Detroit... damn

[SCFinfan]

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/353862/detroit-goes-down-kevin-d-williamson

"While political cronies got fat, the people of Detroit were left with some of the worst schools in the country, some of the most dangerous streets in the country, and a mass-transit system that is a non-functioning mess. Not that you’d want to start a business there, but if you did, its licensing and regulatory agencies run the gamut from incompetent to corrupt."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hhJ_49leBw

Sad to see it.

This was once a mecca for development, young families, and the american dream. Now it's a rusty old waste. That is disappointing.

[el diablo]

It is disappointing.

[Spider-Dan]

Has Detroit went under the Emergency Manager yet?

[el diablo]

I can't say for sure if they have. I could've sworn I heard that they did & it was fought against. But I could be wrong.

[Buddhagirl]

Has Detroit went under the Emergency Manager yet?

I thought they did.

[Sunstroke]

They did...and the emergency manager filed for bankruptcy two days ago.

[Landshark]

Who wants to live in Detroit anyway? Its freezing cold up there eight months out of the year.

[Brian Fein]

Who wants to live in Detroit anyway? Its freezing cold up there eight months out of the year.

yeah, and New York and Boston and Chicago and Milwaukee and Seattle and Toronto and Minneapolis and Pittsburgh and Philadelphia and Cincinnati...

Who wants to live in any of those places?

 

[pondwater]

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/353862/detroit-goes-down-kevin-d-williamson

"While political cronies got fat, the people of Detroit were left with some of the worst schools in the country, some of the most dangerous streets in the country, and a mass-transit system that is a non-functioning mess. Not that you’d want to start a business there, but if you did, its licensing and regulatory agencies run the gamut from incompetent to corrupt."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hhJ_49leBw

Sad to see it.

This was once a mecca for development, young families, and the american dream. Now it's a rusty old waste. That is disappointing.

They get what they ask and vote for. You couldn't pay me to live in a large metropolitan democrat stronghold. I guess it's a severe case of Stockholm Syndrome. It's not hard to see whats going on and how people who are Socialist in thought and practice destroys everything they touch over time. If Detroit and cites like it constantly elect the same type of leaders and get exactly what they voted for. It's not rocket science.

[Sunstroke]

yeah, and New York and Boston and Chicago and Milwaukee and Seattle and Toronto and Minneapolis and Pittsburgh and Philadelphia and Cincinnati...

Who wants to live in any of those places?

 

Having lived for a significant stretch in Seattle, they really shouldn't be on this list at all. It isn't freezing cold up there 8 months a year...and it is a great place to live.

[Brian Fein]

Having lived for a significant stretch in Seattle, they really shouldn't be on this list at all. It isn't freezing cold up there 8 months a year...and it is a great place to live.

Fine, I was just trying to think of northern cities.  I retract Seattle from my list.

[Spider-Dan]

They get what they ask and vote for. You couldn't pay me to live in a large metropolitan democrat stronghold.

Because New York and Los Angeles and San Francisco and Silicon Valley are known for being some of the poorest and least productive areas.

Unlike, say, the entire Republican South sans Texas.

[pondwater]

Because New York and Los Angeles and San Francisco and Silicon Valley are known for being some of the poorest and least productive areas.

Unlike, say, the entire Republican South sans Texas.

Are you talking about state financials or private industry? Seems to me that I recall seeing California being about bankrupt or having a severe money problem. I also notice that LA and NY have some of the worst ghettos in the country. Yes, they are doing great. Either way, I'm sure that Texas is doing just fine.

[Spider-Dan]

California Faces a New Quandary, Too Much Money

LOS ANGELES — After years of grueling battles over state budget deficits and spending cuts, California has a new challenge on its hands: too much money. An unexpected surplus is fueling an argument over how the state should respond to its turn of good fortune.

The amount is a matter of debate, but by any measure significant: between $1.2 billion, projected by Gov. Jerry Brown, and $4.4 billion, the estimate of the Legislature’s independent financial analyst. The surplus comes barely three years after the state was facing a deficit of close to $60 billion.

And what's the difference between three years ago and now, you ask?  2010: Democratic governor elected.  2012: Democrats gained a supermajority in the state House and Senate; GOP relegated entirely to the sideline.  Budget crisis immediately fixed.  We know where the problem is in my state, thank you very much.

I notice you mentioned Texas (which I specifically excluded), but seem to have ignored the rest of the tax-leeching red states.  Maybe if Michigan had sucked on the federal teat as much as Mississippi or Alabama, Detroit would be in better shape today.

As for the ghettos, I've not seen any data indicating that the ghettos in Houston or Dallas are somehow better than those in NY or LA, but in any case, I imagine those ghettos are still better off than wide swaths of rural Republican Appalachia.

[SCFinfan]

California Faces a New Quandary, Too Much Money

LOS ANGELES — After years of grueling battles over state budget deficits and spending cuts, California has a new challenge on its hands: too much money. An unexpected surplus is fueling an argument over how the state should respond to its turn of good fortune.

The amount is a matter of debate, but by any measure significant: between $1.2 billion, projected by Gov. Jerry Brown, and $4.4 billion, the estimate of the Legislature’s independent financial analyst. The surplus comes barely three years after the state was facing a deficit of close to $60 billion.

Uh - the combined state and local debt of California is still somewhere btw 848 billion and 1.1 trillion. If the Legislature's independent financial analyst is right, and you took every drop of that 4.4 billion and poured it into debt repayment - even if the debt was not accruing interest - it'd take 192.7 years to pay off all of 'fornia's state and local debt.

Considering only the state-level debt, even w/o counting any unfunded pension, retiree healthcare benefits, etc, it'd take (again, if the analyst is right, and every drop of the surplus is poured into debt repayments) 30.13 years to pay off the state's debt (132.6/4.4).

This is all assuming the tax rates stay the same, that there are no recessions, no depressions, no major disasters, terrorist strikes, or anything else which could substantially affect the economy of California.

http://californiapublicpolicycenter.org/calculating-californias-total-state-and-local-government-debt/

and also: http://spectator.org/blog/2013/06/26/browns-balancing-act-californi

So - economic crisis fixed? No. Jerry Brown and the legislature should be praised for killing off the deficit. Yes. However they did it thru tax hikes which rely on private earners, who are the true heroes here.