Alex Jones Can't Use Bankruptcy To Avoid Paying Sandy Hook Families, Judge Rules

HOUSTON (AP) — A Texas judge has ruled that Infowars host Alex Jones cannot use bankruptcy protection to avoid paying more than $1.1 billion to families who sued over his conspiracy theories that the Sandy Hook school massacre was a hoax.

The decision is another significant defeat for Jones in the wake of juries in Texas and Connecticut punishing him over spreading falsehoods about the nation’s deadliest school shooting. U.S. District Judge Christopher Lopez of Houston issued the ruling Thursday.

Coal giant to receive award for bankruptcy deal that screwed over its workers

It’s been a wild year for Arch Coal, the country’s second-largest producer of coal. In January, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy; less than a year later, they won approval for a restructuring deal that allowed them to cut millions in debt from their books and emerge relatively unscathed. On Thursday night, as part of the 2017 Distressed Investing Event, Arch Coal will receive an award for that deal, despite the fact that the restructuring benefited company executives while leaving workers and the environment worse off.

Organizers Say Peabody Coal Will Not Escape Justice Through Bankruptcy

Missouri activists have long struggled against the environmental devastation, residential displacement and unsafe labor practices of Peabody Coal, the world's second-largest coal producer, which is based in St. Louis. Peabody's acts of destruction have been vast and numerous, from contaminating aquifers with toxic coal sludge to its disregard of labor safety standards, and even the looting of sacred Native artifacts. But the company's recent bankruptcy filing has brought little comfort to those most affected by Peabody's conquest and avarice.

Donald Trump’s bankruptcy dodge: This is how lawyers and regulators helped him fudge solvency and avoid collapse

Americans wouldn’t be imagining today what a Trump presidency might be like were it not for a crucial moment more than 25 years ago when government saved Donald Trump from his own profligate spending. In fact, it was one carefully calculated response by one of his attorneys that saved Trump from financial collapse—just two years after Trump had proposed himself as a vice-presidential running mate for George H. W. Bush.

The Target diaries: Enter the liquidator

Canada is facing the biggest private-sector closure in recent history, and 17,600 Target workers will soon be out of a job. An employee of Target Canada is documenting the last days of work at the store during its liquidation.

The source of the high-pitched chinks becomes obvious as the woman and her bangles enter the break room. All eyes follow the older woman, shrouded in a black blouse and tight black jeans bejeweled with a shiny belt. We know her as "The Liquidator from Las Vegas."

She strides past us in her high heels leaving a waft of floral fragrance over the small cluster of Target workers. A few of the folks at the 'soon-to-be-sold' table raise their eyebrows at one another. Today, the Liquidator takes over the operations of the store. 

Target Canada's Claim It Owes Itself $1.9 Billion The Source Of A Brewing Battle

TORONTO - Suppliers of Target Canada are gearing up for a battle over a $1.9-billion claim from the insolvent retailer that could determine how much is paid out to a long list of creditors.

Court filings show that Target Canada says it owes an "early termination payment" to Target Canada Property LLC, the property management company it established to hold the retailer's real estate assets.

The claim makes a wing of Target Canada the largest creditor in its own proceedings. Suppliers are worried that could eat up all the $400 million they claim to be owed in the insolvency.

"We absolutely intend to challenge the $1.9-billion claim," Lou Brzezinski, a partner at Blaney McMurtry, told reporters on Thursday after the latest court proceedings in the wind down of Target Canada.

Judge Approves Bankruptcy Exit Plan For Detroit

DETROIT (AP) — A judge cleared Detroit to emerge from bankruptcy Friday, approving a hard-fought turnaround plan with a fervent plea to the people of this one-time industrial powerhouse to "move past your anger" and help fix the Motor City.

"What happened in Detroit must never happen again," federal Judge Steven Rhodes said in bringing the case to a close a relatively speedy 16 months after Detroit — the cradle of the auto industry — became the biggest city in U.S. history to file for bankruptcy.

The Bankruptcy of Detroit and the Division of America

Detroit is the largest city ever to seek bankruptcy protection, so its bankruptcy is seen as a potential model for other American cities now teetering on the edge.

But Detroit is really a model for how wealthier and whiter Americans escape the costs of public goods they’d otherwise share with poorer and darker Americans.

Judge Steven W. Rhodes of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Michigan is now weighing Detroit’s plan to shed $7 billion of its debts and restore some $1.5 billion of city services by requiring various groups of creditors to make sacrifices.

Is Calgary The Next Detroit? Bankruptcy Fears As Cities Share Similarities

The recent decision by a U.S. judge to allow the City of Detroit to potentially shed billions in debt is raising concern among some for a Canadian city.

Some fear that Detroit's financial situation, which is the largest public bankruptcy in U.S. history, may be replicated in Calgary as the cities share similarities including reliance on a few key major industries and heavy investment in infrastructure.

The Real Reason for Pensions

Augustus Caesar, in 13 B.C., worried that retired soldiers might rise up against the empire. So he came up with a clever solution: after twenty years in a legion and five years in the military reserves, a soldier would earn, in a lump sum, a pension that worked out to about thirteen times a legionnaire’s annual salary. Pay the veterans off, the reasoning went, and they’ll be less inclined to overthrow you.

I learned about this from Robert Clark, a professor at North Carolina State University who studies retirement plans and included the Augustus anecdote in a book on pensions. This was his point: “If you look at pensions and ask, ‘Why are you offering them?’ there’s always ulterior motives from the employer.”

Detroit Bankruptcy: Wall Street, Lost Revenues Forced Decline, But City Pensioners to Pay the Costs

A federal judge has approved Detroit’s bid to qualify for bankruptcy, putting the city on a path to financial recovery — but threatening the livelihoods of thousands of city workers. In a landmark decision that could harm retiree benefits nationwide, federal Judge Steven Rhodes ruled that federal bankruptcy law can override state laws that protect public pensions. That clears the way for Detroit to make major cuts to the health and retirement benefits of city employees. The city faces about $18 billion in debt, of which $3.5 billion is pension obligations. Detroit’s Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr has told public unions to brace for "significant cuts," but has not laid out details. Workers’ pensions in Detroit average around $19,000 per year. By the new year, Orr will present a "plan of adjustment" in bankruptcy court that will clarify how much pensions will be cut. The plan may also include a “fire sale” of city assets that could result in public utilities and the Detroit Institute of Arts collection being bartered off to private bidders. Detroit’s bankruptcy filing marks a grim milestone in the decline of what was once the country’s fourth-largest city, known as the Motor City, the birthplace of the middle class. We are joined by Wallace Turbeville, Senior Fellow at Demos and former Goldman Sachs executive who has just authored the new report, "The Detroit Bankruptcy." Turbeville argues that Detroit’s problems stem not from its liabilities but from a decline in public revenues and involvement in harmful Wall Street schemes.

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Source: democracynow.org
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Detroit Bankruptcy Bankrupts Democracy

Detroit elected a new mayor November 5 and he will take office in less than a month. But the future of this great American city and its citizens isn’t being defined by decisions made by voters on Election Day. It is being defined in federal bankruptcy court—and by an “emergency manager” who has no democratic legitimacy.

With a ruling Tuesday by US Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes, Detroit officially becomes the largest US city ever to enter Chapter 9 bankruptcy. Despite a determination that negotiations with creditors outside of bankruptcy court had not satisfied good-faith requirements, the judge cleared the way for the emergency manager and his law firm to advance a “plan of adjustment” that could include deep cuts in pension guarantees for retired city employees and a “fire sale” of city assets that could might result in public utilities and the Detroit Institute of Arts collection being bartered off to private bidders.

Detroit Bankruptcy Ruling By Judge Steven Rhodes Gives City Chapter 9 Protection

DETROIT -- The largest city in American history to file for bankruptcy protection is officially bankrupt.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes ruled Tuesday that Detroit is eligible for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection, allowing city officials to negotiate in court with bondholders, pension funds, unions and other stakeholders. Many say that bankruptcy is the only way the city can attempt to settle its debts, which have been estimated as high as $18 billion.

Wall Street, Not Workers To Blame For Detroit's Bankruptcy Crisis, Says Demos Report

Wall Street bankers, bad decisions made by elected officials and the Great Recession should be blamed for contributing to Detroit's fiscal crisis -- not the pensions of workers and retirees.

That's according to a report released Wednesday by Wallace Turbeville, a former investment banker with Goldman Sachs, now a senior fellow at the liberal think tank group Demos. He said on a media conference call Wednesday that the city's current cash shortfall for the 2014 fiscal year, estimated to be $198 million, can be traced to declining tax revenues, which dropped 20 percent since the Great Recession began -- not pensions and benefits for retired and active workers. The Demos report also said deep cuts in state revenue sharing to Detroit accounted for nearly a third of the city’s revenue losses since fiscal year 2011.

Bankrupting Democracy in Detroit

After decades of deindustrialization compounded by state and federal neglect, Detroit has been placed on a crash course that could see it in bankruptcy before year’s end. Yet instead of running away from this challenge, legislators, a former police chief and a former county prosecutor are all competing in an August 6 primary and a November 5 general election to choose a new mayor. The timing couldn’t be better for voters to weigh in on the city’s tough choices and set priorities—and to choose leaders to implement them. There is just one problem: the winner of the election will not have the authority to govern.

Should Detroit Sell Its Art?

The fiscal apocalypse that is Detroit has spun off a collateral storm in the art world with a suggestion that salvific funds—an estimate of two billion dollars is much bandied—could be raised by selling treasures of the Detroit Institute of Arts, one of America’s best encyclopedic museums. Having been asked my opinion as an art-lover—and, incidentally, a citizen, though not of Detroit—I have two answers. Here’s the short one: sell. The long one, which follows, ends in the same place, only garlanded with regrets.

Detroit Goes Bankrupt: Will Unelected Manager Pit City’s Needs Against Rights of Pensioners?

Facing an estimated $18 billion in debt, Detroit has become the largest U.S. municipality to file for bankruptcy. It is a grim milestone in the decline of what was once the country’s fourth largest city. Known as the Motor City and the birthplace of the middle class, Detroit’s auto industry and manufacturing sector have collapsed. A steady decline in population has decimated its tax base, leaving the city with massive cuts to basic services and one of the nation’s highest rates of violent crime. The Chapter 9 bankruptcy filing has set off what could be a prolonged legal battle with thousands of current and former city employees entitled to pensions and medical benefits. Detroit’s unelected Emergency Manager has said that cutting pensions will be vital to restoring basic services that have shrunk with the decline of city revenues over the years. We’re joined by Mark Binelli, author of "Detroit City Is the Place to Be: The Afterlife of an American Metropolis."

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Source: democracynow.org
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Cities Really Are Too Big to Fail

Does anyone seriously doubt that, if Detroit were a “too big to fail” bank, it would have been bailed out long ago? Or that its pensioners, rather than facing the threat of cruel cuts as part of Michigan Governor Rick Snyder’s scheme to steer the city into brutal bankruptcy proceedings, would instead have pocketed hefty bonuses?

To ask the question is to answer it.

If the 2008 bailout of the biggest players in the financial sector—and policy-making over the ensuing years—tells us anything, it is that Congress and the Federal Reserve take care of Wall Street.

Rick Snyder Front, Center In Detroit Bankruptcy Drama

DETROIT -- Seven governors came and went during the decades-long decay of Michigan's largest city that culminated with a humiliating collapse into financial ruin.

It's the eighth, former business executive and relative political novice Rick Snyder, who is aggressively tying his legacy to the prospects of a Detroit turnaround.

When he took office, Snyder pushed for more powers for the state to intervene in distressed cities and schools. After voters repealed the law last November, he ignored critics and signed another one. He also hired the city's turnaround specialist and, nearly four months later, blessed the request to file for bankruptcy.

Detroit, and the Bankruptcy of America's Social Contract

One way to view Detroit's bankruptcy -- the largest bankruptcy of any American city -- is as a failure of political negotiations over how financial sacrifices should be divided among the city's creditors, city workers, and municipal retirees -- requiring a court to decide instead. It could also be seen as the inevitable culmination of decades of union agreements offering unaffordable pension and health benefits to city workers.