Factbox: Detroit's outstanding liabilities

Factbox: Detroit's outstanding liabilities Fri, Jul 19 19:33 PM EDT (Reuters) - Detroit became the largest U.S. city to file for bankruptcy on Thursday, opening the way for a protracted court battle between the city and its creditors. Below is a break down of the major components of Detroit's $18.5 billion of liabilities: Special revenue bonds* $5.85 billion Pension-related certificates $1.43 billion Unlimited and limited tax general obligation bonds liabilities $1.13 billion Swap liabilities $343.6 million Other liabilities $300 million Unfunded OPEB liabilities** $5.7 billion Pension liabilities $3.5 billion * Includes $2.82 billion in sewage bonds and $2.52 billion in water supply bonds, among other issues ** Other Post Employment Benefits, including retiree health care costs Source: City of Detroit Proposal for Creditors, June 14, 2013 (Reporting by Edward Krudy; editing by Christopher Wilson) ========================= http://content.emails.thomsonreuters.biz/emessageIRS/servlet/IRSL?v=5&a=10111&r=18696&m=20706&l=1&e=2&x=2456584.0 Think big Bankruptcy isn't radical enough to save Detroit 19 July 2013 | By Agnes T. Crane Email Comment Save .Bankruptcy isn’t radical enough to save Detroit. Scrubbing Motown’s $18.5 bln of debt can only be a first step. The sprawling city suffers from blight, woeful infrastructure, a population exodus and falling revenue. The private sector has a role to play, but fixing so many broken windows needs longer-term government help. Detroit is three times the size of Boston, for example, yet the city’s revenue is less than half that of the East Coast city. Budget cuts have slashed operational spending by 40 percent over the past five years. But income from property, utility and income tax as well as from the state of Michigan has continued falling, too. That left City Hall with an accumulated deficit of more than $300 million at the end of the last fiscal year. Assume total annual revenue, though, settles at around $1 billion. With $692 million of expenditure, that looks fine on the surface. But securing a decent future for the city involves not just running it at the current emergency austerity level. It also requires cleaning up the waste, resizing the city and rebuilding the basics like functioning police and fire departments. Detroit’s reorganization plan, for example, allocates $500 million just to deal with the roughly 78,000 dilapidated buildings, most of which will need to be torn down. That will only pay for the small-scale demolition. It does not cover regenerating the industrial wasteland. That’s not cheap. Just ask General Electric, which could pay around $1 billion to rid the Hudson River of industrial poison. On top of that, the Motor City remains too large to service on the back of such a narrow tax base. The sewer and water system alone stretches over 1,079 square miles and the street lights, where they are functioning, often illuminate areas people have long fled. Detroit isn’t hopeless. Parts of midtown are thriving, thanks in part to a local university. Entrepreneurs have had some success in revitalizing the downtown area, too. But it can’t become a 21st-century city if it can’t cure its 20th-century affliction. Such large-scale, longer-term redevelopment requires government help – though only if well targeted and managed. If Washington can dole out $80 billion to the auto makers who helped build Detroit, surely it could help clear the debris to let new growth take root. ========================== Motown: A broken record in the rust belt Patrick L Young is expert in global financial markets working in multiple disciplines, ranging from trading independently to running exchanges. Get short URL Published time: July 22, 2013 07:40 A burnt out abandoned apartment building is seen in Detroit.(Reuters / Mark Blinch) Austerity, Budget, Economy, Employment, Modernization, USA The tale of Detroit’s decay is one of a long decline and a swift collapse when it finally became clear that 51 years of Democrat government has left the city utterly bankrupt. The marvellously gregarious American-domiciled British racing driver David Hobbs surmised street racing in Detroit beautifully in the early 1980’s. It wasn’t the narrow confines lined with concrete bollards which concerned him as he sped around a downtown street circuit consisting of roads normally open to metropolitan traffic. No, the real danger came from breaking down somewhere on the back stretch and then having to risk life and limb trying to get himself back to the paddock on foot through some highly dangerous areas! Thirty years ago that seemed to be a humorous aside which played to European phobias about the dangers of US cities awash with firearms. However, today Detroit is a post industrial horror story. A tragic morality tale of government corruption, union intransigence and the destruction of a city once famed the world over as 'motown' for its cars and eponymous record label... The city has shrunk from 2 million residents in its heyday to a mere 700,000 today, as private citizens fled the city while unions defiled the auto industry with dizzying demands for increases in wages and benefits which have left patriotic new car buyers paying a thousand dollars or more on the sticker price just to cover the gilded pensions demanded by the United Auto Workers. Chrysler Transport worker James Theisen carries a "Detroit Needs Jobs" sign as he joins a demonstration of about a dozen workers demanding jobs, in front of Cobo Center in Detroit.(Reuters / Rebecca Cook) Similarly Bloated municipal compensation led to dizzying budget increases which were challenging even when the economy was strong. As Detroit drove wealth creators away, the local economy decayed and last week it finally collapsed. Detroit has a litany of statistics which would sound ghastly in the poorest corners of the developing world. In the world’s greatest ever capitalist economy, they are unbelievable. 47% of Detroit residents are functionally illiterate, the murder rate is 11 times higher than New York and the police force solve barely 10% of crimes...although the later fact is perhaps quite impressive given that most police stations are closed for up to 16 hours a day. While it may have shocked the economically illiterate, the municipal debt bubble was clearly visible to any amateur who could do basic math. Detroit has been spending on an unsustainable scale just like Greece, for decades. A Detroit-style meltdown awaits anybody who believes an obese central government can spend their way to economic growth. Ironically last year, President Obama was trumpeting how he had ‘saved’ Detroit (aka the US auto industry) through his personal audacity. This bravery actually meant moving huge chunks of pensions liabilities onto the already burgeoning burden of American citizens. NB Non-unionised corporations like Mercedes and BMW can make cars in the USA and profit... The abandoned and decaying manufacturing plant of Packard Motor Car is seen in Detroit.(Reuters / Eric Thayer) The most worrying aspect of Detroit’s decline is the parable for the entire USA. America is increasingly nicknamed “Kickcanistan” in financial circles as the government repeatedly kicks the can of budgetary rectitude down the road. This abject irresponsibility makes the excesses of recent banker history look mild by comparison. In 1980 the US government debt surpassed a trillion dollars and now sits at almost 17 trillion. Moreover, just as the Democrats oversaw the decline and fall of Detroit, Barack Obama accumulated more debt in his first term than the previous 42 American Presidents combined! Detroit is America’s city of dysfunction: 210 of 317 public parks are closed, half the population over age 16 is unemployed and 60% of the street lights do not work. This municipal travesty is a hideous example of what happens when government spends without discipline. The result is citizen impoverishment even as government introduces ever more entitlements and raises benefits. Capitalism has given way to socialism and Detroit has collapsed in a morass of mismanagement. In 1962 Detroit was a trendsetter in motoring and music. Now it is a trendsetter in that dark truth which will always upset the tax and spend brigade: big government does not work. The wastelands of Detroit now resemble something more like a Mad Max movie than a modern digital city. At a macro level, the longer Washington ignores its responsibilities and refuses to wean itself off its massive debt addiction, the closer the USA comes to being the United States of debt, decay and disharmony... There is a clear lesson in the collapse of Detroit that all governments need to heed. Reuters / Eric Thayer The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.

23 Russians among world’s 500 most powerful people - report

23 Russians among world’s 500 most powerful people - report Get short URL Published time: May 05, 2013 21:21 Edited time: May 05, 2013 22:24 President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.(RIA Novosti / Dmitry Astakhov) 23 Russian citizens have made it into the Foreign Policy magazine’s list of the world’s 500 most powerful people. Dominated by leaders in politics and business, there’s also one military official and one mafia boss in the rankings. The so-called Power Map was compiled on the basis of other influential ratings by such issues as Forbes, Times, Vanity Fair, Wall Street Journal, Global Finance and others. “Think of it as a list of all the most important other lists,” the magazine explained. The list of 500 most influential people in the world, which has been put together by the Foreign Policy for the first time, will be published by in its May/June magazine’s “Power Issue”. According to the magazine, it brings together the individuals, “who control the commanding heights of the industries that run the world, from politics to high finance, media to energy, warfare to religion.” The listing has recognized the global influence of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and several other high-ranked officials across the financial and security spheres. The appearance of Moscow mayor, Sergey Sobyanin, in the selection came as somewhat of a surprise to many, but the head of the capital’s administration, who replaced Yury Luzhkov, took the same position in 2010, is seen as an important member of Putin’s team. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin.(RIA Novosti / Denis Grishkin) Russia’s business elite also has a strong showing on the Power Map as it includes the likes of Gazprom CEO Aleksey Miller, Rosneft President Igor Sechin and the heads of other big companies dealing in natural resources energy and telecom. Rosneft President Igor Sechin.(RIA Novosti / Sergey Guneev) The co-owner of the biggest online company in Russia, Mail.ru Group, Yury Milner, who is an investor in an investor in Facebook, Twitter and other global Internet brands, also made it to the list. Milner’s partner at Mail.ru and Russia's richest man, Alisher Usmanov, whose fortune is estimated at US$18.1 billion, predictably reserved a spot on the list. Head of 'Metalloinvest' Alisher Usmanov.(RIA Novosti / Vladimir Fedorenko) Unexpectedly, the magazine’s Top-500 also includes Semyon Mogilevich, who also represents Russia on the FBI’s list of Ten Most Wanted Fugitives and is considered to be the “boss of bosses” of the Russian mafia by the US and European law enforcement officers. Mogilevich, who is also known as Sergey Shnaider, is suspected of involvement in illegal arms trade, drug and sex trafficking as well as money laundering. The list is arranged in alphabetic order and is dominated by Americans, occupying 142 positions. Men far outshone females in the rankings with just 50 spot on the Power Map going to women. =========== Russia's Usmanov knocks steel boss Mittal off top of rich list Sun, Apr 21 08:15 AM EDT 1 of 2 By Laurence Fletcher LONDON (Reuters) - Russian businessman Alisher Usmanov has knocked Lakshmi Mittal off the top of this year's Sunday Times Rich List with a jump in his fortune to 13.3 billion pounds ($20.3 billion) after a tough year for the Indian steel magnate. In a list of wealth in Britain whose top spots are dominated by Russian and Indian billionaires, Mittal drops to fourth after eight years at number one as his fortune tumbled 2.7 billion pounds to 10 billion. Uzbek-born Usmanov, who is Russia's richest man and has a major shareholding in British Premier League football club Arsenal, saw his wealth rise by 985 million pounds over the past year, according to the annual survey by the British newspaper. Ranked second last year, Usmanov owns Sutton Place, the former Surrey home of oil baron J Paul Getty. He made 1.6 billion pounds from sales of Facebook shares after last year's stock market listing, while he has a large holding in Russian mobile phone operator MegaFon and controls iron ore miner Metalloinvest. Mittal, the chief executive of the world's largest steelmaker ArcelorMittal, has been hit by the fall in the value of its shares from more than 12 euros a year ago to less than 9 euros on Friday. The number of billionaires has risen to a record 88, in spite of tough economic conditions for many in the UK, from 77 last year. The collective wealth of the richest 1,000 people is up 35 billion pounds to 450 billion pounds. The biggest riser in wealth terms is Len Blavatnik, who is ranked second after a 3.42 billion pound jump in his fortune, thanks to a rise in his shareholdings, took his wealth to 11 billion pounds. The Odessa-born businessman, who emerged as a tycoon after the Russian privatizations of the 1990s, owns Warner Music and a house in London's plush Kensington Palace Gardens - known as 'billionaires' row' - and has been a major donor to Oxford University. The highest-placed UK-born person is the Duke of Westminster, whose swathes of land in London's upmarket Mayfair and Belgravia rank him eighth with 7.8 billion pounds. The Sunday Times also reported that Michael Ashcroft, the former treasurer of Britain's Conservative party, will next month pledge to give at least half of his 1.2 billion pound fortune to charity. To be included in the list people must have either a British passport or a strong link to the UK such as being based there or spending a significant amount of time there, a Sunday Times spokesman said. ($1 = 0.6554 British pounds) (Editing by Erica Billingham) ============ Russia’s Richest: Forbes publishes billionaire list Get short URL Published time: April 18, 2013 15:00 Edited time: April 19, 2013 06:44 Alisher Usmanov (RIA Novosti /Vladimir Fedorenko) Forbes magazine has published its 10th anniversary edition Russia's ultra-wealthy businessmen. Alisher Usmanov, owner of Metalloinvest, is officially Russia’s richest man, with a fortune of $17.6 billion. In a close second is Alfa Bank’s largest shareholder, Mikhail Fridman, who boasts a fortune of $16.5 billion. In third place is Leonid Michelson, a major shareholder in Russian gas company Novatek, who has $15.4 billion. Mikhail Fridman (RIA Novosti / Valeriy Levitin) Russia’s richest man isn’t Russian by birth. Usmanov was born in Uzbekistan. He first made his fortune in metals, and has since transitioned his investments into telecom and start-up industries. Usmanov is the owner of Metalloinvest, one of the largest iron ore and hot briquetted iron (HBI) producers and suppliers in the world. Metalloinvest recently acquired Udokan, a copper and nickel producer, which has 14.4 million metric tons of copper, one of the world’s top five deposits, according to Metalloinvest. His shift from commodities to technology has paid off for the magnate, as now almost half of his wealth is tied up in telecommunications, internet, and media services. He has expanded his fortune dabbling in the Russian telecom industry and silicon valley start-ups. Usmanov has a 10% share in Facebook. The business tycoon also has stakes in Arsenal football club, and Forbes reported he spent more than $300 million on a private jet last year. This is the second year in a row Usmanov has topped the list, and his tenth straight year within the top 36 richest Russian businessmen. Viktor Vekselberg, owner of Renova, broke into the top five with $15.1 billion, and in sixth place is the President of Lukoil, Vagit Alekperov. In eighth place is Vladimir Lisin, a former steelworker who now owns Novolipetsk Steel, Russia’s most valuable steelmaker, which gained 8.9% in mid-April giving the company a market cap of $1.1 billion, according to Bloomberg. This was much needed recovery after the low steel prices of 2012 have chipped $1.8 billion from his fortune. In ninth place is Vladimir Putin’s right hand man, Gennady Timchenko, a dual Russian-Finnish citizen, and a highly influential energy and construction magnate in Russia. Leonid Mikhelson (RIA Novosti / Aleksey Nikolskyi) In the tenth place is alpha oligarch, and former presidential candidate, Mikahil Prokhorov, with a $13 billion fortune. Prokhorov, like Usmanov, made his fortune in mining, metals, and energy, and switched over to technology pre-crisis. Prokhorov bought an 80% share in the New York Nets basketball team, for $200 million in 2010. Just shy of the top ten is Dmitry Rybolovlev, whose $9.1 billion net worth landed him the 14th position. Rybolovlev reportedly bought a Greek island for $100 million. Rybolovlev beat out other celebrity billionaires like Bill Gates, Madonna, and Roman Abramovich, who were also eyeing the island. Roman Abramovich found himself outside of Russia’s top ten, and is now 13th domestically, and 107th worldwide. The Chelsea football club owner lost $1.9 of his fortune in 2012, putting his 2013 wealth at just $10.2 billion Beating out all Russian billionaires on Forbes overall list, is former national, Sergey Brin, founder and CEO of Google. Brin’s bank account far exceeds all his former compatriots, at $22.8 billion. Forbes has been documenting the world’s richest people since 1987, and Russia’s richest since 1997, Boris Berezovsky debuted Russia’s list in 1997 with a $3 billion capital worth. To even be considered for Russia’s ‘Golden Hundred’, one’s fortune must at least be $500 million. Russia is home to 100 billionaires. Eleven Russian businessmen are included in the Forbes ‘100 Richest’ list in 2013. Russian Ranking World Ranking Name Age Personal Fortune (billions) Associated Companies #1 #34 Alisher Usmanov 59 $17.6 Metalloinvest #2 #41 Mikhail Fridman 48 $16.5 TNK-BP #3 #47 Leonid Mikhelson 57 $15.4 Novatek #4 #52 Vicktor Vekselberg 56 $15.1 Renova, Skolkovo Fund #5 #55 Vagit Alekperov 62 $14.8 Lukoil #6 #56 Andrey Melnichenko 57 $14.4 Novatek, Sibur Holding, First United Bank #7 #58 Vladimir Potanin 52 $14.3 Interros, ProfMedia #8 #62 Vladimir Lisin 56 $14.1 First Cargo Novolipetsk #9 #62 Gennady Timchenko 60 $14.1 Gunvor Group, Novatek #10 #69 Mikhail Prokhorov 47 $13.0 Onexim ===========