“It’s also not honoring the president, who took [Detroit’s auto companies] out of bankruptcy.” — Ingham County Circuit Judge Rosemary Aquillina
Somewhat what I was thinking as I sat down to write this blog regarding the treacherous move Michigan Governor Rick Snyder(R) made on the hardworking people of Detroit Thursday. On Friday Judge Aquillina ordered Detroit’s bankruptcy to be withdrawn, citing that government employees’ pensions would be endangered by federal bankruptcy proceedings.
In March, as Detroit faced an estimated debt of $19 billion, Michigan named Kevyn Orr as emergency manager who then proceeded to do the unthinkable by proposing public employees have their retirement benefits cut and demanding investors in municipal bonds get considerably short-changed on the payback of loans to the city. In the following days both of these groups objected, propelling the city — as the lawmakers say — to file for bankruptcy.
“It’s cheating, sir, and it’s cheating good people who work,” the judge told assistant Attorney General Brian Devlin on Friday.
Governor Snyder says he’s making Detroit a “better place” by putting the city through bankruptcy but angry public employees and retirees and investors, feel his plan is nothing more than a Republican scheme to bust unions and rob public workers out of hard-earned pensions. Again.
Experts say Detroit’s problems are unlikely to spread to other cities…yeah, right! Remember Govenor Walker in Wisconsin?
Detroit stands to be the largest city in history ever to file for bankruptcy.
