Fightback Against the "Financial Advisory Board"--A Public Meeting on the Economic Crisis in Detroit

Labor activists marched in solidarity with Occupy Detroit on November 6, 2011. The demonstration attracted over 700 people from unions and the community. (Photo: Abayomi Azikiwe), a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

FIGHTBACK AGAINST THE “FINANCIAL ADVISORY BOARD”

NOT ONE PENNY TO THE BANKS WHO HAVE DESTROYED DETROIT

NO TO LAY-OFFS, WAGE CUTS, ELIMINATION OF HUMAN SERVICES AND PRIVATIZATION

PUBLIC MEETING –SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 2012, 5:00 PM

5920 Second Ave., Detroit, MI 48202 (at Antoinette, just north of Wayne State University)

Dinner served -- $5 donation, $1 unemployed

On April 4th, the 44th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Memphis, Tennessee. the governing bodies of Detroit capitulated to Governor Rick Snyder and Wall Street by agreeing to a so-called “Financial Stability Agreement” (FSA). The FSA cedes control over the city’s finances to a nine member Financial Advisory Board in lieu of the appointment of an Emergency Manager with similar authority under Public Act 4.

The purpose of Public Act 4 which will now be implemented through the Financial Advisory Board, is to guarantee the bank’s robbery of the City of Detroit. According to the Governor’s financial review team, Detroit paid $597 million in debt service to the banks in 2010 alone. The City’s long-term liability to the banks is $16.9 billion, including $4.9 billion in interest. In 2010, the city’s debt to net assets ratio was an amazing 32.64 to 1.

Public Act 4 guarantees the banks “payment in full of the scheduled debt service requirements on all bonds, notes and municipal securities.” The same banks which destroyed the neighborhoods of Detroit with their predatory lending practices will be assured they get paid out of the city treasury, while services, jobs and city worker wages are slashed to the bone.

The FSA is a union-busting move. Contracts negotiated by city unions have been tossed out by the FSA in a move meant to humiliate the union leadership. It is a racist move. The majority of African American cities in Michigan will now be under either an emergency manager or financial board, essentially nullifying the Black vote throughout Michigan. It is insane that in Detroit, the poorest city in the country, the Department of Human Services is to be eliminated so the banks which destroyed the city can get paid.

In Harrisburg, PA and Stockton, CA the city governments, faced with a similar situation to Detroit, made the decision to pay their workers and maintain services and not pay the banks. In Greece, workers have gone on numerous general strikes in response to the same kind of austerity being imposed on Detroit. The banks were forced to accept a 75% reduction in debt service payments. And in Iceland after the working class rebelled, the banks were forced to write off all debts owed on underwater mortgages. Come to a public meeting to discuss how to mount a similar fightback against the banks in the City of Detroit.

Sponsored by Workers World Party -- Call 313-680-5508 for more information