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04:07Last update on: 12 Aug 2013
The Namibian
Mon 12 Aug 2013
SMS Of The Day * MINISTRY of Gender and Child Welfare, TEARS are rolling down as I write this SMS. The killing of women in Namibia is now like reciting a poem. Are we really getting the protection we deserve while women not being treated as part of this c Food For Thought * SO the Zimbabwe elections were free and peaceful and not free and fair? Bouquets And Brickbats * NURSES at Katutura Hospital must stop wearing those big plastic sandals at work because they are not the official working shoes. We want to see you looking smart and beautiful with your full uniform. SMS Of The Day * THIS nation is in dire need of a massive conference on housing. When we experienced a crisis in the education sector a crisis-control brain-storming conference was organised which resulted in the best deal ever for the Namibian child, nam Food For Thought * BOURGEOISIE has become a daily occupation if not the order of the day of the upper-echelons, President Hifikepunye Pohamba we urge you to revisit this unpatriotic geocentricism among your staff and the well-connected, for everybody to r Bouquets And Brickbats * COMMISSIONER of Prisons, can you please explain the strategies you use to appoint officers to certain positions? It is my observation that you are being fed with wrong information then you just promote individuals without making p SMS Of The Day * I THINK Paulus ‘The Rock’ Ambunda lost his belt because of this promoter and trainer. How can a world champion still be training at the Katutura Youth Complex where there is not enough equipment. I think they must follow the example of Ha Food For Thought * NAMIBIA Dairies are unable to match low prices of imported milk and this ultimately means the consumer will have to pay more for local milk. Look at the prices of the local chicken. All these profits are going in the pockets of a few in Bouquets And Brickbats * I AM pleased to hear that Cabinet has responded positively to the proposal of Namibia Dairies to support the industry. The restrictions which support the industry by reducing competition to ensure the survival of the industry is a SMS Of The Day * CEO’s golden handshakes. Somewhere on our statute books there must be a provision that if a board of directors suspends/dismisses a CEO without due regard to legal provision (substantive/procedural law) such board must carry the costs for Food For Thought * JACKY Asheeke was so right with her last column- why are the fathers of the dead children not being prosecuted? (Reference to the children who died in shack fires last week) Our justice system still protects men over women. In this cont Bouquets And Brickbats * ALEXACTUS Kaure, your column in Friday’s newspaper opened my eyes. One hardly finds impartial case study analysers in Namibia. Let’s not destroy the Polytechnic’s strong foundation (Tjivikua) as yet. At least wait until the transf
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BUSINESS - ECONOMY
| 2013-07-22
Once mighty Detroit files for bankruptcy
BROKE ... The Detroit skyline. The city became the largest city in US history to file for bankruptcy when State-appointed emergency manager Kevyn Orr asked a federal judge for municipal bankruptcy protection. Nampa-AP
DETROIT-Detroit has become the biggest US city to file for bankruptcy with its finances ravaged and its neighbourhoods hollowed out by a long, slow decline in population and auto manufacturing that once made it the very symbol of American industrial might.
The federal bankruptcy court filing, which had been feared for months, conserves cash so the city can operate but it will hurt Detroit’s image for years. It could mean laying off municipal employees, selling off assets, raising fees and scaling back basic services such as trash collection and snow ploughing, which have already been slashed.
Kevin Orr, a bankruptcy expert hired by the state in March to stop Detroit’s fiscal free-fall, chose bankruptcy over diverting money from police, fire and other services to make debt payments. He made the filing in federal bankruptcy court under Chapter 9, the bankruptcy system for cities and counties. Orr said Detroit would continue paying its bills and employees.
But, said Michael Sweet, a bankruptcy attorney in Fox-Rothschild’s San Francisco office, “They don’t have to pay anyone they don’t want to. And no one can sue them.”
It took decades of decay to bring down the industrial giant that put the world on wheels.
The city grew to 1,8 million people in the 1950s, luring them with plentiful jobs and paid good wages to stamp out automobile for sale across the globe. But like many American cities, Detroit’s fall began late that decade as developers started building suburbs. At the same time, auto companies began opening plants in other cities, and the rise of autos imported from Japan started to cut the size of the US auto industry. Detroit’s property values fell, tax revenue dropped, police couldn’t control a growing murder rate, and many middle-class blacks fled the city for safer suburbs with better schools.
Detroit lost a quarter-million residents between 2000 and 2010. Today it’s barely above 700,000. Much of the middle-class and scores of businesses also have fled the city, taking their tax dollars with them.
The city is littered with abandoned factories built in the postwar boom years, most of which have multiple stories. As the Japanese auto invasion began cutting into Detroit’s sales, General Motors, Chrysler, Ford and hundreds of auto parts companies looked outside the city to build one-storey plants that could handle modern assembly lines.
By the time the auto industry melted down in 2009, along with the economy as a whole, only a few factories from GM and Chrysler were left. GM is the only one with headquarters in Detroit.
Government corruption under former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick only made things worse. A jury convicted the once-popular mayor in March of racketeering conspiracy and other crimes after a trial that portrayed him as an unscrupulous political who took bribes and rigged contracts while in office until 2008.
The current mayor, former basketball great Dave Bing, announced in May that he wouldn’t seek a second term and angrily denounced Michigan officials for not giving him enough time to solve Detroit’s financial problems on his own.
In recent months, the city has relied on state-backed bond money to meet payroll for its 10,000 employees.
Orr was unable to persuade a host of creditors, unions and pension boards to take pennies on the dollar to help facilitate the city’s massive financial restructuring. If the bankruptcy filing is approved, city assets could be liquidated to satisfy demands for payment.
Michigan Governor, Rick Snyder determined earlier this year that Detroit was in a financial emergency and without a plan for improvement. He made it the largest US city to fall under state oversight when a state loan board hired Orr.
A turnaround specialist, Orr represented automaker Chrysler LLC during its successful restructuring.
He laid out his plans in June meetings with debt holders, in which his team warned there was a 50-50 chance of a bankruptcy filing. The team said Detroit was defaulting on about U$2,5 billion in unsecured debt to “conserve cash” for police, fire and other services.
Detroit’s budget deficit is believed to be more than US$380 million. Orr has said long-term debt was more than US$14 billion and could be between US$17 billion and US$20 billion.
-Nampa-AP
Kevin Orr, a bankruptcy expert hired by the state in March to stop Detroit’s fiscal free-fall, chose bankruptcy over diverting money from police, fire and other services to make debt payments. He made the filing in federal bankruptcy court under Chapter 9, the bankruptcy system for cities and counties. Orr said Detroit would continue paying its bills and employees.
But, said Michael Sweet, a bankruptcy attorney in Fox-Rothschild’s San Francisco office, “They don’t have to pay anyone they don’t want to. And no one can sue them.”
It took decades of decay to bring down the industrial giant that put the world on wheels.
The city grew to 1,8 million people in the 1950s, luring them with plentiful jobs and paid good wages to stamp out automobile for sale across the globe. But like many American cities, Detroit’s fall began late that decade as developers started building suburbs. At the same time, auto companies began opening plants in other cities, and the rise of autos imported from Japan started to cut the size of the US auto industry. Detroit’s property values fell, tax revenue dropped, police couldn’t control a growing murder rate, and many middle-class blacks fled the city for safer suburbs with better schools.
Detroit lost a quarter-million residents between 2000 and 2010. Today it’s barely above 700,000. Much of the middle-class and scores of businesses also have fled the city, taking their tax dollars with them.
The city is littered with abandoned factories built in the postwar boom years, most of which have multiple stories. As the Japanese auto invasion began cutting into Detroit’s sales, General Motors, Chrysler, Ford and hundreds of auto parts companies looked outside the city to build one-storey plants that could handle modern assembly lines.
By the time the auto industry melted down in 2009, along with the economy as a whole, only a few factories from GM and Chrysler were left. GM is the only one with headquarters in Detroit.
Government corruption under former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick only made things worse. A jury convicted the once-popular mayor in March of racketeering conspiracy and other crimes after a trial that portrayed him as an unscrupulous political who took bribes and rigged contracts while in office until 2008.
The current mayor, former basketball great Dave Bing, announced in May that he wouldn’t seek a second term and angrily denounced Michigan officials for not giving him enough time to solve Detroit’s financial problems on his own.
In recent months, the city has relied on state-backed bond money to meet payroll for its 10,000 employees.
Orr was unable to persuade a host of creditors, unions and pension boards to take pennies on the dollar to help facilitate the city’s massive financial restructuring. If the bankruptcy filing is approved, city assets could be liquidated to satisfy demands for payment.
Michigan Governor, Rick Snyder determined earlier this year that Detroit was in a financial emergency and without a plan for improvement. He made it the largest US city to fall under state oversight when a state loan board hired Orr.
A turnaround specialist, Orr represented automaker Chrysler LLC during its successful restructuring.
He laid out his plans in June meetings with debt holders, in which his team warned there was a 50-50 chance of a bankruptcy filing. The team said Detroit was defaulting on about U$2,5 billion in unsecured debt to “conserve cash” for police, fire and other services.
Detroit’s budget deficit is believed to be more than US$380 million. Orr has said long-term debt was more than US$14 billion and could be between US$17 billion and US$20 billion.
-Nampa-AP
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