????7月18日下午,，美國(guó)底特律市遞交破產(chǎn)申請(qǐng)。它不僅是一場(chǎng)大規(guī)模的財(cái)務(wù)危機(jī),，也不是單純的一個(gè)里程碑式的時(shí)刻,，標(biāo)志著美國(guó)歷史上最大的城市破產(chǎn)案誕生。它也是一次徹底的失敗,。

????底特律破產(chǎn)有著深層次的含義,。這里曾經(jīng)感知著美國(guó)的經(jīng)濟(jì)榮衰，是推動(dòng)美國(guó)世紀(jì)實(shí)現(xiàn)的經(jīng)濟(jì)引擎,。這里曾經(jīng)飛揚(yáng)著非洲裔美國(guó)人的驕傲,，也曾是數(shù)不清的美國(guó)夢(mèng)誕生的地方。

????底特律緊急財(cái)務(wù)管理人凱文?奧爾最終邁出這一步,，向聯(lián)邦法院申請(qǐng)Chapter 9破產(chǎn)保護(hù),，這個(gè)舉動(dòng)其實(shí)并不意外。這樣的結(jié)果至少已經(jīng)醞釀了兩年,，有些人估計(jì)時(shí)間可能更早。這樣的結(jié)果也是我們?cè)S多人悲觀地等待了很久的結(jié)局,。

????通用汽車(General Motors)以前的管理者們可以作證,。即便是這家世界最大的汽車制造商也不能拿著糟糕的業(yè)績(jī)無休止地借錢，也不能在各項(xiàng)財(cái)務(wù)指標(biāo)都顯示償債無望時(shí),，還指望債權(quán)人繼續(xù)不斷地提供資金,。2008年底信貸市場(chǎng)下跌時(shí)，通用汽車陷入了負(fù)債過高的問題,。債權(quán)人拒絕為通用汽車提供債務(wù)再融資,。

????與此同時(shí)，幾十年來底特律也一步步走上了債務(wù)泥沼的不歸路：民選官員猶猶豫豫,，遮遮掩掩,，百般辯解，卻沒有采取嚴(yán)厲措施來填補(bǔ)財(cái)政缺口,。事實(shí)上,，這個(gè)城市的財(cái)務(wù)負(fù)債正是由那些本應(yīng)解決這些問題的人們?cè)斐傻模阂粚糜忠粚玫恼虺鞘泄と藗兂兄Z根本不可持續(xù)的薪資、就業(yè)和養(yǎng)老金,。

????民選官員們?yōu)槭裁匆龀鲞@些承諾,？因?yàn)樗麄兛赡軓牟粨?dān)心將來需要為這些承諾負(fù)責(zé)。他們或許是對(duì)的，他們中很多人已經(jīng)去世或退休,。

????在任官員無人能逆轉(zhuǎn)公共服務(wù)的滑坡,，比如治安和消防保障、急診服務(wù),、交通和照明等等,。20世紀(jì)80年代以來，已有幾十萬居民失望離開,，留下70萬人承擔(dān)后果?，F(xiàn)在繼續(xù)留守在這個(gè)城市的人們將得不到應(yīng)有的基礎(chǔ)城市服務(wù)，應(yīng)有的治安和消防保障,，以及應(yīng)有的急診服務(wù),。

????不能將底特律前市長(zhǎng)柯溫?基爾帕特里克和市議會(huì)前議長(zhǎng)莫妮卡?康耶爾等人視為是底特律破產(chǎn)的主因，雖然他們的確干得不怎么樣,。

????現(xiàn)任市長(zhǎng)戴夫?賓竭盡全力——這一點(diǎn)值得肯定——削減預(yù)算,，與市政員工工會(huì)理論，但他的努力遇到市議會(huì)的阻撓,。市議會(huì)似乎永遠(yuǎn)也不明白,，也沒有被他們也有份的、糟糕財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)表所觸動(dòng),。這里只舉一個(gè)例子：百麗島是底特律河上的一顆明珠,，曾經(jīng)有一項(xiàng)方案希望免除底特律繼續(xù)支付維護(hù)百麗島的費(fèi)用。結(jié)果方案最終被市議會(huì)否決,，因?yàn)樗麄儾恢朗浅鲇谑裁丛?，認(rèn)為把百麗島交出去，變成密歇根州的州級(jí)公園是底特律的恥辱,。

????The bankruptcy filing on the afternoon of July 18 by the city of Detroit isn't just a massive financial implosion. Nor is it simply a milestone moment, the biggest municipal collapse ever in U.S. history. It is an utter defeat.

????Detroit's bankruptcy is a profound failure for a place where once beat the heart of this country, where the economic engine of the American Century roared to life, where a banner of African-American empowerment flew, where the middle class came to know itself, and where timeless aspects of the American Dream were born.

????No one should be shocked that Kevyn Orr, Detroit's emergency financial manager, finally took the step of petitioning the federal court for Chapter 9 protection from creditors. This outcome has been at least two years in the making and, by some reckoning, much longer than that. This is the bottom many of us have been gloomily waiting for.

????As former General Motors (GM) executives can testify, even the world's biggest automaker can't borrow endlessly against faltering performance and expect creditors to keep furnishing money -- when every financial indicator shows that repayment is impossible. GM got caught with too much debt in late 2008 when credit markets went south. Lenders balked at refinancing GM's debt.

????Detroit, meanwhile, stumbled over a period of decades into irreversible insolvency because its elected officials dithered and dissembled and argued, instead of undertaking tough measures to close fiscal gaps. In truth, the city's financial liabilities were created by the very people who should have been resolving them: One administration after another promised wages, job guarantees, and pensions to city workers that were simply unsustainable.

????Why did elected officials make those promises? Probably because they never feared being held accountable. Many of them, dead or retired, will have been correct.

????And no one in office was able to reverse the decline of public services such as police and fire protection, emergency medical, transportation, and lighting. Since the 1980s, a few hundred thousand residents threw in the towel and moved away, leaving the 700,000 remaining to bear the brunt. Now those who remained will not get the basic city services they deserve, the police and fire protection they deserve, or the emergency medical care they deserve.

????The criminality of ex-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and ex-council president Monica Conyers and others, though disgraceful, can't really be blamed as a key factor in the city's failure.

????The current mayor, Dave Bing, labored mightily -- to his credit -- to slash budgets and reason with public employee unions, only to watch his efforts undermined by a city council that seemed never to comprehend or be moved by the horrific financial statements they were party to. Just one example: A deal to relieve the city of the expense of maintaining Belle Isle -- a jewel in the middle of the Detroit River -- was shot down because the council somehow viewed its transformation into a state park as an insult, a stain on the city's pride.