Page 834 - Pensions News Today

We can blame a lot of people. but its done. now what do you do to correct that? >> and we lost two-thirds of the population. theres no enter prize in america that can do well,. >> neil: where is the money going to come from? >> we bailed out the banks. and those folks are doing better now than theyve ever been. >> neil: bailed out the auto company. >> we gave them a bridge loan. so there has to be in combination of assistance to detroit. a restructuring of the debt, negotiations -- >> neil: if y...

The average negligence detroit -- average pension in detroit is $19,000. hardly lavish. the pensions and i would argue we have to save detroit. >> neil: a lot of cities in line. im not blaming unions. a lot of inept imaginer -- managers that let his happened but unfunded high schools that cant -- unopportunitied liabilities. you have a host of other u.s. cities in arrears, a number of states on the brink. where do you draw the line? >> the problem in detroit is similar to other stays and thats a...

Quite rightfully annoyed. mat or their government officials and union leader -- >> theyre not annoyed. theyre in danger of losing everything they happen. >> almost all the big companies that went bust because of similar obligations they couldnt pay. this is the wow life goes. i guess i ask you now, if the got doesnt come in what it wrong with a bankruptcy procedure where at least some pensions are saved, to the not at 100 cents on the dollar. >> thats a commit we made to those worker -- >> neil:...

Or even something bigger like the incredible growing class of poor people? >> well, which do you want to do first? >> either? >> detroit, what happened there? why did it go wrong. the citys been run by democrats unchecked since the last republican mayor was 1957, okay? youve had that -- that town has been a petrie dish of everything the democratic party stands for, everything the democratic party loves. massive unions, massive pensions, pay people pensions and health care long after theyve stopp...

Or even something bigger like the incredible growing class of poor people? >> well, which do you want to do first? >> either? >> detroit, what happened there? why did it go wrong. the citys been run by democrats unchecked since the last republican mayor was 1957, okay? youve had that -- that town has been a petrie dish of everything the democratic party stands for, everything the democratic party loves. massive unions, massive pensions, pay people pensions and health care long after theyve stopp...

Contracts are given out fairly and to contractor who are honest. thats where we need the next comp troller to focus on. hes saying focus on the city hall. donting be going off as the crusader against wall street. your response? >> there are many different facets of the job. ive articulated them. one is policy audits. critically important to make sure if we spend billions in a program, were getting the policy return we should. a piece of it is overseeing is the city budget which is nuts and bolts...

It seems like that is what has become the american way because detroit is not alone. what is baltimore going to do, atlanta, l.a. john: detroit is and worse shape. worse politicians, more unions. the automaker collapsed. it was in the politicians fault. it was just the big three crashed. >> it was all of them. one industry town. we were rich. we thought it would never end. everybody put their hand in the till from management to politicians to unions. you could punch and your body will he went dr...

This spend billions more. suppose to give detroit out of that mess without stripping workers of their pensions until care is not clear. michigans former state majority leader. what will happen? >> the judge will push the reset button. it will be the largest city in america ever to go into bankruptcy, federal bankruptcy. everybody, kern workers, carothers 47 separate public unions in the city of detroit. in fact, some of the unions have only one member. its hard for me to envision. of one man uni...

Crusader against wall street. your response, sir. >> my response is, look, there are many different facets of this job. ive articulated them. one is policy audits. critically important to make sure if we spend billions in a program, were getting the policy return we should. that has been an underutilized aspect of it. a piece of it is overseeing is the city budget which is somehow nuts and bolts and is understood that way. a third piece is overseeing the pensions and what comes with that is some...

Pension funds and making sure the pensions are used properly as owners of the many companies you possess. mike and i worked together very well when i was attorney general. when i was governor, he was the mayor. >> he is warning about you. >> where we disagreed was about wall street. i would say this. i would think if the historical record is the one that ive been watching, what i was saying from 2000 to 2008 about structural problems, not just individual cases, but structural problems, i was tal...