The largest municipal bankruptcy in American history has focused minds on one crucial question. Will Uncle Sam try to bail out the failed Motor City, much as Germany has been hopelessly bailing out Greece? Or will bond holders and public pensioners be left to strip what assets remain of a dying metropolis, whose prospects remain dim even if its massive debts are written off?
The odds don’t look good. While General Motors, Chrysler, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, AIG, Bank of America, Citibank, and a laundry list of TARP recipients proved that investing in campaign dollars pays off, no bipartisan crony capitalist coalition exists to save Detroit. A dysfunctional federal government heading for its own day of reckoning is unlikely to muster the political consensus to bail out an even more dysfunctional Democratic one-party town.
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