[00:00.100]From VOA Learning English,
[00:02.700]this is the Economics Report.
[00:06.090]Detroit Mayor Dave Bing
[00:08.730]had to report some bad news last month.
[00:12.730]He said Detroit was seeking bankruptcy protection.
[00:17.360]The move would give the city
[00:20.150]court protection from creditors.
[00:23.590]"This is very difficult for all of us
[00:26.020]but if it's going to make the citizens better off,
[00:30.700]then this is a new start for us."
[00:33.590]The decision to declare bankruptcy
[00:35.980]is an offer to restruction and reduce debt.
[00:40.070]It comes at a difficult time for Detroit.
[00:43.950]In March, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder named Kevyn Orr,
[00:51.090]a bankruptcy expert to oversee the city's financial problems.
[00:56.930]Detroit has been struggling to reduce a budget deficit of
[01:03.140]more than $300 million.
[01:05.820]In addtion, the city's long-term debt
[01:09.960]has increased to at least $18 billion.
[01:13.960]Detroit's problems have grown over many years.
[01:19.320]Michigan State University professor Eric Scorsone says
[01:25.590]the city depended to much on one-industry.
[01:29.820]"You know, Unlike Chicago, New York
[01:32.330]and other cities where had more economic diversity,
[01:34.780]Detroit really didn't.
[01:36.220]It had the auto industry,
[01:37.810]it had suppliers to the auto industry,
[01:40.100]and so as those went away,
[01:41.450]the city began a very long decline
[01:44.240]that's really occurred over 50 years essentially."
[01:46.780]Jobs with car manufactures were a big reason why Detroit
[01:52.310]was one of the country's largest cities half a centry ago.
[01:57.590]In the 1950s, it had a population of about 1.8 million people.
[02:05.370]Today, the number is down to less than 800,000.
[02:11.340]Robin Boyle is a professor of urban planning
[02:15.150]at Wayne State University.
[02:17.740]He says over the years, many Detroit residents
[02:22.720]moved to areas outside the city, or even left the state.
[02:27.850]That hurt Detroit's ability to invest in the city.
[02:33.220]"They have so little disposable income to reinvest in their communities,
[02:38.600]that if they have money they leave,
[02:40.840]they go to the suburbs or they go to find work elsewhere,
[02:44.330]further putting us into this vicious cycle
[02:48.960]that drives us further and further down.
[02:51.050]How you break that is the challenge in Detroit."
[02:54.290]It is rare for a large city to seek bankruptcy protection.
[02:58.620]In 1975, New York City came close
[03:03.810]before the federal government agree to provide money.
[03:08.090]Detroit, however, is the largest city to seek bankruptcy.
[03:13.970]A federal judge will consider Detroit's request.
[03:18.650]The judge's decision is expected in one to three month.
[03:23.820]One of the main issues is what to do
[03:27.410]about the retirement pay of city workers.
[03:31.200]Currently, there are many more retired workers
[03:35.580]than those pay into the pension system.
[03:39.210]And that's the Economics Report in VOA Learning English.