And so it begins.

From: http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=226468

Got A Pension? Better Pay Attention


Detroit's bankruptcy has been ruled legal. The pensions are not protected, as federal law trumps state when it comes to bankruptcy.
Incidentally, this is explicitly in The Constitution, so suck it liberals.
Section. 8.
The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;
To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;
To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;
Your state constitution is meaningless when someone comes into Federal bankruptcy court, because Bankruptcy is a delegated power.
This isn't "judicial activism", it's black-letter law.
I've warned people for the last several years -- since The Ticker began, in fact, that these bogus pension and "benefit" packages that were negotiated at gunpoint and by fraud with state and local governments are unenforceable irrespective of so-called constitutional protections.
They should be unenforceable because there was no true adversarial process and can't be so long as the people negotiating for the wages and benefits can elect the people on the other side of the table, and they both can and do.
But they are unenforceable because when push comes to shove bankruptcy is a federal matter and as such the so-called protections are worthless as the federal bankruptcy code does not recognize any such attempt to give priority to these claims.
They are in fact just a debt -- like any other debt.
Those of you who think you can simply crank up taxes on people, such as many are gambling on in Chicago, are delusional. Citidel's Kenneth Griffin correctly points out that what Illinois is doing is outrageously stupid; not only will producers leave (they have already begun to do so -- I left!) but in addition when push comes to shove the bankruptcy courts will not protect these pensions and alleged "benefits."
Good luck folks.