Orr maybe not?

Depending on who you talk to, it would appear as Detroit is positioning itself for Bankruptcy. It's been a long time in the making, with many years of failed Democratic leadership. Take for instance the most recent Kwami Kilpatrick scandals; and for people not in the "know" Mr. Kilpatrick was former Mayor of Detroit. As the bumper stickers read "Detroit is so hard core even our Mayor does time in the can" and sadly this is a fact.

But Mr. Kilpatrick was not the only one. He had help from people like Jennifer Granholm (former Governor of Michigan) who herself subscribed to the hard core PowerStroker mantra, which is to say "Head to toe Donkey". I could go on for paragraphs about the Democrats before them, and the ones before them... But one can not deny the trend and the common denominator. But that's just how I see it, I could be wrong but I'd dare you to prove otherwise.

Yet somehow, out of the blue Michigan is starting to turn RED. Yes, a new Governor; Rick Schneider who just happens to be a Republican has taken BOLD steps to root out the problems that have long since strangled the City of Detroit. In a brave and very skillful way Mr. Schneider has grabbed Detroit by the short and curlys. Lansing (Capital of Michigan) aka "The State" has taken over Detroit and is immediately working towards a solution. I for one applaud Mr. Schneider who is taking the bull by the horns and doing something that century's of Detroit City Mayors never could do... HE IS GOING TO BALANCE THE BOOKS!

How's he going to do that? Well as I mentioned "The State" has taken over Detroit. An Emergency Financial Manager has been appointed. Our city's new defacto "Mayor" is now none other than Kevyn Orr. It would appear from all that I have read that Mr. Orr hails from Maryland but went to School in Michigan and I only know this because of reports that he had tax liens to the tune of $15K (On homes owned in Maryland), but they were promptly taken care of and it appeared to be a genuine "error" although it did rock the boat and the media had a field day with it for a week. But now that Debt is long since paid, and Mr. Orr has wasted no time rounding up all of Detroit creditors and making them an offer they can't refuse, well... they could refuse but that means they get nothing. What is the offer? .10 cents on the dollar! And people actually have the nerve to ask me why I don't put money in the markets.

So here we are... An EMF who is working his way down a checklist of requirements to file Bankruptcy, and the idea that Mr. Orr could get EVERYONE to accept .10 cents on the dollar is highly unlikely, even though honest efforts are being made to get everyone on board I just don't see it. The most recent effort, which by the way has me laughing my ass off, was to offer all of the creditors a free bus ride around the city to see just how bad things are, and I am not talking about the Downtown District, I am talking about the inner cities of Detroit, the "REAL" Detroit areas that have long since been forgotten. Of course only 15 people have signed up for this tour which requires a waiver by the way LOL! And the bus they will be driven around in I am told will be a regular old Detroit City bus, no fancy tours buses. The rational behind this tour is to let the bankers see just how serious the .10 cents on the dollar offer really is, because otherwise it's going to be "fuck you, have a nice day and thanks for playing, and by the way here is my Bankruptcy discharge for that debt we owed you", and that's all there is going to be.  

For far too long Detroit has sputtered and many areas sit in decay. Detroit was and still is the Motor City but how could such a robust industry be brought to its knees? Once again I can only think of one common denominator, BAD LEADERSHIP, brought to us by the Democratic party who in all rights has had a strangle hold on Detroit City.

The silver lining to all of this is that for once, Detroit will have a fighting chance. For once it appears Detroit might get the 2nd chance it has so desperately needed. Orr, they could just fuck it all up but I just can't see how getting Detroit?s books back in order could be a bad thing, even if it meant Bankruptcy. But just to be clear, it would be the largest municipal Bankruptcy in history! Detroit City has shrunk to only 700,000 people (300,000 short of what many would even consider a City) and in one area of Detroit only 1 person in 77 blocks paid taxes last year, which indicates just how crazy things have become.