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| Detroit on the Brink |
| 2011-12-04 |
| The fate of Detroit could be decided this month. Long suffering Detroit could run out of cash completely by spring, and has an unresolved $200 million hole in its budget through June. Under Michigan law, when the city’s bonds drop below the BBB level, the governor can appoint an emergency manager with broad powers to put the city back in fiscal shape, including the power to annul existing union contracts. The mayor and city officials say they can manage things on their own; the state treasurer says the city is failing its legal obligations and has announced a financial review that could be completed by Christmas. Under agreements Detroit signed with banks when negotiating an earlier loan package, the city could face $400 million in penalties if the state takes control. That’s not the only problem: if the review determines that the city is broke, white Republican officials could end up making decisions that change the fate of a predominantly African American city — imposing cuts in employment, pay, benefits and services that will affect almost everyone who lives in Detroit. Detroit Free Press columnist Jeff Gerritt lays out what the governor will face if the takeover goes forward: “Plantation” is a word he’ll hear a lot — in fact, Councilman Kwame Kenyatta already invoked it to describe what would happen if the state took control of the city’s finances in an effort to keep it from running out of money by spring… Nothing happens in this region outside the context of race. Our often-painful history is the oxygen we breathe, even when we choke on it. We’re all finding it a little hard to breathe just now |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #8 It *is* the Democrat 'Model City'. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2011-12-04 22:11 |
| #7 This is what Democrat rule looks like. |
| Posted by: Cincinnatus Chili 2011-12-04 19:49 |
| #6 Change from Democracy to 1 Dollar of Tax extorted = 1 Vote. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2011-12-04 18:32 |
| #5 you pay taxes, you get to decide; you don't pay taxes, shut up, it ain't yer damn business. Yes, It's like a non-stock holder going going to a board meeting and voting and making decisions. Voting yourselves money is what's gonna do in this country...just like public workers unions. |
| Posted by: Jack Salami 2011-12-04 18:31 |
| #4 "if the review determines that the city is broke, white Republican officials could end up making decisions that change the fate of a predominantly African American city" Here's an idea: Ask the people who actually pay taxes to Detroit what they're willing to support. Leave race totally out of it - you pay taxes, you get to decide; you don't pay taxes, shut up, it ain't yer damn business. |
| Posted by: Barbara 2011-12-04 13:57 |
| #3 if the review determines that the city is broke, white Republican officials could end up making decisions that change the fate of a predominantly African American city -- imposing cuts in employment, pay, benefits and services that will affect almost everyone who lives in Detroit. That is the most vile paragraph I've read in a long time. Completely dodges all responsibility the Democrats have for creating the problem in the first place and tries to blame the Republicans for trying to fix it and slur them as racists in the process. Vile. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2011-12-04 08:18 |
| #2 Work ethic is not strong in Detroit. |
| Posted by: Paul D 2011-12-04 06:55 |
| #1 On the brink? Hah! The question is whether the current mayor, Dave Bing, will be able to drag the half-submerged, sodden corpse out of the water or whether a once prosperous and thriving city will quietly slip beneath the surface after half a century of Democrat mismanagement and corruption. Nothing happens in this region outside the context of race. Perhaps because ex-mayor Coleman Young played the race card for 20 years and made a political living pitting the city against the surrounding suburbs and the rest of the state? |
| Posted by: SteveS 2011-12-04 02:13 |