Dave Bing's Last Second Shot

[MotownSpartan]

Here's a short excerpt of a WSJ article on Bing that was a very interesting read.

"The fiscal mess puts Mr. Bing in a Catch-22. He can't cut the city's taxes because the short-term hit to cash flow would leave the city unable to pay its bills. But without tax reform the city can't lure businesses back. Detroit may simply not be viable in its current form. Political and economic leaders need to rethink the notion that the city can regain its former status as a major American metropolis capable of luring large companies with tax breaks—which was Mr. Kilpatrick's failed strategy.
Detroit now more closely resembles a frontier town that needs not flashy stadiums and art institutes but basic services: police, firemen and good schools. Mr. Bing needs to confront the hard reality that the city needs to pare back its liabilities, identify infrastructure it can no longer afford to maintain, and [[though this is anathema to Detroit's political class) perhaps auction off portions of its 140 square miles to neighboring counties, shrinking to a size that its diminished population base can support.
Short term, Detroit's best hope may be to go bankrupt. However, given Michigan law, which has never been tested because no city has ever filed for bankruptcy, it's unclear if even bankruptcy will fully release Detroit from the clutches of its unions and allow it to start over. The only thing certain is that fate is not kind to a city that allows unions to run amok."


http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...toWhatsNewsTop

[jtf1972]

Good article. Bing is dead-on when saying "There are people who think we are job providers. We're service providers."

[Fnemecek]

Short term, Detroit's best hope may be to go bankrupt. However, given Michigan law, which has never been tested because no city has ever filed for bankruptcy, it's unclear if even bankruptcy will fully release Detroit from the clutches of its unions and allow it to start over. The only thing certain is that fate is not kind to a city that allows unions to run amok.

Great. Another article that starts out talking about taxes and a lack of services, but just ends up bashing the unions.

Almost 2/3 of Detroit's total property tax burden is debt service [[general city debt + DPS debt + Wayne County debt). How exactly will busting every union in Detroit solve that problem?

Short answer: it won't.

But writing an article that discusses these things any deeper would require actual journalism instead of simply copying and pasting from the 10,000 other "Detroit and/or Michigan would be great if it weren't for the unions" articles that are written in any given year.

[cloud_wall]

That's not an article. It's a purely opinion piece from one of the country's most right-leaning editorial pages.

[mwilbert]

"Auction off portions of its 140 square miles to neighboring counties."

That is all you have to read to know that the writer knows nothing.

Then you see that this is from the WSJ Opinion Journal, which means that it is designed to make you stupider and less informed when you read it, and then all becomes clear. I subscribe to the WSJ, but the opinion pages are mendacious tripe.