bankruptcy

The faces of the Detroit bankruptcy are the thousands of pensioners whose promised benefits are suddenly part of the restructure negotiation. When Motown filed for Chapter 9 last July, the city had $11.5 billion in unsecured liabilities. The vast majority of this was pension and health care benefits owed to retired city employees. The images …

Detroit’s fate is best summed up by the phrase “Demographics is destiny.” Take a look at the following chart on Detroit’s population growth since 1840. The golden age of the U.S. car manufacturing industry (1930-1980) maintained Detroit’s population consistently above 1.5 million. Fifty years is more than enough time for at least two generations to …