Detroit bankruptcy would be largest

Chapter 9, or municipal bankruptcy, is the fate that awaits Michigan’s most populous city if Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder’s efforts to restructure the city fail. Detroit, a city of 706,585 residents as recorded by the 2010 census, would be the largest municipal bankruptcy filing in U.S. history. Stockton, Calif., a city of 291,707 residents, filed for bankruptcy in 2012. Central Falls, R.I., a city of 19,376 residents, filed for bankruptcy in 2011. Prichard, Ala., a city of 22,659 residents, filed for bankruptcy a second time in 2009 after it had already been bankrupted in 1999. “There is probably no city that is more financially challenged in the entire United States,” Snyder said after he announced the city was in financial distress as reported by The Economist. Economists and financial experts contend the effects of municipal bankruptcy are often widespread and cause economic distortions harmful to other municipalities as well as the state. Read more at http://www.easternecho.com/article/2013/03/detroit-bankruptcy-would-be-largest