Debt crisis to hit cities next year? (A trillion dollars in the hole and climbing !)

American Thinker ^ | 12/21/2010

[raybbr]

Detroit is cutting police, lighting, road repairs and cleaning services affecting as much as 20% of the population. The city, which has been on the skids for almost two decades with the decline of the US auto industry, does not generate enough wealth to maintain services for its 900,000 inhabitants.

Gee, I wonder what percentage of the budget is for "education"?

[kevslisababy]

HA, I wonder how many of their “inhabitants” actaully contribute to the tax base.

[TSgt]

I remarked to my wife the other day how we take certain service for granted like snow clearing. Just imagine if budget cutbacks became so severe that roads could not be cleared for weeks. We might soon find out what that’s like...

[edpc]

The fact 60 Minutes aired this while we have a Dem administration made me immediately think two things:

1 - It's a lot worse than they said.

2 - They'll find a way to blame it on the Republican takeover of the House.

[dirtboy]

What government does when presented with a five percent budget cut is to pare back essential services first, to 'prove' there is no room to cut the budget.

We need hard-nosed conservative politicians to force them to cut the fat first.

[edpc]

Call me picky, but shouldn't your subtitle be a trillion dollars in the hole and sinking....?

;-)

[TSgt]

10% across the board would be a good start.

Most businesses have cut at least that in the past 18 months.

[Texas resident]

Good point. The always cut police and fire first but NEVER cut the school “administrators” and similar types.

[spokeshave]

Lack of snow clearing....We might soon find out what that’s like...

Some more bad news...the BP oil spill has switched off the Gulf Loop.

Film at 11 here....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXUifNpnpfQ

[ldish]

every city (mu;tiple numbers of them) is in a county of every state...so who needs city government overhead layer anyway...to heck with them...get rid of them and place all services at the county and state level.

[Ticonderoga34]

"There's not a doubt on my mind that you will see a spate of municipal bond defaults."

I seem to recall some financial pundits recommending buying municipal bonds when the economy went into the tank. They said that muni bonds were a safe investment.

I'm not a big time investor who pays a lot of attention to the markets so maybe I'm wrong about this. But I do seem to remember certain people in the media saying buy muni bonds.

[SeekAndFind]

RE: I seem to recall some financial pundits recommending buying municipal bonds when the economy went into the tank. They said that muni bonds were a safe investment.

---

I believe there still are some out there. But you have to be VERY careful what municipalities you plan to invest in. Be sure they are the well managed ones with debt and spending under control.

[luvbach1]

My home town of San Diego has been flirting with bankruptcy for years due largely to a huge shortfall in funding of over-generous employee pensions.

[traditional1]

ALL the top cities on the list would be run by Democrats, I would surmise.....

I wonder why that would be?

LOL

[SeekAndFind]

RE: My home town of San Diego has been flirting with bankruptcy for years due largely to a huge shortfall in funding of over-generous employee pensions.

---

San Diego too ? I thought it was in a more conservative part of California ? I guess I have to say I was wrong on that...

[luvbach1]

San Diego is still fairly conservative, but much less so than in the past (ditto Orange County), as is the case with the state (as everyone knows).

[I am Richard Brandon]

"Debt crisis to hit cities next year? (A trillion dollars in the hole and climbing !)"

Always a crisis 'soon', 'next year', 'next month'. Dammit! This is America! Short attention span and all that. I want the crisis NOW!

[Terry Mross]

Impending doom was the talk during the Carter years. But, as said somewhere by another freeper, we came out of that because we had a manufacturing base.

[LomanBill]

Gas stations are refusing to accept Illinois state credit cards.

 

Hmmmm.  I wonder what happens when grocery stores stop accepting them too...

 

 

 

"Fill your hands", pilgrims... and prepare to defend yourselves.