Detroit official says bankruptcy only option

This is frightening and I am very curious of what will happen next. Declaring bankruptcy: okay, but still persisting on paying off all the creditors by taking away pension funds? Fighting for pennies by laying off people and slashing union contracts?
I do not believe in this way. I predict that the debts will not get repaid anyway while more harm will be done. As I started: this is frightening.

Al Jazeera discussion on Youtube with William Black, professor of Economics and Law at the University of Missouri:

Interesting notes:

"So as Detroit goes, so does much of the Midwest."

"We should have bailed out the people, not the auto industry."

"By appointing these emergency managers, democratic powers are removed from the city of Detroit and 15 other cities in Michigan." 

More:

• Full report at Al Jazeera
• Youtube version
• Fault Lines - Collapsing Auto Industry in Detroit (Youtube video by Al Jazeera)
• Report by the WSWS
• Report by Quartz

Related:

• Auto-generated YouTube channel
• Detroit's crumbling dream fuels rising art scene
• "We have shifted, I think, from a democratic state to a species of corporate totalitarianism." (Chris Hedges)
• update: "Detroit's decline is a distinctively capitalist failure" - Richard Wolff

Reports in Flemish:

• De Amerikaanse grootstad Detroit is bankroet
• "We moeten er het beste van maken"
• "Bankroet Detroit kan Dexia 100 miljoen euro kosten"
• Faillissement Detroit mogelijk strop voor Dexia
• "Blootstelling Dexia aan Detroit is 305 miljoen dollar"