC 212,045,629 5 2.51
Riverfront Holdings Inc. 112,227,313 6 1.33
Michigan Consolidated Gas Co. 87,121,757 7 1.03
Greektown Casino LLC 74,777,226 8 0.89
Detroit Entertainment LLC 64,838,913 9 0.77
General Motors LLC 54,834,859 10 0.65

after all.. monies in the CAFR are untouchable... they only grow..

Hence raising taxes or crying wolf & declaring bankruptcy to fool the masses...

maybe someone in the know wants to buy out the city..

Nope. Democrats suck too but they are a dam sight better than republicans by far

reply to post by reeferman


This will keep occurring until this country wakes from its slumber, we can't even print our own money, the fed reserve, a foreign company prints it since we were taken over in 1913.The national debt and loans from china are used against us as we have less and less of our sovereignty.

Originally posted by damwel
Nope. Democrats suck too but they are a dam sight better than republicans by far

Not in the eye of a Libertarian.

reply to post by supergravity


oh I fully understand the fake fiat currency coming out of the fed hood-winking Americans..

I jut wanted to point out that on top of that farce..

there are duel books going on with plenty of their fake notes

to warrant Americans to never paying a tax again..



they seem to be investing in companies.. getting voting control..

then making deals with government agencies using the revolving door

and lobbyists to facilitate the deal by bending or making laws..

take Monsanto for instance.. working perfectly..

Originally posted by Tardacus
so, does this mean we can just bulldoze the whole place into lake michigan now and start over?
If the same sort of crooks stay in charge of things there, the city will be bankrupt again in 10 years.

Ummmmm Lake Michigan is on the west coast of Michigan, look at a map. Nevermind.......Gotta love our education system.

Originally posted by JiggyPotamus
I wonder what will happen? Can and will the federal government bail them out? I am reminded that the federal government bailed out the big corporations, ensuring that the uber-wealthy remained uber-wealthy, but when it comes directly to helping the little guys, what will the government do? I opposed the bailing out of the large corporations, but that happened because of their influence and penetration of the US government. The government should be bailing out Detroit, as it is a better cause than making those already rich even richer.

There is no bailout. Detroit owes FAR more than they can ever pay back. We are talking Billions here. If they don't address the underlying causes of the Bankruptcy, it's will just happen again after any bailout.

reply to post by pavil


from their very own CAFR ..

The City has an accumulated unassigned deficit in the General Fund of $326.6 million as of June 30, 2012, which has resulted from operating deficits over the last several years

it took Detroit years to get $326 million in the hole... how did they get Billions in debt in one year??

Detroit CAFR

its a shell game.. theres so much cash on the books its pathetic.. untouchable of course by the normal budget.. but it sure can call for bankruptcy when profits level out.. and of course more taxes on the plebs..

Originally posted by Realtruth
reply to post by stormcell

 

Actually the main reason for people not investing, and renovating homes in Detroit is the fact that they get trashed, stripped of building materials even before the project is finished, but this is mainly in the residential areas.

A more viable police force will have to be established to secure up and coming areas, because let's face it if people get robbed, looted, or assaulted in an area most likely they will never return.

One of the reasons Detroit fell apart was no one gave a squat about anything, if you called the police most of the time they didn't even show up. This is changing in certain areas that large investors are sinking money into though.

I have to agree.

A client of ours has tried two times to renovate a home on the East side of Detroit. Each time, it has gotten broken into to, the supplies to be used on the repairs stolen and the copper in the newly installed wiring and plumbing ripped back out for scrap. He ended up just letting the property go. Thats one of the problems in Detroit, houses are old and in need of massive rehab and then idiots break in and gut the place before it can even be put on the market.

A vacant house is just an invitation to scrappers to come and tear off the aluminum siding and take all the metal out of the house. They even rip all the wiring out of the walls. Another client had a rental on the West Side it went vacant for about 2 months and during that time was gutted. Then ended up selling a formerly $20,000 property for $4,000.

Some areas of Detroit have hired their own 24 hour security that patrols their neighborhoods, it's crazy.

The only way we got Police to respond quickly when we lived in the City was to say we thought we saw a gun and heard shots. Otherwise it would take forever for Police to arrive....... and we lived maybe 8 or 9 blocks from the local Police Precinct.

Being a Resident of Metro Detroit A guarantee Nothing will change and nothing will be affected except a rich mans pocket will get a little fatter.

reply to post by reeferman


Detroit has been running deficits for years since at least 2008, income and property tax collection is horrible. They have been taking out bonds to paper over the losses.The former bookkeeping by the City was dubious at best. The bulk of the money is in long term obligation ie debt payments and in underfunded pension plans and retiree health care costs. From what I remember for every current City employee, the City is paying for almost 3 retiree's. It's just not sustainable. Everyone will have to share the pain, the unsecured investors will be lucky to get 10 cents on the dollar.

I wonder if everyone in Detroit (whoever is actually still living there, that is) remembers these pearls from the last election...



0:54 is the key.

Or this:



I guess once they got the votes, the rest was just details....

Originally posted by xuenchen
Detroit may become the model poster boy for other cities and states.

Too much long term debt without a clear view of future income to make da payments.

This is something that I think a lot of people haven't considered... what do other cities and states on the line do now that the trust has been broken?

This is the same on a national level, with faith in Italy, Greece and Spain severely affected. If people loose millions or billions in Detroit, other cities that are barely making it (and might actually make it without bankruptcy) could see millions of $'s flooding out right now.

Would you stick around and believe the BS in a city on the cusp of heading further down the toilet now that this has happened to Detroit? I'm betting not.

This could trigger a domino effect, with investment being affected and debt being called in early across the country in any state or city where things are looking less than peachy.

Originally posted by Rocker2013
Originally posted by xuenchen
This could trigger a domino effect, with investment being affected and debt being called in early across the country in any state or city where things are looking less than peachy.

It's going to create a huge ripple in the Muni-Bond world, that's for sure. I don't think you will see early calls but going forward, Muni-Bonds will costs Cities more to float. How would you like to have a 100K investment suddenly be worth 10K?

reply to post by xuenchen


I remember watching Michael Moore's 'Roger & Me' and the impact of General Motors closing several auto plants in Flint, Michigan, costing 30,000 people their jobs at that time, and thinking 'Detroit wont be left to rot, other companies will move in'. Well if Moore could see the writing on the wall in 1989 why the hell couldn't the U.S government?

Originally posted by windsorblue
reply to post by xuenchen

 

I remember watching Michael Moore's 'Roger & Me' and the impact of General Motors closing several auto plants in Flint, Michigan, costing 30,000 people their jobs at that time, and thinking 'Detroit wont be left to rot, other companies will move in'. Well if Moore could see the writing on the wall in 1989 why the hell couldn't the U.S government?

Good point...

I wonder if that NAFTA agreement had anything to do with the whole Detroit downfall ?

They started 'talking' about it in 1986 I think.

Ooh, things are getting a little more tasty.

Detroit bankruptcy petition must be withdrawn, judge rules

It could be an expected formality, but there's no mention of that. It'll be interesting to see how this goes now.