Thursday, July 18, 2013

"Detroit files for bankruptcy"

"The city of Detroit filed for bankruptcy on Thursday, making it the largest-ever municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history and marking a new low for a city that was the cradle of the U.S. automotive industry.

"In a letter accompanying the filing, Michigan's Governor Rick Snyder said he had approved a request from Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr to file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection saying 'it is clear that the financial emergency in Detroit cannot be successfully addressed outside of such a filing, and it is the only reasonable alternative that is available.'"


Read more: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-detroit-bankruptcy-20130718,0,6170774.story


How soon before Racine follows suit?  While Dickert rewards his cronies with millions of our tax dollars, our streetlights are taken down and our services cut.  $1.3 million tax dollars given to a multimillionaire to finance his private project: Porter's.  Why doesn't he use his own money?  Because he knows this will be another financial black hole.  He will piss away our money, but never his. 

I can't even conceive of $1.3 million.  Our tax dollars.  Given to a millionaire crony while our neighborhoods go dark and the trash piles up.  Why the hell should tax payers pay for this man's personal investments?  Where is he in the middle of the night when gangbangers attack?  Will he be there to help us?  Of course not, but he expects us to pay for his investments anyway.  Selfish swine and a traitorous mayor - they are enemies of Racine.       

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think that the Mayor and the City Council has given over $3 Million to Team Porters!

There was the $1.2 million advance PLUS $160,000 facade grant PLUS administrative costs that added up to over $1.8 million in 2012.

Then I believe Team Porters was given another $1.2 million in 2013.

Over $3 Million given to Team Porters!!!

Lying John and Questionably Competent Tom rip-off taxpayers at least TWICE.

BOHICA!

Anonymous said...

Detroit files largest municipal bankruptcy case in U.S. history

From The Detroit News

Dishonest John and Questionably Competent Tom will follow next.

Where is Jim Ladwig and Rich Chiapete?

Anonymous said...

The honest taxpayer is a chump, a mark who foolishly ponies up the swag that's looted by the smart operators. Everyone knows that the vast majority of wealth accumulation in America flows not from transparent effort on a level playing field, but from persuading the Central State (the Federal government and the Federal Reserve) to enforce cartels and grant monopolistic favors such as tax shelters designed for a handful of firms and unlimited credit to private banks.

When scammers large and small live better than those creating value in the real economy, the Social Contract has ceased to exist. When the illegitimate process of wealth acquisition--a rigged playing field, a bought-off referee, and an Elite that's above the law by every practical measure--dominates the economy and the political structure, the Social Contract has been shattered, regardless of how much welfare largesse is distributed to buy the complicity of state dependents.

Once the chumps and marks realize there is no way they can ever escape their exploited banana-republic status as neofeudal debt-serfs, the scammers, cheats and grifters large and small will be at risk of losing their perquisites. The fantasy in America is that legitimate wealth creation is still possible despite the visible dominance of a corrupt, venal, self-absorbed, parasitic, predatory Aristocracy. Once that fantasy dies, so will the marks' support of the Aristocracy.

As Voltaire observed, "No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible": every claim, every game of the system, every political favor purchased is "fair and legal," of course. This is precisely how empires collapse.


http://www.oftwominds.com/blogjuly13/social-contract7-13.html

Unknown said...

Meanwhile -

Alarm as steam rises from Fukushima No. 3 reactor — Concern about uncontrolled chain reaction — Contains highly lethal MOX fuel — Tepco: “We don’t believe an emergency situation is breaking out” (VIDEO)

Nothing to see here folks - Move Along!

NO NUKES!

Unknown said...

Don't worry - just a whiff of steam from a wrecked reactor!

EX-SKF

The DSP is empty. [Kino thinks] the pool was filled with water, but TEPCO HQ says "We don't know for sure, after the hydrogen explosion. We don't know how much we can see".

Just Ignore those Gamma-Ray Bursts!

OrbsCorbs said...

Nice video.

Unknown said...

Racine OR Detroit?

Fiscal mismanagement – CHECK
Plummeting population – CHECK
Decaying City infrastructure – CHECK (while the City abandons some – it builds more! Boat wash stations, City Hall Bathrooms, etc.)
Deteriorating City services – CHECK
Excessive borrowing – CHECK
High Unemployment – CHECK
Declining Tax Revenues – CHECK
The City does not provide basic and essential services to the residents who remain in the City. – CHECK
Crime is endemic – CHECK
Bond Rating Downgrades – CHECK
The City is infested with urban blight, which: (a) depresses property values; (b) provides a fertile breeding ground for crime and tinder for fires (with the attendant disproportionate devotion of police and firefighting resources to abandoned lots); and (c) compels the City to devote precious resources to demolition. – CHECK

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-07-19/death-city-detroits-eulogy-delivered-kevyn-orr

Unknown said...

Racine OR Detroit?

Non-Functioning Street Lights. As of April 2013, about 40% of the approximately 88,000 street lights operated and maintained by the City's Public Lighting Department ("PLD") were not working, primarily due to disrepair and neglect. Many outages are attributable to burned-out bulbs, but others are the result of the obsolescence of the distribution-only electrical grid maintained by the PLD. The total of functioning street lights per square mile in Detroit generally is less than half that of comparable national municipalities. This failure in the provision of basic municipal service – the City is literally struggling to keep the lights on – is compounded by the fact that many of the street lights that are working do not meet the residents' actual needs. Functioning street lights often serve under-populated sections of the City's historical population footprint, and there is a backlog of approximately 3,300 complaints related to the City's lighting.

Blight. Perhaps no issue is as fundamental to – or emblematic of – Detroit's decline as urban blight. The City's long-term population decline and falling property values have resulted in large numbers of abandoned, forfeited or foreclosed land and structures within the City. These decrepit eyesores dramatically undermine Detroit's efforts to maintain public safety (as they contribute to the proliferation of crime and arson) and contribute to declines in property values.

There are approximately 78,000 abandoned and blighted structures in the City (approximately 20% of the City's housing stock), nearly half of which are considered dangerous. This number increases steadily due to vacancy (particularly foreclosures) and fires, among other things.

Approximately 60% of the 11,000 to 12,000 fires that the City has experienced each year for the past decade occur in blighted and unoccupied buildings, forcing the Detroit Fire Department ("DFD") to expend a disproportionate amount of time and resources fighting fires in vacant structures. Similarly, there are approximately 66,000 blighted and vacant parcels of real property within the City limits.

Compounding this problem is the fact that removing blight is an expensive, time-consuming and highly-regulated endeavor. The average cost to demolish a residential structure (accounting for surveys and abatements, utility disconnection costs, administrative costs and the demolition itself) is approximately $8,500. The current regulatory framework – involving multiple codes and regulations and a number of jurisdictions – increases costs and slows the process.