Posted on 07/31/2011 9:06:36 AM PDT by george76
The tiny, cash-strapped town of Central Falls, Rhode Island, is expected to know Monday whether it is officially bankrupt. Robert Flanders, the town's state appointed receiver, will work through the weekend to decide whether he will file for bankruptcy on behalf of Central Falls...
...
Central Falls faces a $4.9 million budget shortfall. The real financial problem, however, is the city's $80 million public pension debt and it's public safety worker pension fund is on track to run out by October.
A Chapter 9 municipal bankruptcy filing would give Central Falls the opportunity to change it's union agreements. But it may also scare investors away from Rhode Island's other municipalities, many of which are already on the brink of insolvency.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
This is getting scarier and scarier. City after city going bankrupt. Not saying who’s right or wrong. Just saying it’s scary.
bump.
There is a simple solution, you know. Spend more—like our very own Fed. Gov’t.
Stossel had some poor guy on his show who had worked for the fire department of Prichard (sp?), Alabama for 32 years. The city declared bankruptcy and stopped sending out pension checks. This 66-year-old man had to take a full-time job as a security guard at a mall for income and health insurance. The city promised these benefits to workers but never had a plan to pay for them.
Meanwhile, the mayor of this town has a nice salary, as do all the bureaucrats working at their housing agencies, etc.
Politicians promise more than they can deliver, and it is always the little people who pay. I’m sure the union bosses who negotiated these pension plans are doing fine, too.
Why are they going bankrupt? Unions!!!!!
It’s not so scary to me....it’s infuriating.
The incompetence and willful disregard of our elected officials is beyond the pale.
So, way down at the end of the article, we get a clue as to what the problem is. There is simply no excuse for government workers -- federal, state, or local -- to be permitted union representation.
As far as scaring investors away from Rhode Island's other municipalities, that wouldn't seem to be the problem of Central Falls.
If it’s too good to be true, it probably is.
These pension payouts are too much. We all know it. Yet people are surprised when these cities cannot afford to pay them out. I realize these cities “promised” to pay but if they don’t have the money, they don’t have the money!
Pull the trigger! There is an advantage to being the first to file.
The incompetence and willful disregard of our elected officials is beyond the pale.
And that’s what’s scary. The people keep electing crooks and idiots. I look at congress and see a bunch of nerds who who think they’re smarter than everyone else. We need to give them all an atomic wedgy. (sp)
Yes, and what I don’t understand is why people keep believing these outlandish promises! Honestly, even we conservatives fall for them. Some person running for president says he or she is going to solve all our problems and we buy it every time. As the hymn says, put no confidence in princes.
LITANY AGAINST FEAR
I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.
Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear - From Frank Herbert's Dune Book Series
“Why are they going bankrupt? Unions!!!!!”
The real problem is the mediocrity of the voters.
We need a political system that only allows those who keep their own house in order the authority to run the collective house. Perhaps “if you pay property or income taxes to the municipality, you may vote.” Or “you get one vote, and if you are above the median taxpayer, you get a second vote.”
Anything that shifts the voters out of mediocrity.
Now the fighting begins for the Democrats. Who’s got the juice to keep the stolen money flowing to them?
Another problem is how pensions are calculated. Overtime is counted as part of income. Pensions should be base salary only!
We have a population of silly, feckless, selfish voters who will Always demand gubment cheese in their fridge and armed union thugs on the streets. Your money belongs to them, as does your lively hood ,safety and well being. You will be shot to save you if necessary.
COMPLY CITIZEN!
“City” = “corrupt Democrat parasite nest”
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