This morning, these were the two headlines on the Detroit Free Press home page:

1.    Live blog: follow along during Detroit’s first hearing in bankruptcy court
2.    Ford earns $1.2B in 2Q profit, beats expectations

By the way, the best-selling car in the world right now: the Ford Focus.  In the world.

Let’s compare here.

For years both entities struggled with incompetent administration and stupid, bad decisions. But when the hardest times came, one was deemed too big to fail.  For its sins, it was rewarded with lavish funding to turn itself around and, pretty quickly, triumph.

The other, after years of neglect and the systematic withdrawal of capital, now faces the slaughterhouse.  Its hard-working middle-class public servants – the backbone of the city for decades – see themselves deemed a bunch of greedy cheats looking for a handout.  Or, just as bad, as the ones who will have to just simply take the hit for the greater good.

By the way, I’d like every person who thinks that to experience it personally.  Let’s say we are talking about your retirement here. Since that is what you are wishing on fellow human beings, please explain how you like the prospect of extreme austerity for yourself.