America the Lootiful; Or, Detroit Hock City

The estimable Charlie LeDuff has news for all y'alls looking at Detroit's tribulations and having your SMH moment at "those people":

So Detroit files for bankruptcy. What does this mean? Pay close attention because it may be coming to you soon, Los Angeles, Baltimore, Chicago, Philadelphia. In 2011, Moody’s calculated the unfunded liabilities for Illinois’ three largest state-run pension plans to be $133 billion. (It is expected to be even larger this year.) That’s the size of six Detroit bankruptcies — give or take a few hundred million.

Of Detroit’s debt of at least $18 billion, about $7 billion is secured by collateral like casino revenues and utility taxes. That means creditors — big banks — will get paid. Of the remaining $11 billion or so in unsecured debt, about $9 billion is owed to retirees and current municipal workers, people like firefighters and police officers. These debts come in the form of promised pension checks and health care benefits, all backed by a false, unsecured promise. These are the people who are likely to lose out.

And of course, all of these costs are driven by the exorbitant "health" "care" racket. All those public service workers, people who were dumb enough to trust the promises of the system, don't have to be screwed over. But they will. It's just business. And it will be reiterated, many times, many ways, in many cities around the country. Stay tuned, more fun times are ahead.