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Billionaire Gets New Sports Arena in Bankrupt Detroit
Dave Zirin in The Nation
The headline juxtaposition boggles the mind. You have, on one day, Detroit Files Largest Municipal Bankruptcy in History. Then on the next, you have Detroit Plans to Pay For New Red Wings Hockey Arena Despite Bankruptcy.
Yes, the very week Michigan Governor Rick Snyder granted a state-appointed emergency managers request to declare the Motor City bankrupt, the Tea Party governor gave a big thumbs-up to a plan for a new $650 million Detroit Red Wings hockey arena. Almost half of that $650 million will be paid with public funds.
This is actually happening. City services are being cut to the bone. Fighting fires, emergency medical care and trash collection are now precarious operations. Retired municipal workers will have their $19,000 in annual pensions dramatically slashed. Even the artwork in the city art museum will be sold off piece by piece. This will include a mural by the great radical artist Diego Rivera thats a celebration of what the auto industry would look like in a socialist future. As Stephen Colbert said, the leading bidder will be the museum of irony.
They dont have money to keep the art on the walls. They do have $283 million to subsidize a new arena for Red Wings owner and founder of Americas worst pizza-pizza chain, Little Caesars, Mike Ilitch, whose family is worth $2.7 billion dollars. (Friends! Romans! Countrymen! Lend me your pensions!)
...
more: http://www.thenation.com/blog/175467/vultures-and-red-wings-billionaire-gets-new-sports-arena-bankrupt-detroitYes, the very week Michigan Governor Rick Snyder granted a state-appointed emergency managers request to declare the Motor City bankrupt, the Tea Party governor gave a big thumbs-up to a plan for a new $650 million Detroit Red Wings hockey arena. Almost half of that $650 million will be paid with public funds.
This is actually happening. City services are being cut to the bone. Fighting fires, emergency medical care and trash collection are now precarious operations. Retired municipal workers will have their $19,000 in annual pensions dramatically slashed. Even the artwork in the city art museum will be sold off piece by piece. This will include a mural by the great radical artist Diego Rivera thats a celebration of what the auto industry would look like in a socialist future. As Stephen Colbert said, the leading bidder will be the museum of irony.
They dont have money to keep the art on the walls. They do have $283 million to subsidize a new arena for Red Wings owner and founder of Americas worst pizza-pizza chain, Little Caesars, Mike Ilitch, whose family is worth $2.7 billion dollars. (Friends! Romans! Countrymen! Lend me your pensions!)
...
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Billionaire Gets New Sports Arena in Bankrupt Detroit (Original Post)
limpyhobbler
Aug 2013
OP
I guess the sleaze and money in sports is just a reflection of the sleaze and money in everything...
limpyhobbler
Aug 2013
#5
Ed Suspicious
(8,879 posts)1. Holy crap. That's just plain wrong.
TDale313
(7,820 posts)2. Absolutely disgusting.
They'll steal everything unless we figure out how to stop them. And not just in Detroit.
Populist_Prole
(5,364 posts)3. Another good reason to be a sports hater
This time it's circuses without the bread.
limpyhobbler
(8,244 posts)5. I guess the sleaze and money in sports is just a reflection of the sleaze and money in everything...
It's a big business. Corporate cronyism is the way it is in all big businesses - education, health care, energy, war, media, etc.
Populist_Prole
(5,364 posts)7. It is and it is one of the most a visible examples
The other is the corrosive effect they ( and other pop culture BS ) have on society: Distracting all too many from the fact the plutocrats have staged a de-facto coup of our country.
blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)6. Too Big To Fail.
Savvy!
Response to limpyhobbler (Original post)
Post removed
SunSeeker
(51,378 posts)9. REC for exposure.
Thanks for the post!