Once the birthplace of the triumphant automobile, Detroit finds itself penniless

The days when the automotive sector was booming in Detroit are now just a memory. The city - whose economic health depends heavily on companies like Ford, Chevrolet, Chrysler and General Motors - is in the red. It even became Thursday, April 18 the first American city to ask to declare bankruptcy. This is the latest act in the slow agony of the "Motor city".

“I am making this difficult decision so that the people of Detroit have access to the most basic public services and so that Detroit starts afresh on a solid financial foundation that will allow it to grow in the future,” explained Rick Snyder, the governor of the state of Michigan, in a press release. It's the "only option to tackle a problem that has only gotten worse over the past 60 years", he said.

Put under guardianship a few months ago

Once the cradle of the triumphant automobile, Detroit finds itself penniless

However, the city had been placed under trusteeship in February to try to avoid bankruptcy. But that will not be enough, the largest city in Michigan has to deal with a debt estimated at 18.5 billion dollars (14 billion euros). The bankruptcy, if approved by federal justice, will force Detroit's thousands of creditors to negotiate with the ad hoc financial manager appointed in March by Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, Kevyn Orr.

Detroit's decline is largely due to its dependence on the automotive sector. The city was once synonymous with industrial know-how. From 1941 to 1945, the car manufacturing giants began to produce tanks, planes and ammunition, which earned the city the nickname of the "arsenal of democracy". Today, Detroit is synonymous with decline, ruin, crime. The city has seen its population gradually shrink, going from 1.8 million inhabitants in 1950 to 700,000 today. No other American city has borne the burden of deindustrialization more heavily. Crime has risen sharply over the past 40 years and public services are in poor condition.

Bankrupt, like Stockton, Jefferson, San Bernardino...

Detroit is not the first American city to declare bankruptcy following the economic crisis. Cities like Stockton, Jefferson, San Bernardino have already done it, but this is the first time that such a large city has been forced to do so. Previously, New York, Cleveland and Philadelphia found themselves on the verge of bankruptcy, but did not go so far as to officially declare themselves in such a situation.

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