Some of you who follow my blog nationally may not know what is truly happening in the Detroit Bankruptcy process. In fact, many people in Michigan have very little insight as to what is really going on. However, you should, because your city or county could be next.
The Governor of Michigan appointed an “Emergency Manager” (who is a bankruptcy attorney from Washington, D.C.) for Detroit who has the power to virtually render any decision by an elected official void. In other words, the EM nullifies the election of citizens of Detroit. The EM was appointed by the governor behind closed doors (i.e. no public transparency). After a superficial attempt to bargain with debtors, a process that the bankruptcy proceeding exposed as bad faith negotiations, the EM filed for bankruptcy an sought to include the pensions of city employees (even though those pensions had been protected under the Michigan Constitution). The EM hired his own law firm to do the bankruptcy at an enormous cost.
Getting access to the pensions is a priority agenda of the Governor and his EM. Wall St. banks have been systematically looting public pension funds all across the country, a process detailed in Matt Taibi’s Rolling Stone article in September 2013. Even though the governor of Michigan has given hundreds of millions of dollars to build privately held baseball and hockey stadiums, and we have all given hundreds of millions to bail out Wall St. banks, they are going after pensioners who average $19,000.00 per year of payments. Looting the public employee pension funds will provide only a fraction of the city debt, far less than what is owed to corporations. Those corporations can afford to lose tens of millions without missing a beat, but these pensioners and the poor in Detroit can’t afford to lose pennies.
Detroit is first and Wayne County will be next. Your city and county will get a visit from the same silk stocking vultures circling Detroit now.
FiegerTime - Geoffrey Fieger's Blog 
I think you have it all wrong sir, maybe a little too much of a lefty slant for my liking. Please allow me to retort;
Detroit deserves what it is getting. Too many years of bigoted Democrat leadership put in power by racist and shameless voters who would rather elect corrupt and racist minded politicians like their self without a care in the world thinking the non stop gravy train would never become derailed.
Well now that gravy train has derailed and the state of Michigan is not going to keep pouring money into a city that feels entitled. Perhaps the city works should bear the brunt of this bankruptcy? After all they are the ones who were in charge during the decline of a once was great and powerful city that is now on its knees.
I guess it goes to prove that the only problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other peoples money. It also goes to show you can only vote yourself entitlements for so long before the trump card gets played.
Who is to blame? The citizens of Detroit and there freely elected government and no one else.
If Wayne county ends up in bankruptcy it will only be because the City if Detroit (which is part of the county of Wayne ) brought it down.
This is real talk ladies and gentlemen. No sugar coating Fieger style.
Mr. Umney , You are a brainwashed little man with no respect for the contitution of our state. Pensions are not to be touched…. Mr. Schneider ( spelled wrong on purpose) and Mr. Orr are breaking the law of our state and should be tried in court for such. Mr. Feiger why are you personally not fighting this? Mr Schneider took an oath to protect our state’sconstitution and now is wiping his ass with it, in order to steal what people worked their whole lives for.This is to give more tax breaks to the already wealthy. His first act as the governator was to give 1.8 billion in tax breaks to the wealthy…. then he cut 1 billion in funding to education… ( doesn’t care about public education because his donaters send their children to private schools) . Then he taxed retired people’s pensions. The jobs that have come to michigan are minimum wage crap jobs that we the taxpayer have to give food stamps to the employees of these mega billion corporations. We are subsidizing the billionaire’s payrolls with money from my pocket…. I do not appreciate paying billionaires payrolls. The only jobs that are any good that have come forth have come from the automotive sector wich would have died if not for democrat backing …. unlike wall street the auto industries paid back the government. Now don’t take thsi wrong sir… I am in no way a democrat…. I am iin no wa a republican…. I am an American!! I can see that both parties have good and bad ideas and that both parties have taken our rights away and have abandonded the constitution. We are no longer a free society.. Our children will be enslaved because of the brainwashing of people like you who believe the propaganda that is spewed by the media…
Mr. Hucul,
Having had a moment to reflect on my post I realize it may have come off a little harsh and insensitive to serious issues effecting a great deal of honest hard working people, not only in the city of Detroit; but the entire state of Michigan.
Perhaps a more detailed explanation is in order to preserve my valid points, as not to have them dismissed on the sole basis of insensitivity.
For starters I am a Republican. I am a layman when it comes to the intricities of Politics and Law. I am a Republican because I feel the values of the party align with my own. There is a big misconception regarding the Republican Party as it pertains to being insensitive to the needs and thoughts of others less fortunate. For example I am often ridiculed about how Republicans are only interested in the needs of big business and have little concern for anyone else. This is false, but only in the sence that both parties have proven over time to be guilty of such behavior. It’s not exclusive to the Republican Party and as citizens we have the power to stop it if we wanted and spent the time to educate ourselves and come together.
My feelings with regard to racisim and the predominantly black population of Detroit are well founded given the constant election of black politicians in Detroit the past few centuries. Not until Detroit was on its knees in Bankruptsy court did Detroit elect a white mayor, and even then I feel it was a media sly of hand given the whole “Duggan” controversy where there was a white and a black person with similar names at the start of the race. The fact still remains Detroit is still being run by Democrats but for the first time in 40 years it’s a white face.
With regards to pensions, this I really feel bad about, and I failed to take the time to explain what I meant. I don’t think it’s fair that honest hard working people lose their pensions and I would honestly be shocked if anyone would comit political suicide by cheating people who were providing services for the city their entire life. The people who were in charge however, should be made to stand for this mess as obviously they screwed it all up. When pointing the finger one can’t deny the fact it’s been Democrats who have controlled the City of Detroit the past few centuries, regardless of title.
We are still a free society! However I tell my kids all the time they are growing up faster and saddled with more responsibility at an earlier age then any generation before them. The technology and communications today are instant and profound at a world level and as Americans I feel other places in the world look to us for guidance, if only as an example of what to expect in a civilized and free democracy.
Our children will not be enslaved any more than the human race has ever been throughout history, they will fight harder than us and have families of their own worrying the exact same things we are worried about. Sure they have been saddled with the great responsibility of one day running the show. It’s up to us to prepare them the best we can.
People in Detroit, and the county it resides in are in bad shape right now. But there is one lesson we are all learning that the rest of the nation still thinks can never happen to them, it’s the reality that even an entire city can become bankrupt. That massive debt and poor leadership can result in municipalities coming up short! It’s real!
Apply that to a national level as it pertains to the USA as a whole and I too am worried because we all have a front row seat for whay could come of the entire nation should we fail to address the ever climbing national debt. The trump card played on our country by another nation when we come up short will be so profound it will make the Detroit bankruptcy seem like an individual Chapter 13 debt reorganization. It will lead to fighting and war as the particulars are hashed out. Unfortunately when that happens it comes down to whoever is the last man standing wins. There is nothing civil about war.
In closing I might add that it’s okay to be Democrat, better to be Republican (shameless plug). But the important part as citizens I feel is we look beyond that and recognize when we are being played and hold accountable those who are trusted to make decisions on our behalf.
If America is a melting pot, then sooner or later we must all come together as one, much like a superior alloy.
I just love the censorship efforts on this site. I thought freedom of speech was something you championed Mr. Fieger.
This misunderstanding feels something like hard punches to the gut. I think you need to guys over there at Fieger law need to “Breathe”.