Well, that was quick
[Caricature by DonkeyHotey from photos by Anne C. Savage for Eclectablog]
Standard and Poor’s Rating Services didn’t wait for Detroit’s new Emergency Financial Manager Kevyn Orr to actually accomplish anything or, in fact, to even begin his first day on the job. Yesterday they went ahead an upgraded Detroit’s outlook rating from “negative” to “stable”.
These Emergency Managers are like wizards or something! Orr doesn’t start his new job until March 25th, a week from now.
Standard & Poor’s Rating Services has revised Detroit’s outlook “stable” from “negative” for the city’s general obligation bonds and pension obligation certificates.The ratings agency made the announcement Friday, shortly after Gov. Rick Snyder appointed Washington attorney Kevyn Orr as an Emergency Financial Manager for Detroit, which owes $15 billion in long-term debt and faces a $327 million budget deficit. {…}
“We view the appointment of an emergency manager as a positive step toward regaining structural balance and improving the city’s overall financial condition,” Standard & Poor’s credit analyst Jane Hudson Ridley said in a statement.
In other news, not widely reported is the fact that the law firm that Orr worked for before being hired to be Detroit’s Emergency Financial Manager is the same firm that the city of Detroit hired to FIGHT the imposition of an Emergency Financial Manager.
I’m sure there is no possible way that there could be anything resembling a conflict of interest here. Couldn’t be. Uh-uh. Nope.
(By the way, unsurprisingly, Governor Snyder says there’s not.)
