A short sentence that tells you a lot about our culture

[RickN]

All lib ran? I'm betting so...

Yes and like SS and welfare they keep taking more and more of the taxpayers money to prop them up.

 

[dennishoddy]

I'll bet 99% of the cities mentioned have been under democratic leadership for a long time. The liberal policy's is what brings them down.

1. Compton, Calif.
Compton has teetered on the brink of bankruptcy after it accrued a general-fund deficit of more than $40 million by borrowing from other funds, depleting what had been a $22 million reserve.

2. East Greenbush, N.Y.
A New York state audit concluded that years of fiscal mismanagement — including questionable employment contracts and illegal payments to town officials — left East Greenbush more than $2 million in debt.

3. Fresno, Calif.
Fresno had the ratings of its lease-revenue bonds downgraded to junk-level by Moody's, which also downgraded its convention center and pension obligation bonds due to the city's "exceedingly weak financial position."

4. Gulf County, Fla.
Fitch Ratings warned that Gulf County's predominately rural economy is "narrowly focused," with income levels one-quarter below national averages and economic indicators for the county also comparing unfavorably to national averages.

5. Harrisburg, Pa.
Harrisburg is at least $345 million in debt, thanks largely to municipal bonds it guaranteed in order to finance upgrades to its problematic waste-to-energy trash incinerator.

6. Irvington, N.J.
Irvington has a violent crime rate six times higher than New Jersey's average, with Moody's citing "wealth indicators below state and national averages and tax-base and population declines due to increased tax appeals and foreclosures."

7. Jefferson County, Ala.
Jefferson County, home to the city of Birmingham, has been dealing with the collapse of refinancing for a sewer bond. It filed for bankruptcy protection in 2011 over a $3.14 billion sewer bond debt.

8. Menasha, Wis.
Menasha defaulted on bonds in 2007 it had issued to fund a steam plant which has since closed and left the city permanently in the red and, as of 2011, had $16 million in general fund revenue, but had $43.4 million in outstanding debt.

9. Newburgh, N.Y.
Newburgh was cited by Moody's for "tax base erosion and a weak socioeconomic profile," with 26 percent of its population below the poverty line and its school district facing a $2 million budget gap.

10. Oakland, Calif.
Oakland is trying to get out of a Goldman Sachs-brokered interest rate swap that is costing it $4 million a year. According to a recent city audit, Oakland has lost $250 million from a 1997 pension obligation bond sale and subsequent investment strategy.

11. Philadelphia School District, Pa.
Philadelphia's school district, the nation's eighth-largest, faces a $304 million deficit in its $2.35 billion budget, and is seeking $133 million from labor-contract savings to prevent further cutbacks.

12. Pontiac, Mich.
Pontiac, where the emergency manager has restructured the city's finances, was downgraded by Moody's, reflecting the city's history of fiscal distress and narrow liquidity.

13. Providence, R.I.
Providence, rumored to be filing for bankruptcy for more than a year, experienced consecutive deficits through fiscal 2012, has a high-debt burden and significant unfunded pension liabilities, as well as high unemployment and low income levels.

14. Riverdale, Ill.
The credit rating for Riverdale is under review by Moody's because the city has not released an audit of interim or unaudited data for the year that ended April 30, 2012.

15. Salem, N.J.
Salem is under close fiscal supervision after it issued bonds to finance the construction of the Finlaw State Office Building, which was delayed by construction issues, and its leasing revenues are not enough to cover the debt payments and the maintenance fees.

16. Strafford County, N.H.
Strafford County regularly borrows money to cover its short-term cash needs after it spent two-fifths of its budget on a nursing home, which lost $36 million from 2004 to 2009.

17. Taylor, Mich.
Taylor has a large deficit and is vulnerable due to significant declines in the tax base, limited financial flexibility, and above-average unfunded pension obligations.

18. Vadnais Heights, Minn.
The St. Paul suburb of Vadnais Heights had its debt rating downgraded to junk last fall by Moody's after the city council voted to stop payments to a sports center financed by bonds.

19. Wenatchee, Wash.
Wenatchee defaulted on $42 million in debt associated with the Town Toyota Center, a multipurpose arena, and has ongoing financial issues due to the default.

20. Woonsocket, R.I.
Woonsocket faces near-term liquidity shortages necessitating an advance in state aid, a high-debt burden and unfunded pension liabilities, with Moody's citing the city's continuing difficulties in making spending cuts because of poor management and imprecise accounting.


Oh and the biggie, Detroit.

 

[Sanford]

Social Security is a TAX on our work palced in a special account to be used as a retirement income because we are too stupid to save money ourselves and must be taken care of by the goobermint. SS is broke because of mismanagement by said goobermint.

Actually, Social Security was never intended to be a retirement plan - it was intended only to be a supplement to normal retirement. That's why it will, sooner or later, go broke.

 

[Lurker66]

Social Security and Welfare has nothing to do with these cities failures. Most on the list were manufacturing type cities that produced something. When the businesses left, jobs left. No jobs....no wages....no taxes collected. Just a bunch of poor people left holding the bag.

You guys blame the Dems or Libs....what a joke.

 

[TedKennedy]

Social Security and Welfare has nothing to do with these cities failures. Most on the list were manufacturing type cities that produced something. When the businesses left, jobs left. No jobs....no wages....no taxes collected. Just a bunch of poor people left holding the bag.

You guys blame the Dems or Libs....what a joke.

This is true, and very few want to address WHY the businesses left. (here comes the union bashers)....the loss of industrial manufacturing will be the downfall of our economy. (has been so far)
SS, welfare are both TAXES as TR said, both coerced from most checks before the earner ever sees them.

So if I want to build widgets, WHY on earth would I want to build a widget plant in the US? EPA, minimum wage, taxes, it's expensive.....
I'll build my plant in lower BFE, where they'll love to have me, work for dirt, no environmental laws, and they'll PAY me incentives to build there!

Now, I'll just SELL my widgets in the US (while they still have an economy running on a valueless paper dollar) - 'cause the good folks in D.C. won't even charge an import tariff on my goods. So not only do I make plenty of dinero, it also forces my competition out of business.....

Brilliant.

And this grand economic plan implemented by the same good folks that have waged war under the guise of protecting freedom, expending precious resources and people alike, further crippling our economy.

 

[Lurker66]

This is true, and very few want to address WHY the businesses left. (here comes the union bashers)....the loss of industrial manufacturing will be the downfall of our economy. (has been so far)
SS, welfare are both TAXES as TR said, both coerced from most checks before the earner ever sees them.

So if I want to build widgets, WHY on earth would I want to build a widget plant in the US? EPA, minimum wage, taxes, it's expensive.....
I'll build my plant in lower BFE, where they'll love to have me, work for dirt, no environmental laws, and they'll PAY me incentives to build there!

Now, I'll just SELL my widgets in the US (while they still have an economy running on a valueless paper dollar) - 'cause the good folks in D.C. won't even charge an import tariff on my goods. So not only do I make plenty of dinero, it also forces my competition out of business.....

Brilliant.

And this grand economic plan implemented by the same good folks that have waged war under the guise of protecting freedom, expending precious resources and people alike, further crippling our economy.

Very good post. I wish more people would see this and understand this bottom line. Dems and Republicans allowed this to happen. It is a natural progression of economic evolution.

We use one Nations natural resorces, anothers labor force and we service and consume. Thats world economics.

 

[cjjtulsa]

Good post, Ted. And let's not forget: SS is still "chugging along" (like all government programs) not because it's solvent, but because the U.S. is borrowing the money to keep "chugging along" in all matters. Sooner or later, this scheme will run it's course, and then we're all fooked. Whether it's in my lifetime or my grandkid's lifetime remains to be seen, but it's not a "sky is falling" hypothetical. It's reality. Most (if not all) of our taxes go to pay interest on the national debt. And with fewer and fewer taxpayers, a larger and larger national debt, and less and less productivity from fleeing jobs, how long before the U.S.'s knees buckle from the load?

 

[BikerHT]

Social Security is a TAX on our work placed in a special account to be used as a retirement income because we are too stupid to save money ourselves and must be taken care of by the goobermint. SS is broke because of mismanagement by said goobermint.

WELFARE is a TAX on working people that is freely given to non-working people in return for votes and therefore cannot go broke as long as there are working people to tax and maintain a corrupt goobermint.

That pretty much sums it up!

 

[WTJ]

While I suspect the cities have failed due to Communist leadership, Gulf County Florida simply doesn't have much of anything in it, including people. Nice place.

 

[saltydog]