Posted on 09/18/2013 6:53:50 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
IN THE 1983 movie Dr. Detroit, the flamboyant lead character goes on a rampage warning of trouble to come. “I am talking about scorched earth, no survival, wholesale destruction…body-bags and fire!” he yells. That’s pretty much what has happened to Detroit over the last three decades.
Its population has shrunk by half to below 700,000. The wait for police response is five times the national average, and only 8 percent of crimes are solved. Roughly a third of the city’s 140 square miles is either unoccupied or dilapidated. About 40 percent of its tax revenue is directed to retirement or debt, and the city hasn’t been in the black since 2004.
Bankruptcy should have been declared years ago. The best experts say there is no way the city can ever crawl out of its predicament using conventional means.
In the short term, Detroit could sell assets. Kevyn Orr, the city’s emergency manager, says all assets must be potentially on the table. Experts consulted by the Detroit Free Press say the collections of the Detroit Institute of Arts—works by everyone from Van Gogh to Matisse to the original Howdy Doody children’s TV doll—would fetch some $2.5 billion. But that’s only one-eighth of the city’s projected long-term debt of $20 billion. Art experts say any sales from the museum would have to be spaced out over a long period.
“There are only so many billionaires that could absorb all of that material,” art appraiser Betty Krulik told reporters.
With a federal or state bailout effectively off the table because of the bad precedent it would set for other near-bankrupt cities, it’s time for truly creative thinking. Orr, Detroit’s emergency manager, makes clear what’s needed.
(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...
eminent
Who’d want it?
It’s only worth about $40.
The British turned it over to America in 1796. We do not want it back! !
Les lowballs everything.
Mom is still alive (turns 93 next month). Dr. Detroit was a bomb, so that’s why they didn’t do the sequel.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.