Detroit is Paying $600 an Hour to the Guy Appointed to Oversee Insane Bankruptcy Expenses

For the record, other lawyers and bankruptcy experts insist that these numbers are not as egregious as they sound, given the complicated circumstances of a municipal bankruptcy as unprecedented as Detroit's. Still, if you're a taxpayer in the city (or a pensioner who can't get paid), this has got to hit you right in the gut: Detroit was billed $200,000 for just two weeks of work by one restructuring consultancy, another $3.6 million by a different law firm spanning four months of work, and $200,000 by the auction house Christie's to appraise works at the Detroit Institute of Arts that no one wants to sell.

The city's bankruptcy court judge appointed a fee examiner to keep an eye on the mounting costs associated with going broke. And Detroit is paying that guy $600 an hour (a discount from his regular rate of $675). Via Monica Davey in the New York Times: