The fight to reclaim our state in 2014 starts TODAY

Today Michigan, the birthplace of the labor movement, becomes the 24th Right to Work state in the USA. It’s also the day that PA 436, the Emergency Manager law Republicans passed to thwart the wishes of Michigan voters, goes into effect. PA 436 transforms all Emergency Financial Managers to Emergency Managers (EMs), giving them powers above and beyond financial matters as they are the sole rulers of the schools and municipalities over which they have complete power.

Much more after the jump.

The country is waking up to what’s happening in Michigan

The U.S. Department of Education is investigating a civil rights complaint over the use of Emergency Managers in the Detroit Public Schools. The complaint alleges that black and brown students are being singled out for takeover of their school systems while kids in majority white districts facing similar financial problems aren’t similarly impacted. It also claims that black and brown students face discipline that their white counterparts do not.

More after the jump.

It’s an EMERGENCY!

Congressmen Gary Peters and John Conyers have asked the Govenment Accountability Office to look into the efficacy of the Emergency Financial Manager Law in Michigan as well as whether or not it has resulted in any conflicts of interest or other improprieties as the law has been enforced.

Much more including their letter after the jump.

Well, that was quick

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.

Details and more after the jump.

It’s good to be the king banker

There’s a story emerging out of Detroit about the role too-big-to-fail banks have played in the creation of Detroit’s fiscal emergency. Last week, Dave Dayen reported at the National Memo that some banks have begun foreclosure proceedings on homeowners and then simply walked away before taking possession of the property. This leaves evicted homeowners on the hook financially for the home they are no longer permitted to live in. What’s worse is that the banks don’t even have to inform the homeowner or the city of Detroit which no longer receives any tax revenue from the property.

Not only that, banks have been reaping huge profits in debt restructuring fees and, as added salt in the wound of a city in crisis, Republicans have ensured that these same banks will be paid in full as Detroit works to get out from under its crushing debt.

Much more after the jump.

Aww, geez…

I don’t want to beat this guy up too much since he’s just getting started and I feel compelled to wish him success in his job. He is a Democrat, after all, and I think we ALL want Detroit to do well. However, one would hope that the guy tasked with saving Detroit from its financial disaster would be a bit more detail oriented than this. It turns out Kevyn Orr has two outstanding tax liens on properties he owns in Maryland. They are related to unpaid unemployment taxes.

Oops.

Details after the jump.

And so it is done

[Caricature by DonkeyHotey from photos by Anne C. Savage for Eclectablog, not for reuse.]

This afternoon, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder appointed Washington, D.C. lawyer Kevyn Orr to be the Emergency Financial Manager of Detroit.

The Emergency Financial Assistance Loan Board has to make the formal appointment of an emergency financial manager and they meet later today.

With that, nearly half of all Michigan African Americans will live without local democratically-elected representation.

Lucky for him he’s a lawyer. I suspect that’s going to come in very handy in the coming months.

Impatience is not a virtue

Anyone paying attention to Detroit’s plight knows that their current financial crisis goes back for decades. Housing policies that favored white flight to the suburbs, the decline of the oh-so-important-to-Detroit auto manufacturing industry and the Great Recession have all taken their toll on this aging manufacturing city. Years of neglect and a blind eye toward investment in our state’s largest city have created a perfect storm that has resulted in it a huge chunk of its population. Many of those that remain do so only because they are too desperately poor to escape.

Despite this, Governor Rick Snyder and his administration are giving up on a consent agreement signed with the city last year after only 10 months. The agreement, signed in April of 2012, simply didn’t solve problems that have been in the making since the middle of the last century quickly enough for these Republicans so tomorrow Governor Snyder is expected to appoint Washington, D.C. lawyer Kevyn Orr to be the new overseer of the city.

Click through for more.

The world is watching Here is the video from my appearance yesterday on the Inside Story Americas discussion program on Aljazeera English TV. I must say I was VERY impressed with the quality of the show. The production values and the staff, including the most-excellent host and moderator Shihab Rattansi, were all top-notch and give other cable news shows a […]

The world IS watching Tonight I will appear with two other guests on Aljazeera English TV‘s flagship discussion program Inside Story Americas. I and two other guests will be discussing Detroit’s financial emergency and the possible imposition of an Emergency Financial Manager to run the city. It appears that the decision to overrule local democracy by the state government in […]

Democracy is not disposable

Today at 4 p.m., there will be a townhall meeting in Detroit, Michigan to protest the imposition of an anti-democratic Emergency Financial Manager on Michigan’s largest city. Details are below. You can RSVP and get more information at their Facebook event page HERE.

Click through for details on this event and a prayer vigil to be held this Thursday.