Courtesy of Mish.
I mentioned to my wife Liz tonight, that I thought “the bottom was in for Detroit“. She asked “why?”
Here’s my lengthy answer.
Unlike Vallejo, California, it is highly likely Detroit will actually shed pension obligations in the first go-around.
A mere 25% of students graduate from high school. Can Detroit schools get any worse?
In 2010 I wrote about Mayor Bing’s plan to Cede 20% of the City to gangs
Detroit has been bankrupt for years. It simply refuses to admit it. Detroit’s schools are bankrupt as well. A mere 25% of students graduate from high school.
Yet, in spite of hints and threats from mayors and budget commissions, and in spite of common sense talk of bankruptcy, Detroit has not pulled the bankruptcy trigger.
In a futile attempt to stave off the inevitable one last time, Mayor Bing’s latest plan is to cutoff city services including road repairs, police patrols, street lights, and garbage collection in 20% of Detroit.
Would you want to live in one of the gang war-zones that his plan would create? Would you want to live in a bordering neighborhood or in a bordering city?
Regardless of your answer, Bing’s plan cannot and will not work and I believe Detroit will, sometime in 2011, file for bankruptcy.
Here we are today. The city finally pulled the bankruptcy trigger, but it took two more wasted years.
Here’s a picture of Detroit’s Michigan Central Train Depot.
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