The "grand bargain" pending before Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes is "a good compromise," The New York Times says Wednesday in an editorial. It cites the fact that "everyone is left unhappy" as one proof point.
Under the headline "Painful Progress in Detroit," the paper notes that "municipal pensioners who voted yes on the blueprint are a more vulnerable constituency than the financial institutions that voted no."
The pensioners . . . have negotiated in good faith on a plan that is now Detroit’s best hope for making a fresh start. By comparison, most of the other creditors are professional investors who knew or should have known the risks of lending money to Detroit yet now find themselves calling for deeper pension cuts or auctioning off masterpieces in order to minimize their losses. Their no votes on the blueprint — and their probable appeal if Judge Rhodes confirms the blueprint — will only further delay Detroit’s restructuring and deepen its misery.
For now, the painful bankruptcy process is moving forward as it should. The outcome is uncertain, but one thing is sure: The people of Detroit have suffered enough.
