NPR.org Text-Only : Detroit Files For Bankruptcy

I receive a pension from the state of Washington, Cathy receives one from
the city of Seattle. I also receive my social security and Medicare.
Here is an interesting comparison. Remember how upset our corporations were
whenever a nation nationalized the oil fields and foreign holdings?
The big boys rent their garments, tore out their hair and pledged to get
even if it took a thousand years...which they are now doing.
Well that is where many of us pensioners will find ourselves when cities and
states begin to see the value of bankruptcy. Our pensions,, "given" to us
with the assurance that we would be cared for as a "reward" for our loyal
service to our citizens, will be gobbled up by the eager, drooling
International Corporate Masters.
As Detroit falls apart, where is our Prince of Peace? I hear he is
"observing" the situation.
Do you know how this Prince will keep the Peace?
When people realize that we Americans are now fair game for the
International Corporate Monsters, and we rise up with our little sling
shots, our Prince of Peace will call out the National Guard to "keep the
peace". Read your history books. It always works this way. Always. Now,
where did I hide those nice round stones?

Carl Jarvis, who reminds us that Divide and conquer is the motto of the
International Corporate Rulers.



----- Original Message -----
From: "ted chittenden" <tchittenden@cox.net>
To: "blind-democracy" <blind-democracy@octothorp.org>
Sent: Thursday, July 18, 2013 6:59 PM
Subject: NPR.org Text-Only : Detroit Files For Bankruptcy


Hi to all.

Below is today's "All Things Considered" story on Detroit's bankruptcy
filing. I think this is going to get very ugly very fast.
--
Ted Chittenden

Every story has at least two sides if not more.
----
http://thin.npr.org/s.php?sId=203374030&rId=2&x=1

By Scott Neuman

All Things Considered, July 18, 2013 · (This story last updated at 6:45 p.m.
ET)

The city of Detroit has filed the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S.
history, seeking Chapter 9 protection from creditors and unions owed some
$18.5 billion in debt and liabilities.

In a news conference on Thursday, Detroit Mayor Dave Bing said he didn't
want to go into bankruptcy, but the city will now "have to make the best of
it."

The city's state-appointed emergency financial manager, Kevyn Orr, said the
move was a 'step toward restoring the city.'

The 16-page petition was filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Detroit Thursday
afternoon, beginning a 30- to 90-day evaluation period to determine whether
the city is eligible for Chapter 9.

In a letter to Orr, Gov. Rick Snyder approved the move, saying: "Only one
feasible path offers a way out."

The Associated Press says that "if approved, the filing would allow Orr to
liquidate city assets to satisfy a host of creditors and city pensioners
lined up to recoup losses from bad bond investments and unpaid contracts."

The Wall Street Journal reports that the city's strategy, unveiled last
month, is "to pay off the majority of what secured creditors such as certain
bondholders are owed while offering pennies on the dollar to unsecured
bondholders, unions and pension funds."

Detroit lost some 250,000 in the decade from 2000 to 2010, with much of the
middle class and many businesses fleeing to the suburbs, destroying the
city's once large tax base.

Quinn Klinefelter of member station WDET in Detroit, says the move is "not a
surprisingly development, but [it] ... makes some people in the city catch
their breath."

Hardest hit, he says, will be anyone who was expecting a pension from the
city - police, firefighters, city workers, "people who have their future
staked on the fact that they did their 20 or 30 years and were going to get
x amount in benefits when they got out. .... That is just not going to be
there. The city can't afford it."

Reuters reports:




"A judge in Ingham County, where the state capital Lansing is located, has
scheduled a hearing Monday on a proposed injunction that would prevent Orr
from a bankruptcy filing.

"City retirees and workers made arguments in the two lawsuits that Orr's
plan to slash vested pensions for city retirees would violate strong
protections in the Michigan constitution for retirement benefits of
public-sector workers.

"The pension funds' lawsuit makes similar claims. It also was filed in
Ingham County Circuit Court, by the city's two funds - the General
Retirement System and the Police and Fire Retirement System."



Mike Lafaive of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy in Midland, Mich.,
tells NPR that the city had no other choice. "They are facing a financial
situation that has been brewing for decades," he says.

"It's municipal bankruptcy territory that is largely uncharted," he says.
"We haven't seen the type of numbers we're looking at in Detroit or anywhere
else.


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