Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Detroit Bankruptcy: As Its Own Worst Enemy, the City Got What It Deserved

If the residents of the city of Detroit want to blame any person or organization for its Chapter 9 filing, they only need to look as far as the unions that controlled labor there and the politicians who ran it over the past four decades. Detroit earned its bankruptcy the easy way — through greed, the desire for political power and poor planning.
 
Kevyn D. Orr, the city’s emergency manager, offered all interested parties a likely way to avoid the bankruptcy filing just weeks ago. Employees of Detroit, past and present, could share the pain of the restructuring of financial obligations with bond holders. Each blamed the other for the city’s problems. Each said the other should absorb the brunt of a restructuring. Neither budged. Orr ran out of options, as two city pension funds went to court to try to protect their assets, motivated by a final grab for Detroit’s money.

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