Detroit bankruptcy ruling: What it may mean for your pension
Debt-burdened cities around the country are studying a major
court decision. A federal judge in Michigan ruled on Tuesday
that Detroit can cut public pensions as it enters bankruptcy.
The milestone ruling could affect the retirement of millions of
current and former municipal workers. In Detroit, they are among
100,000 creditors owed money. The city's debt stands at $18
billion.  CBS News senior business correspondent Anthony Mason
explained on "CBS This Morning," "(The ruling's significance) is
that union workers across the U.S. are getting the message that,
even if the constitutions in the state, which Michigan does,
supposedly protects your pension, if the city files Chapter 9,
federal law supersedes that, and everything is now on the table.
Basically what the judge said here is Detroit is in deep
trouble, everything has got to be looked at."  Appeals are
likely, Mason said, and may even go all the way to the Supreme
Court. For now, however, th