Posted on 07/23/2013 10:21:48 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Unfortunately, if you work for a public agency, you often have no options. As a school district employee, almost 15% of my gross goes to pay for Social Security and PERS. I have real doubts that either will be available when I retire, but because I am required to pay into those programs, I have little left over to pay into a private retirement plan.
Just keep in mind that not all public employees have the type of retirement plans that allow you to retire at 50 with 90% of your salary and little to no contribution required. Unfortunately, our "contributions" go into the same retirement pool with the people who make no contributions, and as a result, we will probably get screwed in the end.
IMO, implicit promises were made to indebted blue states and cities. “Help get Obama a second term, and you’ll ALL get bailouts”.
So now they are expecting him to make good. Only the whole scheme depended on his ability to roll the Pubbies on the sequester, get a bunch of new taxes and a whole lot of open to spend.
He screwed that up, and now finds himself in a predicament.
Zimbabwe.
And it would encourage a huge number of other cities to ask for bailouts.
Who would bail out the taxpayers?
If the federal government were foolish enough to give Detroit a $100 billion dollar bailout or even more, within a short time things would be back to where they are...bankruptcy. Detroit’s financial mess was created by decades of liberal and socialist civic leaders spending other people’s money and as much lining their pockets and those of cronies as doing anything useful for the city. Sadly the same people are in charge and nothing would change.
No bailout. It’s would be a mistake that would take all our other cities down...
Government encouraged criminals and stopped protecting homeowners, businesses and honest citizens decades ago. The honest and productive left. The criminals, welfare recipients and some government employees stayed. There are not enough productive people left to support all the parasites.
City government literally stole billions of dollars over the last decades. Federal and state programs to pay people in Detroit for doing nothing useful kept the economy alive for a while.
Politicians refused to fund their promises. There was never any attempt to be responsible and provide money for these programs. Questionable accounting and outright fraud prevented the inevitable collapse for a few years so politicians and friends could continue to feed off the taxpayers.
In the 1960’s Detroit was by far the wealthiest city in the entire world. That wealth was used to fund the socialist Democrat programs and but generations of Democrat voters. The money has been squandered and now Detroiters are looking for new suckers.
In order to fix Detroit, the city MUST crash and the public employee unions and education power must be destroyed. Useless restrictions on business must be repealed or rescinded. Nothing is likely to happen because of the current dependent, illiterate, and thug population.
This does not answer whether Detroit has a reason to exist.
Who would bail out the taxpayers?
I believe John Galt has a plan for that.
Assume that it is the job of Federal government to act as an insurer of last resort against bankruptcy of the States. Likewise, States to act as the last resort for Counties, Counties for cities and municipalities.
How should such a system be constructed? If there is an insurance like program, would the higher level insurer require that there be first an external or commercial insurance? Would there be payment requirements from the lower bodies being insured? Would there be fiscal constraints imposed on the lower entities? Could such a system be used to contain government at the local and state levels?
What would be the unintended consequences of such a system?
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Don’t even GO there man! Don’t give them any ideas! My first thought was: I smell a TAX and another bloated Federal Agency!
DAMN, how I wish I could have stated it exactly like you did!! Not an exclamation point or CAP anywhere!
Your post is it in a nutshell.
Required some editing for clarity.
Coleman Young, crony capitalism and communism destroyed Detroit. Barack Obama is using the same formula to destroy America. Will you let him? They will go for the guns next....then the 401k’s + MM funds...then the white suburbs will be undulated w/ the section 8 voucherers....
A Detroit bailout would open Pandora’s box. It would be the death knell of the USA for certain. Every major city without exception would be giving away the bank to the 47 percenters.
Detroit would be a bottomless pit that could never be filled. And if the government tried, a lot of other cities would line up for a bailout, like pigs at a trough.
That is EXACTLY what they'll do. Three cities specifically in CA alone are either in bankruptcy or teetering on it. This is a pandora's box that should NEVER be opened.
>>Unfortunately, our “contributions” go into the same retirement pool with the people who make no contributions, and as a result, we will probably get screwed in the end.
So in other words, its the same SS boat that the rest of us are in? Contribute all your life, and maybe you’ll get it, maybe you won’t, or just maybe you’ll get means tested out of it.
And then back to Detroit for another bailout.
You can’t raise taxes on people who don’t exist to pay for unfulfillable promises to 50 yr old retirees.
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