With Detroit's Chapter 9 bankruptcy filing moving forward, the international media are questioning Detroit's purported missteps through the years.
The Detroit Free Press interviewed a Troy businessman as part of a new feature called, "The Truth About Detroit," focused on discussing the city's financial history by utilizing those most-familiar with it.
Among the discussion points this week are "sky-high pension payouts and sweetheart union deals" that the Free Press says others are saying about Detroiters.
"I see a lot of these people, and their pay is lower and their multipliers are lower than retirees in Grand Rapids or Lansing or Warren or the (Michigan) State Police," said Leon LaBrecque, managing partner with the Troy-based financial advisory firm LJPR in the Free Press report.
Locally, Some elected leaders have said local communities might be negatively affected, especially through higher interest rates being charged to them to borrow money.
State Treasurer Andy Dillon, however, says that's not the case and that Detroit’s financial troubles won't affect interest rates charged to other local governments in Michigan.
And then there are other concerns, too, including the mere stigma of being the first American city to go through a structured bankruptcy.
What do you think? Is the international media getting the story wrong? Tell us in the comments.
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