Thursday, July 18, 2013

Detroit Bankruptcy At A Glance

Forbes magazine has a quick rundown on the largest municipal bankruptcy filing in the history of the United States. That would be Detroit where an emergency manager appointed by Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder made the decision to file a Chapter 9 bankruptcy in the federal district court. The city has $18.5 billion in debt, spending 38 cents of every dollar raised on debt service. Detroit is the highest tax city in Michigan, and it would have to spend 65 cents of every dollar taken in by the year 2017 just to stay current in its debt obligations. Its current budget deficit exceeds $326 million, a figure that will grow to $1.3 billion by 2017 without bankruptcy protection. Here are some quick facts that help explain the Motor City's dilemma:
  • Its population has fallen from 1.86 million in 1950 to 700,000 today.
  • The city had 200,000 manufacturing jobs in 1950 compared to fewer than 20,000 manufacturing jobs now.
  • It proves having professional sports teams aren't the panacea to urban success with four teams, including the Detroit Lions (football), Detroit Tigers (baseball), Detroit Red Wings (hockey) and Detroit Pistons (basketball).
  • It has the highest crime rate in the country for cities larger than 200,000.
  • The Detroit Arts Institute has one of the largest municipal art collections in the world, some of which may be sold due to the bankruptcy.
  • It has three casinos, which fund about 15% of the city's general fund.
  • Detroit's mass transit does not include rail, although it has plans for a 3.3 mile streetcar line.
  • Detroit has 78,000 abandoned buildings.
  • Property taxes are delinquent on 47% of the city's taxable property.
UPDATE: Fellow blogger and friend Debbie Schlussel, a Detroit native, has a spot on analysis of the deep-rooted problems in Detroit the political correctness crowd won't permit to be said.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is good, and public employees must be punished for having a lifetime of unjustifiably high-paying and absolutely secure employment. Workers in the private have nowhere near the wonderful lives public employees enjoy. Police benefits are immoral.

Public pensions must be immediately abolished. No taxpayer should have to provide a retirement for a government leech. Let the cops fund their retirements like everyone else has to.

Sadly, I think Obama and the military running the country will bail out public pensions, as they need the loyalty and service of the domestic cop army.

Anonymous said...

You omitted that this city has been run entirely by Democrats which have been robbing the city till for a decades. Some are in jail, some are still there. This city is the model of what happens when there is no oversight and all are in on the take. The mainstream media does not show the pictures. Heard a caller on late night who lived in Detroit before the exodus. He made the drive down to see the truth of it all which is shocking.

CircleCityScribe said...

Detroit has been run by exclusively by Democrats since the 60's. Look what they've done:

-The population has decreased to 1/2 of what it was.

-The infrastructure is horrific.

-People are afraid to enter Detroit city limits.

-Abandoned houses are abundant. City property is not maintained by the city.

-Highest taxes in Michigan.

-Democrats