Posted on 01/03/2011 6:37:55 PM PST by Libloather
One fine mess
By Colin McNickle, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Never have so few worked so recklessly to shaft so many.
Welcome to Pittsburgh, that unnavigable intersection of government hot air, buffoonery, incompetence, stupidity, arrogance and just about any other unflattering descriptive you can conjure up.
Harsh? Why, yes. And necessarily so.
Desperately trying to appease its public pocket-picking union bosses while concomitantly deferring any meaningful fiscal restructuring, Pittsburgh City Council hatched a cockamamie "present day/future day value" plan (versus real cash held in an unencumbered trust) -- a hocus-pocus mumbo-jumbo paper plan based on future collections from what's already one of the most onerously high parking taxes in the nation -- to bail out its woefully underfunded municipal pensions.
Without a multimillion-dollar infusion of money by New Year's Eve, the pensions faced a state takeover. And it will be unclear for months as to who administers this still-unsustainable mess.
But the process just to maintain the piggery was a mixture of Laurel and Hardy, Abbott and Costello and Martin and Lewis -- all rolled into one ball-like gnarled mass of string and rubber bands laced with ticking improvised explosive devices and all attempting to push this rock of their own creation up a mountainside like a bunch of Sisyphuses.
(Excerpt) Read more at pittsburghlive.com ...
Q. Why are there Steelers fans everywhere?
A. Because the endless cycle of wasteful tax-and-spend policies caused Pittsburgh to lose over 50% of its population since the 70s.
Last year it was $15 to park in a lot across from the Benedum Center. Add to that the price of a theater ticket, and its a pricey afternoon.
Pittsburgh is an unbelievable mess. I live here. What’s worse is that the average dumbass on the street keeps re-electing the morons who created & perpetuated this mess. It’s so frustrating that some days I just can’t take it anymore.
Yes, piggery is a very cool word :-)
I live in L.A. and it’s no better. Just look for the (D) next to those in power in urban centers—they’ll ALL be corrupt.
The only upside is that it keeps getting smaller. (Former resident of the City who escaped to the suburbs 35 years ago.)
I still love the place. Its a beautiful city with great people (mostly in the suburbs) it's still a great place to visit, but politics inside the city limits is totally controlled by the city employee unions and welfare queens sucking matching Federal grants.
When the hammer comes down, which it will soon, it won't be pretty. But Pittsburgh isn't alone in that dilemma. It will be ugly everywhere. It is far from unique and probably not as bad as most other cities.
Bunch of lunkheads there in W. Pa. Murtha corrupt as a wild boar got elected for decades until he exited horizontal mode. What a drain on the rest of the state except Flitterdelphia bookend.
Unfortunately, too many of them drove a mere 200 miles west and stopped here in Columbus. For good. Now they vote here like union hacks.
That's average. It's $15 to park at Nationwide Arena here in Columbus. You should see what it costs to park on the east coast.
Whenever I get told, by any of my relatives, about how great the Democrats are I point out Pittsburgh and the City Council. Tell me what’s great again?
Not so much in Beaver County (although that's stretching it as far as suburbs go.) My first wife was from there. I feared for my Camry every day we visited, 20 years ago. The borough hall in Midland had a sign that said, "No foreign car parking-subject to towing."
Dude. What the hell were you thinking? You shouldn't be running a rice burner in a mill town. Would you go the Hiroshima with an Enola Gay sticker on your car? ;~))
I recall being down in Wearton WV back in the 70s and some poor SOB who lived a couple blocks up from the mill had a diesel VW 'Rabbit' that he had to post signs on that it was built in Pennsylvania, not Germany so it didn't get trashed. The signs said "Built in Pennsylvania with American made steel."
You couldn't park in a GM, Ford or Chrysler parking lot with a foreign car then either. I know salesmen going to those plants who would rent a domestic car for their sales calls and leave their Hondas at home They would not let you in with an import. Seriously.
Today, I don't think anyone cares much anymore. I have never had any car other that a domestic. But just last month, my wife bought a Subaru (sp?). Not my choice -- all hers. But I looked at the paper work. It was made in the USA just like my truck. So with parts sourced all over the world be it the "Big Three or "Imports" what the hell is the difference anymore as long as it's assembled in the US?
The reality is there are no more 'domestic' cars and most of the 'imports' really aren't.
Corrupt government at all levels, are gang raping the American private sector tax payers.
Your corrupt governor had a big fat (R) next to his name.
You're right. My ex takes my son to Midland five or six times a year to see his grandmother, driving a Nissan, and my now 16 year old son says times have changed.
A fascinating drive down the main drag underneath large parts of the mill.
True. Our 2002 Mazda was built in Michigan, and our 2008 Toyota Camry was built in Kentucky.
Ah, Ditto...that would be Weirton, WV.......it’s where I abode....raised in Beaver County
Is the mill still operating?
I know what you mean. I still have this 'aversion' to foreign cars and I know it's just nostalgia. But then again, I'm still waiting for the Packard to come back. ;~))
Full disclosure: My dad worked for a Packard dealer when I was young. Dad told me that Cadillac was a swear word and those Caddys were only Chevys with chrome-plated lock washers.
Who's to argue with dad? ;~))
And damn, I wish I had that 38 Packard Roadster that was the first car I remember riding in.
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