Free Republic

Detroit’s bankruptcy and the problems facing its pension funds offer two important lessons to other communities. One is that state and local governments need to do a much better job managing retirement funds. The other is that they should not pre-emptively reduce hard-earned benefits at the first sign of trouble. Several state and local pension systems around the country are under serious stress. Not surprisingly the hardest hit retirement funds are in places devastated by global economic forces like Detroit, as well as inland cities in California like Stockton, which was battered by the real estate collapse and has also...

Mideast: The sequester has "cost jobs," says President Obama, and "gutted investments in education and science and medical research." But somehow he's earmarked $500 million for Hamas terrorists. Circumventing Congress and with no fanfare, President Obama last week issued an executive order enabling him to send an additional $500 million directly to the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank — much of which you can bet will wind up going to the Iranian-backed Hamas terrorist organization. According to Obama, "it is important to the national security interests of the United States to waive the provisions of" Congress' legislative restrictions "in...

Detroit: officially a man-made disaster It’s official; Detroit is now legally as well as morally bankrupt. “The city of Detroit filed the largest municipal bankruptcy case in U.S. history Thursday afternoon, culminating a decades-long slide that transformed the nation’s iconic industrial town into a model of urban decline crippled by population loss, a dwindling tax base and financial problems.” In short order there will be allegations of racist-fueled white flight and business abandonment of the city. Charges of unfair treatment will be leveled against “the system” that  led to the Motor City’s devolution. This will be followed immediately by...

While in the past President Obama has been more that willing to throw good money after bad and "refuse to let Detroit go bankrupt," it seems when push comes to shove - under the intense scrutiny of a nation awash in scandal, a drastically bifurcated congress - that despite the imploring from local congressmen for "moar" already - that the savior of the city will not this time ride to the rescue on his white horse. In a statement, the White House said they "are monitoring the situation in Detroit closely," with no hint - just as they have made...

Inspired by the tourism board of Detroit. A "Pure Michigan" parody. It's short, and you'll laugh your head off!

Obama: “We refuse to let Detroit go bankrupt.” Biden: Romney would “let Detroit go bankrupt.” Despite the promises of Obama and Biden, Detroit became the largest city to file for bankruptcy on July 18, 2013.

Harry Reid: Insufficient Government Spending Hurts U.S. Economy July 8, 2013 - 4:37 PM By Ryan Kierman (CNSNews.com) – Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said in a press release Friday that insufficient government spending, caused by Republican "austerity policies" is hurting the U.S. economy and preventing a quicker recovery. “We need to continue advancing policies that spur growth and create jobs," Reid said. "It's time for Republicans to let go of their failed austerity policies that weigh down our economy and prevent a speedier recovery. We simply can't cut our way to prosperity." During President Barack Obama's first three years...

Saturday at 11:30a ET on Cashin’ In, Eric Bolling sits down with Sarah Palin. In this sneak peek of the interview, Palin addresses why Americans can’t trust the federal government. “When you have a government that will not even acknowledge to the American public that we are bankrupt […] Read more at Fox News Insider

Why did the U.S. government spend 2.6 million dollars to train Chinese prostitutes to drink responsibly? Why did the U.S. government spend $175,587 "to determine if cocaine makes Japanese quail engage in sexually risky behavior"? Why did the U.S. government spend nearly a million dollars on a new soccer field for detainees being held at Guantanamo Bay? This week when I saw that the IRS was about to pay out 70 million dollars in bonuses to their employees and that the U.S. government was going to be leaving 7 billion dollars worth of military equipment behind in Afghanistan, it caused...

As the state Senate finished voting Saturday on a bill to extend a tax on managed care plans, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg told reporters at the back of the room, "That is what's called a supermajority." Gov. Jerry Brown is expected to sign the spending plan before the next fiscal year begins July 1.

Many states, especially California and Illinois, have had severe pension underfunding problems for many years. However, new actuarial pension rules will finally force states to admit the problem. Thus, it should not be surprising that talk of "technical bankruptcy" and “service insolvency” is growing. Here are some pertinent ideas from California on the Brink: Pension Crisis About to Get Worse   Moody’s new credit standards for public pensions would nearly double the unfunded liabilities for state and local pension plans in California to $328.6 billion from $128.3 billion. California has the second lowest credit rating at Standard & Poor’s of all 50 states;...

Retirement Will Kill You Teddy Roosevelt once said “the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.” Recent research suggests he may have been more right than he knew: Life’s “best prize” might actually extend life itself. Our common perception is that retirement is a time when we can relax and take better care of ourselves after stressful careers. But what if work itself is beneficial to our health, as several recent studies suggest? One of them, by Jennifer Montez of Harvard University and Anna Zajacova of the University of Wyoming,...

The Social Security program faces $9.6 trillion in unfunded liabilities over the next 75 years, which is up $1 trillion from last year’s projection of $8.6 trillion, according to the latest report from Social Security’s board of trustees. The unfunded liability is the amount that has been promised in benefits to people now alive that will not be funded by the tax revenue the system is expected to take in to pay for those benefits. (The Social Security trustees calculate the unfunded liability for a period of 75 years into the future, from 2012 to 2087). …

Bidding wars are breaking out. Foreign buyers are moving in. A new wave of contemporary architecture is taking hold. And a growing class of tech executives is helping to fuel the boom. All this is happening in Washington, D.C., a town known for its relative affordability compared with cities such as New York and San Francisco, and for architecture about as exciting as its fashion sense. Today, home prices in Washington and its surrounding suburbs are rapidly rising to new levels. As other American cities have been buffeted by an uneven economy, Washington's property market has been buoyed two forces...

Broke Detroit's Pension Fund "Trustees" Use Public Funds To Fund Hawaii Trip Tyler Durden 05/25/2013 12:46 -0400 "When you have city employees, police, and firefighters have taken pay cuts, it doesn't look good," is the somewhat understated response from Detroit's emergency manager to the city's latest debacle. Amid the deepening financial crisis the crumbling region faces, four trustees of its public pension funds spent $22,000 of retirement funds to attend a conference at Waikiki Beach, Honolulu. "It's one of these things we trustees must do to stay on top of the field," is how one of the trustees defended the...

The city of Detroit may be facing a deepening financial crisis but that hasn't stopped four trustees of its public pension funds from spending $22,000 of retirement system funds to attend a conference in Hawaii this week. One well-attended session covered how to avoid front-page scandals. According to presenter Lydia Lee, a pension attorney from Oklahoma, the session touched on a topic familiar back in Detroit: The indictment this spring of two former city pension officials for an alleged $200 million bribery and kickback scheme, in a case that will come to trial next March.

Acting state Democratic Party Chairwoman Nancy Worley lowered her head and slowly shook it side to side when summing up the financial condition of her once powerful party. "We're broke, broke, broke," Worley told the party's Executive Board in a special called meeting Frida. How broke is broke? Worley didn't sugar coat the answer. "This is my 18th day as chair and thirty minutes after I took over on April 22nd the landlord of the building where our party headquarters are came in and said he wanted us out, that the rent was overdue and was always overdue," said Worley....

DETROIT (WWJ) - Detroit’s emergency manager says the city is bleeding much more red ink than originally thought. That’s what Kevyn Orr told WWJ City Beat Reporter Vickie Thomas in an exclusive one-on-one interview. “The situation is severe,” Orr said. “It’s worse that we originally thought. It ain’t good.” With just 39 days under his belt, Orr is already putting the final touches on a draft of his 40-plus page financial report, which must be submitted to the state on Monday. “I’ve been spending virtually every day from March 25 when I got here, looking at the city’s financials. This...

Tuesday, May 07, 2013 The Road to Nowhere Posted by Daniel Greenfield @ the Sultan Knish blog The Heritage Institute report estimates that under amnesty the average legalized illegal household will take in $43,900 in benefits while paying a little over a third of that in taxes. Those numbers are grim from the standpoint of a tottering economy being asked to take on an even bigger pile of debt and they reveal an even grimmer view of the future. Set aside the political debates, the tensions over multiculturalism, entitlements and the great political divide, and those numbers reek of a...

Obama has done it. He has brought America down. It only took him just over four years. The Republicans could have stopped him. They didn’t. How did the nihilistic left succeed in destroying America? Simple. They learned just a little of the capitalism they hate, and they drove your nation into outright bankruptcy. And here is what the GOP has to say about it: just about nothing. The once-mighty United States is now the most indebted nation on Earth. In round numbers, here are just some of the vital statistics as the patient dies: National debt: $17 trillion, or $50,000...