Detroit

**Lemur** · 07-20-2013, 23:55

Originally Posted by The Lurker Below

Obama’s weekly address, October 13, 2012: “We refused to throw in the towel and do nothing. We refused to let Detroit go bankrupt.”

This has been making the rounds on Facebook, so I looked up the transcripts. It's pretty obvious that Obama was referencing the Big 3, i.e., Chrysler, GM, and Ford, with the shorthand of "Detroit."

All politicians do this. When Mitt Romney wrote his op-ed titled Let Detroit Go Bankrupt, he was not referencing the city itself, but using the common shorthand for the established American automakers. This practice is so common it should be beneath comment. And yet ...

This is about as deliberate a misreading of the President's words since "you didn't build that," when he was clearly and obviously talking about roads, bridges, and infrastructure.

Just drives home the reality that some folks need to construct an largely fictional Obama to hate.

As for the actual city of Detroit, the two people I know from there have an interesting attitude, very fatalistic about the whole thing.

**Ice** · 07-21-2013, 00:33

Originally Posted by Lemur

As for the actual city of Detroit, the two people I know from there have an interesting attitude, very fatalistic about the whole thing.

What's the attitude?

**Lemur** · 07-21-2013, 00:37

Originally Posted by Ice

What's the attitude?

Originally Posted by Lemur

very fatalistic about the whole thing.

They're just kind of non-reactive about it. It's a husband and wife whom I've known for a couple of decades, and Detroit is very much their home. But their take on the whole bankruptcy can be best summed up as "meh."

Which is surprising, at least to me. I spent a large chunk of my life in Chicago, and if you told me Chicago was falling to ruin I'd be a little upset. I have many good memories from that town.

So I find their attitude, this mix of "whatever" and "yeah that's been coming for a long time" kind of ... well, I'm not sure what I think of it.

**Ice** · 07-21-2013, 01:50

Originally Posted by Lemur

They're just kind of non-reactive about it. It's a husband and wife whom I've known for a couple of decades, and Detroit is very much their home. But their take on the whole bankruptcy can be best summed up as "meh."

Which is surprising, at least to me. I spent a large chunk of my life in Chicago, and if you told me Chicago was falling to ruin I'd be a little upset. I have many good memories from that town.

So I find their attitude, this mix of "whatever" and "yeah that's been coming for a long time" kind of ... well, I'm not sure what I think of it.

That's pretty much how I feel. The city has had such obvious problems for decades, yet no one did anything about it. Go figure.

**Papewaio** · 07-21-2013, 05:55

So is meh denial or acceptance?

Or do they expect someone to bail out a city of the poor like a corporation of the rich?

**HopAlongBunny** · 07-21-2013, 12:13

Well, Poors don't get bail outs so....

**Philippus Flavius Homovallumus** · 07-21-2013, 14:03

Can someone explain to me what's actually happened here, what it means, and what happens now?

Does this mean, for example, that the Detroit PD will close? Or is it just investments like pensions that are wiped out?

**Fisherking** · 07-21-2013, 14:04

The right wing cites 50 years of Democrats in office but it has to be more than that.

The city put all its eggs in the Auto Corps’ basket. Then they skipped town with most of the jobs, moving to the south and after NAFTA to Mexico, and now on to China and elsewhere.

I mostly wanted to know what those who live there thought about it. Meh seems to be about it.

**Ice** · 07-21-2013, 17:43

Originally Posted by Papewaio

So is meh denial or acceptance?

Acceptance. It more a matter of when than if.

Or do they expect someone to bail out a city of the poor like a corporation of the rich?

Corporation of the rich? Bailing out General Motors helped the entire Midwest, specially southeastern Michigan. Part of federal assistance required gutting the entire senior management. Our economy would look pretty scary if General Motors had flat out went bankrupt without government assistance. I would think unemployment (already above the national average) would be double what it is now. I'm not sure I'd even have a job.

That being said, I would think the federal government does not want to start precedent and start bailing out cities. I mean, what would stop half the cities in California for asking for the same treatment?

Originally Posted by Philipvs Vallindervs Calicvla

Can someone explain to me what's actually happened here, what it means, and what happens now?

Lots of litigation will happen. Creditors will get paid off in order according to federal bankruptcy law resulting in a lot of unhappy people getting pennies on the dollar. Hopefully, this means a fresh start for Detroit, resulting in tax revenue being reinvested into the city and not used to pay crushing debt.

OK - maybe I didn't make myself clear.

How can a city go "bankrupt"?

See my links on the first page of this thread. A combination of corruption, a shrinking tax base, mismanagement, and making promises that you can't keep.

**Philippus Flavius Homovallumus** · 07-21-2013, 18:08

Originally Posted by Ice

See my links on the first page of this thread. A combination of corruption, a shrinking tax base, mismanagement, and making promises that you can't keep.

I suppose I just have a problem with the State of Federal Government letting the municipal government actually default - given that you have a process to bail out business.

Like I said - it literally can't happen here, lights stay on no matter what, the whole City Council could go to gaol and you'd see no difference on the street.