I hear the Train a coming.......States and Bankruptcy.....
 

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/21/bu...gewanted=print



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03jwHrO7ubI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWasT...eature=related

No wonder municipal bonds are in decline.

Probably related
 

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/cali...emergency.html

I live in California. I hope Brown declares the state bankrupt. It is the only way to abrogate the contracts with the unions that have bankrupted the state. California is the 8th largest economy in the world and it is broke. There is also a law that states 40% of the state's income goes to education. Los Angeles Unified School District has a graduation rate of about 60%. So much for throwing money at a problem. The money disappears into a black hole of pensions and waste. The whole state government needs to be put on a pay as you go basis. No more pensions that are 100% government funded. State employees can have IRA's or 401k's just like the rest of us. No more free health insurance, the policies can be changed to have larger co-pays, just like the rest of us. Welfare will be reformed. Free school breakfast and lunch- Gone. No more English as a Second Language. A duplication of effort. Teach them in English. The students drop out faster in ESL classes than in classes taught in English. California spends $50,000 per prisoner per year, Texas spends $20,000. It would be cheaper to build prisons in Texas and ship our prisoners there.

Cheaper yet to send them to Mexico…or Albania. :D

That crash is coming........
 

It's not like we didn't "see" the indicators of this train wreck.....:munchin
Team Sergeant



Nation's Mayors Urge Obama to Help With Jobs, Maintain Federal Grants for Cash-Strapped Cities
By Stephen Clark

Published January 20, 2011
| FoxNews.com

Grappling with a brutal economic climate, more than 200 of the nation's mayors have descended upon Washington to urge President Obama to help cities out of the fiscal morass they find themselves in as state and federal aid dries up.

Several mayors, attending the annual National Conference of Mayors, met behind closed doors with the president and Vice President Biden on Thursday afternoon. Job creation is high on the agenda as the local executives push the administration to help find work in America's cities and townships, where 85 percent of the nation's population resides.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said the group had a "great meeting" in which the president said he would focus on economic development and "the need for the federal government to partner with cities."

"What was clear to me, this is a president who is focused on our cities," Villaraigosa said after the meeting.

More than one-third of the nation's 363 metro areas are expected to have unemployment rates higher than 10 percent at the end of 2011, according to a report released by the conference and Global Insight.

continued:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011...est=latestnews

Excellent points Mark,

I wish that the leadership in California thirty years ago could have had some extraordinary vision and taken care of some of these problems before they became unsolvable. Correct on the State employees, many of them leave the State after they retire and take the money with them. All of those illegals that are in the California State Prison system? How about a mandatory death sentence for any illegal who commits a felony here? "Sorry Julio, but we just can't afford it anymore, could you please lean back while we put this little needle in your arm? It will only take a second." I could go on and on but I'll stop.

I've actually been thinking about leaving and moving to America for a long time.

You mean that Republican fellow, Pete Wilson 1991-1999 or that other Republican fellow George Deukmejian 1983-1991. Or that nice actor fellow Arnold Schwartzenegger, 2002-2010. surely you're not blaming that other nice actor fellow from 1967 - 1975? Oh wait it was those damned Dim legislatures.:D

The voters get what the want, and that's just what they deserve. A hell of a way to run a railroad.
no thread cross-polinization!

You must have a lot of taggers in your area <<LINK>>.:rolleyes:

There you go again.

Dozer you forgot Gov. Jerry Brown who's aura smiles a never frowns 1975-1983..

Doesn't really matter who did or didn't do what......the Unions will get stock in California, the private investor is likely going to get left holding an empty bag and the Rule of Law is likely to be cast into the wind.

It should add to the already cheery environment :rolleyes:

Bonus Payments to City Retirees Are Drawing Ire
 

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/21/us/21bccola.html?_r=2


Nothing like charging up the cards before filing for bankruptcy

States and Bankrupcies
 

It would be quit a slippery slope we put ourselves on if we allow States to discharge their pension obligations through bankruptcy. What is next? No more retirement benefits for retired or disabled military person? These changes will be voted on by individuals who only have to serve five years to receive their pension (congress and senate).