Awash in red ink, Detroit pays out nearly $500k in bonuses

NBCNews.com ^ | 12/13/2012 | Martha C. White

[haffast]

Detroit is dangling at the edge of insolvency, but the city reportedly has enough funds to pay workers nearly $500,000 in bonuses, the Detroit News reported Thursday.

The newspaper said the annual longevity bonuses, which went out last Friday to 1,148 workers, ranged from $150 to $750, depending on how long a worker had been employed.

The city, which has fewer than 10,000 employees, eliminated longevity bonuses for union employees three years ago, the Detroit News added. But a statement emailed to NBCNews by Mayor Dave Bing’s spokesman Anthony Neely said the majority of workers — 697 of them — who got the payments were union members. Neely did not immediately respond to a request for clarification or say which union or unions had members who received payments.

The City Council’s pro tempore president Gary Brown told the Detroit News, “We need to get to the bottom of whether it was intentional or an accident of some sort."

snip

Last Friday, Bing announced at a news conference that the city would lay off 400 to 500 workers over the next few months. The city is struggling to fix its troubled finances and stave off a possible Chapter 9 bankruptcy

If Detroit can't get its financial house in order, it could become the largest U.S. city -- at a population of 700,000 -- to file for bankruptcy protection. Earlier this year, two mid-sized California cities -- Stockton and San Bernardino -- filed for bankruptcy.

[haffast]

Well at least they got their bonus./s

[TurboZamboni]

the US is one giant Detroit.

[bert]

Sort of gives black and blue a new meaning

[ZX12R]

the US is one giant Detroit.

Not quite yet, but that is obviously the goal, and is perhaps soon to be achieved. When that is the status quo, I might be in the mood for punishing those responsible.

[rovenstinez]

The Titanic is sinking.

[midcop402]

Title is misleading. When I worked, my longevity pay was in my contract. It may be called a bonus, but it was an extra check that came in December and based on my years of service. Mine was a percentage. It almost always went to pay property tax, not christmas presents. I see bonuses as a reward for achieving goals and objectives of the work place. Not that you showed up to work a set period of years.

[Wolfie]

Rank amateurs compared to the bail out bonuses of Wall Street.

[quantim]

Detroit might as well be another country compared to the rest of Michigan.

Doubt the French would want it back...

[cripplecreek]

Detroit might as well be another country compared to the rest of Michigan.

That it is. Detroit and Flint.

[Mr. K]

Detroit is down to 700,000 people?

That’s smaller than Buffalo (which is a very small ‘big city’)

[PGalt]

The city which has 10,000 employees...? Unions? Longetivity bonuses?

“Socialism Is Legal Plunder” - Bastiat

BIG GOVERNMENT IS CRONY SOCIALISM and Detroit is a microcosm of FEDGOV, without the ability to print money.

Let’s see...where could YOU cut???...

http://www.usa.gov/directory/federal/index.shtml

STOP the clock...

http://www.usdebtclock.org/

REVERSE the clock. Without raising taxes, a surplus clock should be ticking and then current taxes lowered accordingly and dramatically, without “representatives” taking any pay or having any perks, retirement, insurance, etc., etc.

“The present-day delusion is an attempt to enrich everyone at the expense of everyone else; to make plunder universal under the pretense of organizing it.” - Bastiat

“It is impossible to introduce into society a greater change and a greater evil than this: the conversion of the law into an instrument of plunder.” - Bastiat

.—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, —That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Alter it.

DEFUND socialist collectives, foreign and domestic. DISMANTLE their collectives. DEPOPULATE them from the body politic.

[EQAndyBuzz]

“The Titanic is sinking.”

Quick, move the deck chairs over here.

[JohnD9207]

Typical response from the bacon eaters in Detroit. Michigan please wipe your butt.

[cripplecreek]

BTW The legislator is sending the citizenship ballot application issue back to the governor today.

http://www.mlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/12/michigan_legislators_again_add.html

I think something they aren’t telling us about has shifted the whole state government hard to the right. I personally suspect that there is evidence of massive fraud and simply cutting them off at the knees is the best way to deal with it.

[grellis]

Detroit and Flint.

Don't leave Lansing out of the mix! Just as left as Detroit and Flint, and I think we may have surpassed Flint in population. This resolution, passed Monday by every member of our City Council, is just one, tiny, recent example of how liberal our capitol city is:

RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF LANSING

WHEREAS, Michigan has a long history of workers and management coming together to grow the middle class and ensure success; and

WHEREAS, collective bargaining protects workers’ voices to negotiate fair wages, benefits, workplace safety, and job security; and

WHEREAS, the Michigan House and Senate have passed versions of a so-called “right-to-work” law; and

WHEREAS, Right-to-work laws are designed to severely weaken unions and thus their ability to bargain on behalf of their members; and

WHEREAS, Right-to-work laws pit workers against each other by allowing people at unionized workplaces to opt out of paying dues while still enjoying the full benefits of union representation; and

WHEREAS, states with right-to-work laws have lower wages, more people without health care and lower safety standards for union and non-union workers alike.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Lansing City Council opposes making Michigan a so-called “right-to-work” state; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Lansing City Council urges Governor Rick Snyder to veto right-to-work legislation and instead focus on strengthening the middle class and moving Michigan forward.

[Servant of the Cross]

Awash in red ink, Detroit pays out nearly $500k in bonuses ...

So ... 0bama supports Detroit bonus'. Now why does this remind me of one more incredible hypocrisy and lie of the Occupy_WH poseur ...

Obama tries to stop AIG bonuses: 'How do they justify this outrage?'

[publius911]

I see bonuses as a reward for achieving goals and objectives of the work place. Not that you showed up to work a set period of years.

In the real world, adequate competence to do the job you were hired for is what gets you your weekly paycheck.

Not surprisingly, this "longevity bonus" fairy tale has only existed in public or private union employment.

[publius911]

Rank amateurs compared to the bail out bonuses of Wall Street.

I've always believed that most of those croo.. err "executives" should be doing jail time. What other choice does the ordinady investor have? The "other" Wall Street? Curiously, a non-government monopoly is allowed to exist.

[quantim]

Virg Benero’s fingerprints all over that.

Is it just me or did there seem to be a noticeable absence of MSU at the capitol building?

I expected to see some ‘green’ up there like all the ‘red’ in Wisconsin but saw none.

And also expected more younger faces in the crowd, but few if any. Maybe they were afraid of union thuggery.

Or maybe MSU students/faculty got their Obama & pie and don’t care about unions & RTW.

[grellis]

You missed the memo! Everyone was asked to wear red to show support of unions. That’s why the nurses union, who protested the day before the big rally, used red duct tape over their mouths. Wearing green last week was seen as the anti-red, a show of support for RTW. We wore green all week.