Government Collapse Indicator: Detroit Temporarily Stopped Issuing Death Certificates After It Ran Out of Paper

HuffPo reports:

The city of Detroit was temporarily unable to issue death certificates in July because it had run out of the special embossed paper on which the certificates are printed -- and it didn't have any money left to buy more.

After the city declared bankruptcy on July 18, its vendor for embossed death certificate paper demanded to be paid in cash, not credit.

The city's funeral directors received this text message from Michigan Select Funeral Directors Association president Wallace Williams in late July, according to the Detroit News: “FYI, city of Detroit can’t process death certificates because they have no paper and don’t have money to buy any.”

On the phone to The Huffington Post Thursday morning, Phil Douma, the executive director of the Michigan Funeral Directors Association (a different organization from Williams'), said his members had been informed of the issue at the time, but he explained the problem was "very temporary."