Detroit: Bankrupt City

Well, this should be a mess.

Detroit — A federal judge has ruled Detroit is eligible to file for the nation’s largest Chapter 9 bankruptcy to help dig out from under $18 billion in debt and that city pension payments can be cut to help make that happen.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes determined the city meets the criteria for bankruptcy, ruling the city is financially insolvent and that the filing was properly authorized. He dismissed challenges to Michigan’s emergency manager law and ruled that pensions are not protected by the state Constitution.

“The case was filed in good faith and should not be dismissed,” Rhodes said.

So the vampire unions and other assorted leftist rent-seekers will have to experience the consequences for sucking a city dry. Or not. The unions have already appealed the decision to get the bankruptcy ruling overturned and preserve their lavish pensions and other benefits. They don’t really care that they’re stirring up dust kicking the desiccated corpse of a city they killed.

Detroit is the nation’s largest government bankruptcy, but it may not hold that status for long. Obamacare has a chain reaction built into it that will soon threaten state budgets. Millions of Americans will soon find themselves facing a choice, thanks to the unaffordability of the Affordable Care Act: Keep their jobs or keep their healthcare. They will find that they make just a little bit too much money to qualify for federal subsidies (welfare by another name) that supposedly make their healthcare affordable. They will find that by either decreasing their income or by losing their job altogether, they can qualify for subsidies or go on Medicaid. If they go the route of eschewing their jobs, their states will get hit with paying them unemployment and picking up the tab for their healthcare through Medicaid. This will further stress already strained state budgets, some beyond their breaking points.