Posted on 07/26/2012 6:53:06 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
San Bernardino is the third California city in a month to seek refuge in bankruptcy.
Bankruptcy inflicts such crippling chaos and infamy on a town that most municipalities struggling with debt and deficits will make the hard choices necessary to stay solvent.
Spending three years tied up in bankruptcy court was a near-death experience for Vallejo, which emerged from Chapter 9 last year. Mayor Osby Davis warns, "It takes an enormous toll on everyone. And you have the stigma of being a bankrupt city. How do you come out of being labeled a bankrupt city to one that is a desirable place to live?"
Knowing the cost, why would any city even contemplate such disastrous recourse? Unfortunately for some cities, the factors that push them to the brink are the same ones that will push them over the edge.
That's apparently what happened in San Bernardino, where a combination of dysfunctional politics and disingenuous accounting powered an irreversible downward cycle.
Vallejo, and now Mammoth Lakes, Stockton and San Bernardino — and perhaps other cities to come — have particular tales of woe. But they all also can illustrate the brutal, no-win perils of distributing a city's financial pain. It can paralyze democracy.
Even if there's no cash, there's always plenty of blame. That guarantees that residents, businesses bondholders, employees and retirees will be pitted against each other in a war in which, as Osby knows, everyone loses.
The only glimmer of hope is outside intervention.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Do the right things for America and the cities will save themselves or die on their own. That means tough love.
Does “saving” imply giving them more cash to throw away?
This is an American absurdity. The country’s once wealthiest state has regulated and spent itself into bankruptcy and non productivity. Of course after the election Obama will tax the rest of America to bail out his loyal California constituents.Most of California is a bizarre place.
The Left may suggest burning the village in order to save it.
Easy!
You emerge from bankruptcy as an institution who has learned the value of frugality, practicality, and common sense. You deliver stability and value for the buck to residents. You demonstrate conscientious and down-to-earth conservative values and management principles.
Of course, to do these things it might be necessary to secede from California.;-)
I think you all need to elect me dictator for a year and hide in you basements cause it wouldn’t be pretty.
You can even surround me with SEAL team 6 with the standing order to take me out if I try to stay one minute longer.
What does California(and her struggling cities)all have in common?They are ALL run by LIBERALS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Shut it down, cancel current and future pensions and privatize the whole d@mn thing!
Next.
There’s a simple solution to ward off bankruptcy. Simply raise taxes. It’s clear as day. Hit those rich bastards especially hard.
Cut federal funding of public transportation and bike paths and fix the roads like is supposed to happen. Return the rest to the people in the form of lower taxes.
“The Left may suggest burning the village in order to save it.”
More likely to burn the country to save the state.
Give everybody a raise by increasing the min wage to 30 bucks/hr.
Also, can always hire more workers for the state, you know, just to tide them over during the rough times.
Paging Helicopter Ben...
LOL We could take every dime from “the rich” and it wouldn’t even make a dent.
Just yesterday this thread was posted saying that Ford earned $1 billion in profit last quarter. Its a penny compared to federal spending.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2910492/posts
Funny thing is that its the small businesses that produce the bulk of the revenue in America. In Michigan the sportfishing industry is a $7 to $10 billion dollar per year industry and its almost entirely small businessmen who work alone or have 1 or 2 employees.
[[ Spending three years tied up in bankruptcy court was a near-death experience for Vallejo, which emerged from Chapter 9 last year. Mayor Osby Davis warns, “It takes an enormous toll on everyone. And you have the stigma of being a bankrupt city. How do you come out of being labeled a bankrupt city to one that is a desirable place to live?” ]]
Maybe you don’t.
It’s not bankruptcy per se that is preventing these cities from being “desirable places to live”.
Bankruptcy is but one symptom of the problems that are afflicting such places. There are other “problems” that are much more intractable that have as devastating an impact.
Exactly.
The fed gov BORROWS - and immediately spends - nearly $4 billion per day.
That's in addition to immediately spending the entire $6 billion in tax revenue received each day.
And they pay $1 billion per day interest on the debt.
.
Problem. Solved.
Bankruptcy inflicts such crippling chaos and infamy on a town that most municipalities struggling with debt and deficits will make the hard choices necessary to stay solvent.
How this should have been written:
Bankruptcy inflicts such crippling chaos and infamy on the politicians the people elected to run the town that most will use debt and massive deficits rather than make the hard choices necessary to stay solvent.
I like it.
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