This is a continuing sad story about one of the great
cities of 20th c capitalism, Detroit. Its latest fall
in standing comes at the hands of those helpful
bankers that sold the city some pieces of ass-wipe
paper derivative that always loses.
Anyway, here's some media about the former
greatness of Detroit. You'll see the train station
which is a gargantuan building that you can
sneak into. very creepy.
I hold Detroit to be a cultural mecca of a sort. Here's
the next chapter in that, Disclosure.
[Disclosure- White noise]
checkit: Bloomberg
Only Wall Street Wins in Detroit Crisis Reaping $474 Million Fee
By Darrell Preston & Chris Christoff - Mar 14, 2013 12:24 AM GMT
Jeff Kowalsky/Bloomberg
The city started borrowing to plug budget holes in 2005 under former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who was convicted this week on corruption charges. That year, it issued $1.4 billion in securities to fund pension payments. Last year, it added $129.5 million in debt, 9.3 percent of its general-fund budget, in part to repay loans taken to service other bonds.
The only winners in the financial crisis that brought Detroit (9845MF) to the brink of state takeover are Wall Street bankers who reaped more than $474 million from a city too poor to keep street lights working.
The city started borrowing to plug budget holes in 2005 under former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who was convicted this week on corruption charges. That year, it issued $1.4 billion in securities to fund pension payments. Last year, it added $129.5 million in debt, 9.3 percent of its general-fund budget, in part to repay loans taken to service other bonds.
Detroit, which is trying to avoid becoming the largest U.S. municipal bankruptcy, struggles to serve residents after revenue declined when the auto industry collapsed and the city began to empty. Michigan (BEESMI)’s Republican governor, Rick Snyder, is preparing to name an emergency manager, who will have to address debt and derivatives taken on in the last eight years.
“We have no lights, no buses, poor streets and now we’re paying millions of dollars a year on our debt,” said David Sole, a retired municipal worker and advocate for Moratorium Now Coalition, a Detroit group that fights foreclosures and evictions. “The banks said they need to be paid first. But there is no money.”
The city, which peaked at 1.85 million residents in 1950, has lost more than a quarter of its population since 2000. The 700,000 inhabitants who remain endure unreliable buses, inadequate police and fire protection and broken street lights that have darkened entire blocks.
