In Embattled Detroit, No Talk Of Sharing Pain - NYTimes.com

NYT: No Talk Of Shared Pain In Detroit
Marie Thornton, former Detroit School Board member, center, asks a question during a public meeting with Kevyn Orr, emergency manager for the city of Detroit, unseen, at Wayne State University Law School in Detroit, Michigan, U.S., on Monday, June 10, 2013. Whether Detroit careens into the largest U.S. municipal bankruptcy depends on emergency manager Kevyn Orr's convincing creditors during the next two months that his plan will revive a city plagued by deficits, crime and strained services. Photographer: Jeff Kowalsky/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Marie Thornton, former Detroit School Board member, center, asks a question during a public meeting with Kevyn Orr, emergency manager for the city of Detroit, unseen, at Wayne State University Law School in Detroit, Michigan, U.S., on Monday, June 10, 2013. Whether Detroit careens into the largest U.S. municipal bankruptcy depends on emergency manager Kevyn Orr's convincing creditors during the next two months that his plan will revive a city plagued by deficits, crime and strained services. Photographer: Jeff Kowalsky/Bloomberg via Getty Images

When New York City threatened to declare bankruptcy in 1975, the idea so terrified everyone that it forced the city, its workers and its recalcitrant bankers to sit down and find ways to share the pain.

Now another large city, Detroit, appears to be on the brink of filing for bankruptcy, but there is little talk of sharing the pain. Instead, the fiscal crisis in Michigan is setting up as a gigantic clash between bondholders and city retirees.

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