Excerpts:
“The Detroit city council meets today to consider a state offer to save Motown from bankruptcy. The result will reveal whether even looming catastrophe can break the stranglehood that unions have on urban politics.”
“Retirement costs are Detroit’s biggest liability, and about half of all tax dollars go toward employee benefits.” editors note: It works out to roughly $10,000 per resident per year to fund the retirements already promised. That is not sustainable in a shrinking city of limited means.
“If the unions refuse to renegotiate, the Governor wants to give Mayor Bing the authority to impose new contracts. Mr. Snyder’s original proposal would have given this power to an oversight board. But city leaders complained that ceding control to unaccountable bureaucrats would compromise the city’s independence and undercut democratic governance.”
“If the city council rejects the Governor’s latest proposal today, Governor Snyder would be required by a new state law to appoint an emergency manager to run the city. This state-appointed receiver would usurp the city council and have the authority to nullify labor contracts and impose new ones. City leaders and the unions have been trying to avoid this outcome by stringing out negotiations with the state.”
” City council members don’t want independence. They want to be hooked up to the state IV.”
“Mr. Snyder is trying to help Detroit save itself. But if city leaders refuse to assert control over the unions, a declaration of bankruptcy may be the only way to save Motown.”
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303816504577312094014279010.html
Next up: Chicago, followed by San Francisco and Los Angeles. Does anyone see a pattern here?
All have been ruled by liberal Democrat political machines for years on end.
Here is your future brought to you courtesy of the democrat party:
http://www.wealthwire.com/news/economy/2045
Are these cities going to present our federal government, i.e. you and me, with another “too big to fail” moment? I do not see a scenario where the taxpayers of this country could stand these cities back up on a sound financial basis.
This may finish the job of destroying the United States that a few Wall Street Investment Banks failed to finish starting in 2007.
What good does it ever do to raise the red flag about questionable spending by city councils if that council is too inept to recognize the danger, or too corrupt to care about it?
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