Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Detroit: poster child of democrat governance at the brink of bankruptcy; America's future in the microcosm of one city.

A natural consequence of democrat governance is bankruptcy.  It's true in Detroit, it's true here in Washington State where we're carrying $22 billion in unfunded retiree debt for public employees, and it's true for our country, where $16.6 trillion is the order of the day.

Collective bargaining is at the root of this outcome: public employee unions who elect officials then bargain with them for wage and benefit increases.  Here in Washington, we come to find out that government employees, who ostensibly work for the public, have used the politicians they own to gouge their employers... namely, us... to achieve wages, benefits and retirement packages that the private sector can no longer even dream about.

Our country, our states and our cities are bending under the weight of this institutional corruption: Detroit is the largest (and latest) example of a worthless city, a huge slum sinking into the abyss of democrat governance, pay offs, unfunded expenditures and a third-world bribery mentality that has resulted in the agony of socialist redistribution: the forerunner of a nation's collapse.

“A democracy is always temporary in nature;
it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government.
A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover
that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury.
From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates
who promise the most benefits from the public treasury,
with the result that every democracy will finally collapse
due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship”

Attributed to - Alexander Fraser Tytler 1787

We are, I believe, in far worse shape then we know, and certainly are being told.  Unfunded liabilities that we cannot pay abound: neither Congress, the various legislatures (save states such as Michigan and Wisconsin who are throwing off the yoke of collective bargaining oppression as a long-delayed first step) nor any other body of government appear to be addressing these problems because to address them is to admit to past corruption and to interrupt the corruptive process in the shirt term.
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Democrats and the unions who own them are a cancer on our society.  They are likely going to be the number one cause of our downfall, impending bankruptcy, as the rest of the world wises up like Canada, and begins to sever their relationship to the increasingly rotting American currency and debt... and our entire country begins to resemble the democrat utopia of Detroit.

Here's the latest boondoggle:

Detroit's financial crisis now in governor's hands

DETROIT (AP) — The fiscal crisis plaguing Detroit is now in the hands of Michigan's governor after a state-appointed review team determined the city was in a financial emergency with "no satisfactory plan" to resolve it.
Michigan State Treasurer Andy Dillon discusses Detroit Financial Review Team in Detroit, Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013. A state-appointed review team has determined Detroit is in a financial emergency, paving the way for Republican Gov. Rick Snyder to appoint an emergency manager who would need to come up with a new plan to get the city out of its fiscal crisis. (AP Photo/The Detroit News, Ricardo Thomas)Republican Gov. Rick Snyder has 30 days to decide if Detroit needs an emergency manager to take charge of its finances and spending, and come up with a new plan to get the city out of its financial mess.

After spending weeks looking at the city's books, the independent review team released a report Tuesday saying Detroit's deficit could have reached $900 million last fiscal year had it not borrowed enormous amounts of money. The city's long-term liabilities, including underfunded pensions, are more than $14 billion.
The report also said the city's bureaucratic structure makes it difficult to solve the financial problems.
Some fiscal experts believe the city's only way out may be municipal bankruptcy, but state Treasurer Andy Dillon said answers could be found if the city and state work together.
"It's our hope at the state level that this is a partnership. It doesn't have to be adversarial," said Dillon, a member of the review team. "A lot of the ingredients for the turnaround of the city are in place. Now we just need to execute. I do believe strongly that Detroit is fixable."
But over the last nine months, that relationship has been strained. Detroit Mayor Dave Bing and the nine-member City Council entered into a consent agreement with Snyder in April that allowed some state oversight and help with Detroit's finances — short of cash infusions — in return for certain fiscal reforms. However, the city often missed deadlines and benchmarks.
The ongoing cash crisis has threatened to leave the city, which has a current budget deficit of $327 million, without money to pay its workers or other bills. Dillon said the city has been running deficits since 2005, and masking over them with long-term borrowing.
"I stand with Detroiters and other stakeholders that the pace of change has been frustratingly slow," said Gary Brown, City Council president pro-tem. "The political will has often not been there to make the necessary and bold fiscal reforms. ... Without a doubt we need the support and accountability that a State of Michigan partnership offers. We cannot address our legacy obligations alone."
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1 comment:

  1. Even if Detroit bankrupts, the pension obligations will shift to the state. Pensions: SS, Military, State, Federal - they are all unpayable.

    Hyperinflation is coming.

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