years of manufacturing job loss and economic decay, the arsenal of democracy filed for bankruptcy. cnn's poppy harlow has been covering the story from detroit. she joins us now. how does bankruptcy work for an entire city? this is the largest municipal bankruptcy this country has ever seen. >> reporter: that's right. this is the largest municipal bankruptcy by far in the history of this country, 18$18.5 billio in debt how red in debt this city is, unprecedented. the way it plays out in court is yet to be seen. what we do know is this will mean pretty steep cuts for bondholders here but also likely cuts for retired and current city workers. their pensions and their health care benefits hang in the balance. that's what so much of the focus has been on here in detroit today in the wake of this