Detroit, America's most spectacular postindustrial disaster zone, is broke. Severely broke. Negative-11-digit debt broke. So broke it can't even afford to run its courts. Detroit needs some cash. If only it had some valuable stuff to sell....

Hey, there's an entire art museum full of crap, just sitting there!

Detroit emergency manager Kevyn Orr is considering whether the multibillion-dollar collection at the Detroit Institute of Arts should be considered city assets that potentially could be sold to cover about $15 billion in debt...

[At] the request of the Free Press, art dealers in New York and metro Detroit reviewed a list of 38 of the greatest masterpieces owned by the museum and estimated a market value of at least $2.5 billion

The Detroit Free Press says that the initial reaction to selling off the city's art collection has been outrage, but, you know, not to be tactless about it, why not move some great art to some places where more people might actually see it, and help solve your city's DREADFUL CRUSHING EXISTENTIAL DEBT PROBLEM in the meantime?

What good is having a Van Gogh if you can't keep the lights on to see it?

[Freep. Photo: AP]