Since municipal bankruptcy seems inevitable, what would that look like for the City of Oakland? Reorganization bankruptcies generally involve the restructuring of debt; how much of Oakland’s cash flow is currently consumed by the sort of debt service that could be reduced or eliminated in a Chapter 9 filing? Could city pensions be reduced also? Could labor contracts be unilaterally renegotiated?

And what are the political ramifications of bankruptcy? Are the elected officials responsible for the current problem looking forward to bankruptcy as a tactic to avoid responsibility for painful choices?