"The city's creditors, as well as its many dedicated public servants, deserve to know what promises the city can and will keep. The only way to do those things is to radically restructure the city and allow it to reinvent itself without the burden of impossible obligations." (Rick Snyder, State of Michigan, quoted by Fox News)
“The saying is that ‘you can’t just be broke, you’ve got to be flat a** broke’ to qualify for Chapter 9.” (Scott Davido, Jones Day, quoted in WSJ Law Blog. Davido says Detroit should have no problem clearing this hurdle.)
"Things tend to move quickly only in geological terms." Ibid.
“It’s not enough to say, let’s reduce debt. At the end of the day, you need a real recovery plan. Otherwise you’re just going to repeat the whole thing over again.” (James E. Spiotto, Chapman and Cutler, quoted in the New York Times.
“Detroit is going to be a huge test kitchen.” (Karol K. Denniston, Schiff Hardin, ibid.)
“This will be much messier than the auto companies. This will go on for a long time. You’re going to have much bigger haircuts for the workers and that’s going to mean much more pain than the workers for the auto companies were asked to bear." (Financier, Auto Bailout Czar Steven Rattner, quoted in Automotive News)
"In 1950 there were 1.85 million people in Detroit. In 1970, it was 1.5 million. In 1990, it was a million flat. By 2010, it was down to 710,000. When your city is shrinking like that, you end up with a tax base that's inadequate to maintain the fixed infrastructure or to pay off pension costs that were incurred in more prosperous times. Shedding legacy obligations is a necessary part of the fix. You can shed legacy obligations without filing for bankruptcy by just stiffing pensioners. But the scale of Detroit's fiscal problems are so enormous that doing it entirely that way would be cruel and pointless—bondholders need to take a hit and this is the way to do it." (Matt Yglesias, Slate)
“GM is proud to call Detroit home and today’s bankruptcy declaration is a day that we and others hoped would not come. We believe, however, that today also can mark a clean start for the city.” General Motors
"We are all in. We are more committed than ever to Detroit and the opportunities downtown. Detroit’s best days are ahead.” Quicken CEO Dan Gilbert, quoted by WXYZ.
“It’s B-Day in the D #Bankruptcy #Detroit.” Tweet by Karen Dumas, former communications aide for Mayor Dave Bing, quoted by the Detroit News.
