Posted on 07/23/2013 6:59:54 PM PDT by kevcol
Take Oakland, which is Detroit's doppelganger on the West Coast. The run-down Bay Area city, which has the highest crime rate in California, recently laid off more than 100 police to fund retirement benefits and pension-obligation bonds.
Murders and robberies shot up by nearly 25% last year. To avert steeper cuts, the city borrowed an additional $210 million to finance pensions.
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Philadelphia is spending about 20% of its budget on pensions to make up for years of short-changing the system.
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
Start looking for some states to go belly up. Never mind cities. California may be first.
In no particular order:
Chicago
Philadelphia
Oakland
Vallejo
Sacramento
Las Vegas
New Jersey has a whole crapload - Trenton, Camden, Atlantic City, Newark, Patterson, etc.
Oakland California, aka the west side of Detroit.
As I understand it Illinois stands a good chance of beating California to the bottom.
Despite Detroit Michigan is actually in fairly decent shape.
Throw a dart at any large city (New Haven, Hartford, Bridgeport, or Waterbury) on the CT map. The economic death spiral has commenced.
Well, it won’t be Toadsuck, Arkansas. Toadsuck is flush with cash after another huge Gooseberry crop! They’ve just opened up the new polar bear exhibit at the zoo. The world renowned Toadsuck Ballet Company is dancing their way into the hearts of millions at the new Grand Theater.
Columbus, Oh.....used to be a clean, great city. It is now almost all ghetto and a murder a day. One entire section of the city has been carved out for the LGBT community. OSU campus is enter at your own risk. Michael Coleman and his drug/alcohol addled wife have transformed the city beyond Obamas wildest expectations.
Isn’t it interesting that all of the politicians who caused these problems are long gone from the public scene while the people remain to be affected?
Just spend more money. I heard the pResident say that’s the way to prosperity. Surely it has to be true.
And that doesn't even take into account the OSU football team.
Isn’t it interesting that all of the politicians who caused these problems are long gone from the public scene while the people remain to be affected?
Just a coincidence. They were all well intended representatives of the Democratic [sic] party. Intentions trump results, you know.
In full seriousness: the more city and state bankruptcies, the easier time Congress will have passing "temporary' "emergency" tax increases.
For better or worse, Oakland is nothing like Detroit. Heck, Oakland is nothing like San Bernardino or Stockton, California cities that have already gone bankrupt. What Oakland has that they don’t is many beautiful neighborhoods full of lots of liberal rich people who can (and in most cases will willingly) be taxed to the gills if needed to keep the city solvent.
Please, oh please...
I remember the t-shirts: Where the heck is Toadsuck?
And I remember the catfish and shrimp.
Chapter 9 only applies to municipalities - creatures of the state (cities, counties, some state boards and special agencies.)
States, as sovereigns, have no way to declare bankruptcy under the current code.
Could states do a form of defacto bankruptcy and stall payments on pension obligations and retiree benefits, due to higher priority budget obligations?
“Oakland is nothing like Detroit.”
You are absolutely correct! Even West Oakland has experienced a renaissance in the aftermath of the Loma Prieta earthquake that brought down the Cypress Freeway structure coupled with the closure of the Oakland Army Terminal. Oakland’s big problem areas are North and East Oakland. You don’t want to even drive through East Oakland at high noon if you are white! The places where blacks found employment are gone ( the GM plant, the canneries, the Army Terminal, NAS Alameda) but the blacks are still there with not much to do. But the weather is mild so they don’t fry or freeze like they do in Detroit.
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