On July 18, Detroit became the biggest U.S. city to file for bankruptcy, with an estimated $19 billion in debt. Here’s a look at some staggering facts about Motor City’s population, unemployment rate and more. The data come from a June report called “Proposals for Creditors.
Soon after Detroit emergency manager Kevyn D. Orr and Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) approved a bankruptcy filing Thursday, groups representing the 20,000 retirees reliant on city pensions successfully petitioned a county court to effectively freeze the bankruptcy process.
Now, city and state officials, who say the court ruling will not affect their plans, are asking a federal judge to hold hearings early this week to validate the bankruptcy and move forward with a strategy for Detroit to discharge much of its estimated $19 billion debt.
Orr has promised that retired city workers, police officers and firefighters will not see pensions or health benefits reduced for at least six months. But on Sunday, he said those retirement benefits will have to be cut down the road.
Comment: "The "no money" pretext is a lie. The deficit of Detroit stands at $327 million. In comparison, a handful of billionaires in the state have a net worth of $24 billion, close to 75 times the budget deficit. A mere ten percent surtax on the wealthiest nine individuals in Michigan would cover the city's deficit 7 times over. Wall Street giants such as Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and UBS have extracted more than $474 million from the city in fees related to the sale of debt, according to a report from Bloomberg News."
Financial dictator of Detroit will institute slash and burn policy to benefit banksters
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