Brutal budget cutting, privatization planned for Detroit

Rick Snyder at the March 1 meeting, when he announced Detroit was in a state of emergency

End Of Days News

On March 1, Michigan’s governor, Republican Rick Snyder, declared Detroit to be in a state of financial emergency, paving the way for the appointment of an emergency manager who would have dictatorial powers to abrogate labor agreements, gut city services and sell off public assets.

In justifying his decision, the multi-millionaire former venture capitalist and computer mogul said city officials had refused to seriously address the financial crisis.

In fact, Detroit’s Democratic mayor and City Council have been engaged in non-stop budget cutting. But clearly this is not enough for the banks and wealthy bondholders seeking to loot the city, channel public resources to private companies and strip workers of their jobs, wages and pensions.

Snyder cited the findings of the Finance Review Team, a bi-partisan body set up in April to oversee the city’s finances, which concluded that Detroit was unable to meet its debt obligations of $327 million and long-term liabilities of $15 billion.

“The Consent agreement”—the measure established in April 2012 in which the city agreed to partner with a state appointed Financial Review Team to carry out cuts, “did not work,” said Snyder, who added, “They did not bring the urgency to the problem.”

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/03/05/detr-m05.html