Posted on 07/19/2013 2:23:28 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
A Michigan judge ruled today that Detroit filing for chapter 9 bankruptcy on Thursday was unconstitutional. Ingham County Circuit Judge Rosemarie Aquilina said the filing must be withdrawn and that, according to the Detroit Free Press, the governor and city emergency manager “must take no further actions that threaten to diminish the pension benefits of City of Detroit retirees.”
The reduction in those particular benefits is at issue here, due to a portion of the Michigan Constitution that reads [PDF]:
“The accrued financial benefits of each pension plan and retirement system of the state and its political subdivisions shall be a contractual obligation thereof which shall not be diminished or impaired thereby.”
The judge interpreted this passage to declare the bankruptcy filing unconstitutional, though this piece in the Detroit News argues that it may not be that clear-cut.
Meanwhile, Attorney General Bill Schuette is appealing the decision to the Michigan Court of Appeals and requesting the orders stayed for the time being.
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States next on the agenda. Illinois has unfunded obligations that make Detroit's look like chump change. I read that Illinois is #1 in that department, beating even the liberal California.
I wonder how much money it took to buy Rosemarie? or what Odickhead and the NSA have on her? And while I am at it FU NSA creeps.
She also ruled that the tide can’t come in.
Look at that state Constitution clause and think about what DeTocqueville warned. For whatever reason, a majority of the Michigan voters approved casting pensions in concrete.
Union people like pensions over 401K’s, because it’s supposed to be a guaranteed payout. If bankruptcy guts the pensions, look for workers to want to bail on pensions, and have self-directed 401K plans — which will be devastating to the unions which manage pension funds and use them for political purposes.
“It’s cheating sir, and it’s cheating good people who work,” Aquilina told assistant state Attorney General Brian Devlin. “It’s also not honoring the [United States] president, who took [Detroit automakers] out of bankruptcy.”
A social justice judge injecting politics into a judicial ruling.
Union benefits must be paid. Detroit authorities will tax the last business out of town. They will then jack up property taxes until the last homeowner walks away, and then seize the home to sell to the highest bidder. But there will be no bidders, because no one in his right mind will come to Detroit. They will auction off all moveable city property, shut down all city services, layoff all city employees (except tax collectors and a goon squad to back them up), and devote the money to pension payments. When this does not raise enough money, the goon squad will throw a barbed wire fence around the city, capture all residents who have not already fled, and harvest body parts for sale to China.
This will not end until a higher court attaches Her Excellency The Judge's personal salary and perks, and throws them into the pot.
I wonder if I should add a sarcasm tag. This may be prophetic, not sarcastic.
This has the stench of careful orchestration.
It’s nothing but bukkake theater.
“Another “Wise Latina.””
Who got her law degree out of a box of Crackerjacks! The freeking law isn’t about “dishonoring” working people or our worthless president, it’s about the fact that all the freeking money is gone!
Fine.
Pack up and say “So long Dee-troit.”
Get as far away as possible before the big implosion.
I feel your pain, but the essence of bankruptcy is that someone, and maybe a lot of someones, with a legal entitlement to payment are not gonna get paid, because there ain't nothin' there with which to pay. Reality bites.
Pass the popcorn.
Butter on mine, please.
Michigan unions are scrambling now because they’re starting to feel the slow strangulation of the right to work law.
The teachers union in Saginaw is demanding an immediate $10 Million from the school district because their union is dying and the union owned insurer is going to be left holding the bag.
I bunderstood that the pensions would be “grandfathered” in and would be payable ONLY if Detroit ever comes back financially. It also may be that the date they filed bankruptcy, anything “earned” beyond that date would be null and void.
Anyone know?
However, in this case such a precedent in Detroit would be very damaging for the entire national municipal bond market and bond holders, so this fight can't be squelched as quickly and quietly as it was in the bankruptcy of the auto makers.
I bunderstood that the pensions would be “grandfathered” in and would be payable ONLY if Detroit ever comes back financially. It also may be that the date they filed bankruptcy, anything “earned” beyond that date would be null and void.
Anyone know?
Perhaps if Michigan started printing its own currency and paid those benefits in State scrip, why everything would be right as rain. They could even put Judge Rosemarie’s portrait on the 50 Wolverine notes.
The state judge violated the automatic stay provisions of the Bankruptcy Code by purporting to issue an order. Once the bankruptcy petition is filed, the bankruptcy court has exclusive jurisdiction unless or until the stay is lifted or the bankruptcy judge dismisses the bankruptcy petition. The state judge is actually in contempt of the bankruptcy court. Her order is a nullity.
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