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A bankrupt city
Topic Started: Jul 19 2013, 02:13 AM (1,877 Views)
Caro

I hear today that Detroit has been declared bankrupt. From being the jewel in America's crown in the height of its car industry, it now has an underlying debt of $18 billion (US). Crime and the credit crunch and corrupt and poor administration have led people to leave in droves apparently, at least out to the suburbs and this has left a rate deficit (though don't people in the suburbs pay rates too).

Being declared bankrupt seemed to allow the city to do something - force the creditors to negotiate with the trouble-shooter, I think. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-detroit-bankruptcy-20130718,0,6170774.story

I'm not sure what a lack of bankruptcy proceedings would mean, though when ordinary people go bankrupt they seem to be able to dodge their responsibilities, and the receivers do very well, but people owed money don't.

I've never really heard of cities going bankrupt before - they said it was the largest, but is this quite a common thing for smaller cities?
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rumbaba
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It has happened before in the US. I'm not sure what happens next in the process though. Shame about the Motor City, I don't know how it got to this point.
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Norm Deplume
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In the heyday of road transport, America reigned supreme and 'Motown' was the throbbing heart of the industry. The USA was followed in a lesser degree by the UK, Germany, France. Italy and Sweden.
Today, Japan, China, India, Korea, Australia, Spain and several other countries of a reasonable size, have motor industries of a greater or lesser degree that have severely changed the Global picture..
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caissier
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Looks like a glitch in American capitalism and complete negligence on the part of Que Sera Sera government since the days of Reagan. The government can't intervene because that would be against the prevailing ideology.

America seems, bit by bit, heading towards becoming a chaotic Mad Max dystopia.
Edited by caissier, Jul 19 2013, 10:30 AM.
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Mobson
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Detroit - I discovered it through the beautiful and evocatively photographs by Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre...showing just what a fascinating city full of architectural wonders it is...

Its a victim of its own success. GM overbuilt big highways from the city center, which really engorged the Detroit suburbs. That eviscerated the city centre, and now with high unemployment the city is bankrupt...If only someone would invest in it like they did before....

My favourite building, which for some reason I am utterly fascinated by, and have spent many hours looking at from all angles and approaches, is Detroit's old train station, formally known as Michigan Central Train Station..

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Edited by Mobson, Jul 19 2013, 04:51 PM.
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caissier
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Yes ....... melancholy.
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becky sharp
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Mobson
Jul 19 2013, 11:46 AM
the beautiful and evocatively photographs by Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre...
I'm sure we had a thread on those,Mobs,and round the same time talked about this documentary, by Julien Temple.(that might have been a discussion on the BBC POV board)

United Artistes Theatre.

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More here..

http://blogs.denverpost.com/captured/2011/02/07/captured-the-ruins-of-detroit/2672/

Requiem for Detroit – A film about what happens when Capitalism leaves the city


http://www.permanentculturenow.com/594/

The Motown Video shown in the article below featuring Martha and the Vandellas singing Nowhere To Run was shot on a running Mustang assembly line back in the sixties

http://jalopnik.com/5965632/this-old-motown-video-was-shot-on-a-running-mustang-assembly-line

Edited by becky sharp, Jul 22 2013, 05:56 PM.
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May-Cee

I remember being impressed by that Julien Temple film that Becky mentioned.

My first job was in the typing pool of the Ford plant in Belfast; where my dad worked for forty years.
It too, of course, is long gone...
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Rikiiboy
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Hi all,pension funds for council/public employees will eventually bankrupt all councils.
How can any public service pay out more in pensions than their incomes?
All pension funds,faced with their ex employees living for up a retirement equal to their service lives must cap individual pensions to a maximum of ten to fifteen years.
Edited by Rikiiboy, Sep 3 2013, 10:28 PM.
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