Rocker Ted Nugent is not happy that his hometown filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection on Thursday.
As we previously reported , the city had been in dire straits in recent years, losing close to one million residents in the last decade and struggling with its employment base. Detroit peaked at 1.8 million residents in the 1950s, but today has just a little more than 700,000. As people fled the city, so too did businesses, with layoffs at automakers and an exodus of manufacturers. The city is also plagued by violent crime .
Detroit owes a staggering $18 billion to creditors. A significant part of its debt load is made up of health and pension obligations to present and former public sector workers.
The Motor City Madman is mad about the Motor City bankruptcy. He expressed his feelings to TMZ about the largest US city ever to go bankrupt. “Liberal democrats took hold of the greatest, most productive city on earth and turned it into a bloodsucker excuse-making hell. Liberals seem to think that what Mugabe did to destroy the breadbasket of Africa in Zimbabwe is somehow a desirable model.”
Added Nugent: “If allowed to continue, our President will do the same to the whole country. Heartbreaking and tragic.”
A state judge ruled the bankruptcy filing unconstitutional on Friday but that ruling will likely be overturned in due course.
Speaking on CBS Face the Nation today, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder said among other things that the bankruptcy was a way to stabilize and grow Detroit and restore accountability to city residents who have not been receiving services. He noted that he doesn’t expect a federal bailout and affirmed that the state can’t bail out the city either. “It’s not just about putting more money in a situation. It’s about better services to citizens again. It’s about accountable government,” the governor explained. He also said that a federal bailout is not the proper response to the city’s financial problems. “The right answer is, bankruptcy is there to help deal with the debt question. The more important question is better services to the citizens, police, fire…”
Do you think liberalism is to blame for the Detroit bankruptcy? Should the federal government try to bail out the city of Detroit?