• Detroit is now defaulting on its loans. The city is now insolvent and may go bankrupt.
    98 replies, posted
[img]http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/68186000/jpg/_68186129_68183279.jpg[/img] [i]We're fucked.[/i] [quote]Detroit will immediately stop debt payments, the city's financial manager has announced, as he set out a proposal to creditors that would see them take a drastic cut on the money they are owed. Kevyn Orr announced a moratorium on all Detroit's payments on unsecured debt. That money will instead be used to keep the city operating, and $1.25bn (£800m) will be reinvested in public services over the next decade, he said. Creditors were asked to accept 10 cents on the dollar of what they are due. According to figures presented by Mr Orr, Detroit has some $11.5bn of unsecured debt. A further $7bn is secured, and the emergency chief said secured creditors would get better treatment, without going into specific details. Other measures in Mr Orr's proposed plan include spinning off Detroit's Water and Sewerage Department to be run by an independent authority, and reducing city-provided healthcare for retirees.[/quote] [url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22914431[/url] Just some pointers: Population has shrunk from a peak of 2 million in the 1950s to 713,000 today. Highest violent crime rate of any major US city, with 15,245 reported incidents in 2011. Some 78,000 abandoned and blighted buildings. 40% of street lights do not work. Only 33% of the city's ambulances are in service. Just 53% of owners paid their 2011 property taxes. If it goes bankrupt, it will be the first major city to do so in the USA.
What happens when it goes bankrupt? Is it like what happens in SimCity and the whole thing just disappears?
oh goodie, and robocop is coming soon. :v:
robocop arrives and then they scrap him
Good thing I just moved out of the suburbs into more rural greater Detroit. Shit might get cray.
Mm I should probably go to bed, I read that as doritos. The problem is detriot was built due to industry there, now there is none, thus the city will in time will fade unless new industry takes its place.
... I didn't know individual cities could go bankrupt. And what exactly happens when it does? Will it just become abandoned or what?
[QUOTE=Sobotnik;41042006] Population has shrunk from a peak of 2 million in the 1950s to 713,000 today. [/QUOTE] Expanding on this, a survey from about a year ago estimated approximately 50% of the city's population has plans to or is in the process of moving out, it's practically a full-scale evacuation.
[QUOTE=don818;41042026]What happens when it goes bankrupt? Is it like what happens in SimCity and the whole thing just disappears?[/QUOTE] Basically the city would suspend practically all social programs and services, and be unable to pay wages to many employees. It would also force them to privatize much of the services originally held by the city, and to sell off any assets they have. There would also be costly legal battles with trade unions and creditors due to unfulfilled promises of money. Basically the entire city would give way, unemployment would skyrocket, and it would probably continue its terminal decline until they managed to fix things (if ever).
How does a city even get liquidated? I've never heard of this happening. Or does it just stay in a perpetual state of insolvency? Which doesn't make sense now that I think about it.
I just got back from a weekend with my uncle who happens to live in Detroit. I was telling him that with the shit hole Detroit has become, it would have been amazing to see it in the 1920's. During the 1920's, Detroit had just about the same population, but instead of shrinking, it was growing at an enormous rate. From 1920, it was just shy of 1,000,000 people, and in 1930, it reached 1.5 million people.
[QUOTE=Badballer;41042106]How does a city even get liquidated? I've never heard of this happening. Or does it just stay in a perpetual state of insolvency? Which doesn't make sense now that I think about it.[/QUOTE] They summon a volcano to flood the streets with lava
I wasn't aware that it hadn't bankrupted already.
How did they fuck up this badly in the first place?
It's basically collapsing into anarchism. When the bankruptcy arrives, that's when the pitiful police force left will probably disintegrate.
It's funny actually, how much you can learn about managing a city by playing Simcity (not 5). It's like that moment that you accidentally build just a little bit too much for your growing population. You build the larger hospital because you anticipate the amount of people. But what ends up happening is you've spent too much for the amount of people you anticipated being there, and in reality, a much lower number occurred. Next thing you know, everything is in a decline and you're scrambling to recover it all. Houses go vacant, your income from taxes goes down immensely, and everything goes into the shitter. I vote we call in the UFO and Volcano to finish it off.
[QUOTE=KillerJaguar;41042142]How did they fuck up this badly in the first place?[/QUOTE] The auto industry slump meant that people who could afford to leave - who were coincidentally a good amount of people who could afford to pay taxes - left the city. Then the city was divided between those who had jobs and those who had no jobs but couldn't afford to leave. Also, corruption. -oversimplified summary of detroit
[QUOTE=KillerJaguar;41042142]How did they fuck up this badly in the first place?[/QUOTE] The industrial revolution came to an end. Affulent people then emigrated, whilst the poorer communities left a reduced tax base. Reduced social services due to smaller budget means even more emigration and decline. Once the original economic centers drawing in people died out, cities die out shortly afterwards.
is there any actual way to revive detroit to a good standing or is it just fucked
[QUOTE=lolwutdude;41042188]is there any actual way to revive detroit to a good standing or is it just fucked[/QUOTE] Given that the economic base there pretty much went elsewhere, it's best just to try and make the collapse as smooth and painless as possible.
I live about 10 KM away from Detroit (on the Canadian side, of course). What exactly happens when a major city like Detroit goes bankrupt?
and all those superbowl commercials about detroit gave us hope :(
[QUOTE=Pandamobile;41042206]I live about 10 KM away from Detroit (on the Canadian side, of course). What exactly happens when a major city like Detroit goes bankrupt?[/QUOTE] from what i read, several groups want to privatize pretty much everything, essentially robocop plot lol, minus robocop.
[QUOTE=don818;41042026]What happens when it goes bankrupt? Is it like what happens in SimCity and the whole thing just disappears?[/QUOTE] Perhaps it's for the best. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjTj4AHCJnI[/media]
[QUOTE=Sobotnik;41042104]It would also force them to privatize much of the services originally held by the city, and to sell off any assets they have.[/QUOTE] This part sounds like a libertarian dream city. [QUOTE=Sobotnik;41042149]It's basically collapsing into anarchism. When the bankruptcy arrives, that's when the pitiful police force left will probably disintegrate.[/QUOTE] That'd be an interesting sight, I wonder if the Fed would take up duties. That'd be weird to have your city's police force replaced with FBI Police.
anarchy time.
[QUOTE=Mr. Someguy;41042463]This part sounds like a libertarian dream city. [/QUOTE] Are you this stupid? [editline]15th June 2013[/editline] Detroit is already anarchic and filled with chaos as it is. It's a veritable Sodom right now, and it will only spiral out of control.
[QUOTE=Drsalvador;41042517]Are you this stupid?[/QUOTE] Don't libertarians love privatisation?
[QUOTE=Mr. Someguy;41042554]Don't libertarians love privatisation?[/QUOTE] You made out that Detroit would be a libertarian dream-city in an attempt to make a shitty and snarky quip. Ignoring the fact that detroit is a total fucking shithole as it is and will only become a real life Killing Floor when the government loses the already-loose leash it has.
[QUOTE=Mr. Someguy;41042463]This part sounds like a libertarian dream city. That'd be an interesting sight, I wonder if the Fed would take up duties. That'd be weird to have your city's police force replaced with FBI Police.[/QUOTE] FBI 'police' would do a far worse job than even the worst city police the USA has to offer
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