Fifty years ago, Detroit’s Motown music enthralled America, but future generations of federal taxpayers will be singing the Detroit blues as other cities follow its example by dumping their health care liabilities onto Uncle Sam.

Detroit became the largest city yet to announce plans for bankruptcy two weeks ago. This came as no surprise to anyone who had watched for years as it — by turns — raided its retiree funds to pay its creditors and borrowed from its creditors to fund its retiree plans.