B
Boing
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Can't believe this is happening. Will other states follow?.
Papa and Tranny you reading this?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-23369573
The US city of Detroit in Michigan has become the largest American city ever to file for bankruptcy, with debts of at least $15bn (£10bn).
State-appointed emergency manager Kevyn Orr asked a federal judge to place the city into bankruptcy protection.
If approved, he would be allowed to liquidate city assets to satisfy creditors and pensions.
Detroit stopped unsecured-debt payments last month to keep the city running as Mr Orr negotiated with creditors.
He proposed a deal last month in which creditors would accept 10 cents on the dollar of what they were owed. Mr Orr suggested at the time there was a 50-50 chance of the city needing to file for bankruptcy.
In a letter accompanying Thursday's filing, Michigan's Governor Rick Snyder, a Republican, said he had approved the request from Mr Orr to file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy.
Gov Snyder said: "Only one feasible path offers a way out," adding that residents needed a clear exit from the "cycle of ever decreasing services".
"The only way to do those things is to radically restructure the city and allow it to reinvent itself without the burden of impossible obligations.
"It is clear that the financial emergency in Detroit cannot be successfully addressed outside of such a filing, and it is the only reasonable alternative that is available".
Mr Orr has said that the city's long-term debt could actually be between $17bn and $20bn.
The former manufacturing powerhouse's finances have struggled for some time, driven by a number of factors, including a steep population loss.
The city government has also been hit by a string of corruption scandals over the years.
Declining investment in street lights and emergency services have made it difficult to police the city.
The city lost 250,000 residents between 2000-10.
Detroit in decline
Papa and Tranny you reading this?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-23369573
The US city of Detroit in Michigan has become the largest American city ever to file for bankruptcy, with debts of at least $15bn (£10bn).
State-appointed emergency manager Kevyn Orr asked a federal judge to place the city into bankruptcy protection.
If approved, he would be allowed to liquidate city assets to satisfy creditors and pensions.
Detroit stopped unsecured-debt payments last month to keep the city running as Mr Orr negotiated with creditors.
He proposed a deal last month in which creditors would accept 10 cents on the dollar of what they were owed. Mr Orr suggested at the time there was a 50-50 chance of the city needing to file for bankruptcy.
In a letter accompanying Thursday's filing, Michigan's Governor Rick Snyder, a Republican, said he had approved the request from Mr Orr to file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy.
Gov Snyder said: "Only one feasible path offers a way out," adding that residents needed a clear exit from the "cycle of ever decreasing services".
"The only way to do those things is to radically restructure the city and allow it to reinvent itself without the burden of impossible obligations.
"It is clear that the financial emergency in Detroit cannot be successfully addressed outside of such a filing, and it is the only reasonable alternative that is available".
Mr Orr has said that the city's long-term debt could actually be between $17bn and $20bn.
The former manufacturing powerhouse's finances have struggled for some time, driven by a number of factors, including a steep population loss.
The city government has also been hit by a string of corruption scandals over the years.
Declining investment in street lights and emergency services have made it difficult to police the city.
The city lost 250,000 residents between 2000-10.
Detroit in decline
- Population has shrunk from a peak of 2 million in the 1950s to 713,000 today
- Highest violent crime rate of any major US city, with 15,245 reported incidents in 2011
- Some 78,000 abandoned and blighted buildings
- 40% of street lights do not work
- Only a third of the city's ambulances are in service
- Just 53% of owners paid their 2011 property taxes
