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Health & Fitness

No Federal Bailout for the city of Detroit, MI

No Federal Bailout for the city of Detroit, MI

Decisions have consequences, Progressive decisions generally have disastrous consequences.  You eventually run out of other people’s money and in our Constitutional Democratic Republic people vote with their feet [check out the Free State Project or Walking to Freedom if you haven't already]. Once they do, there goes the tax base [property, income, sales, auto, use, etc].

If you want a case study detailing the consequences of Progressive / Collectivist rule, look to Detroit!

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  • Since 1950 the population of the city has dropped from 1.8 million to about 700K [anyone want to lay odds on how many of those who left were makers and how many of those who stayed were takers?]
  • The unemployment rate hit a high of 27.8% in July 2009.
  • As of April 2013, the unemployment rate was at 16%.
  • Even though the population fell 63% since 1950, the municipal workforce fell by just 40%, adding to the strain on public finances.
  • Detroit has the highest violent crime rate of any large U.S. city, five times higher than the national average.
  • 40% of the street lights don't work [mostly because scrappers have stripped the copper wire from them].
  • 78,000 structures and 66,000 lots are abandoned.
  • Arson accounts for 1,000 of 12,0000 fires per year and 60% of those arson fires are in dilapidated or empty buildings.
  • Only about 1/3 of the city’s ambulances are working.
  • Average response time for a 911 call is about 1 hour [well above the national average of 11  minutes]. 
  • 2012 high school graduation rates was 64% [up from 59% in 2011].
  • According to the latest figures 81.6% of Detroit residents self identify as non-Hispanic blacks [highest % in the country for cities over 100K in population] and consequently the city shares the issues associated with the national trend that 72.3 percent of the children born to black women are now born out-of-wedlock [once upon a time civil society called that the illegitimacy rate but that's become politically incorrect as has a certain descriptive word for a child whose birth lacks legal legitimacy or to imply shame on such a pregnancy].
  • Detroit's general fund deficit currently stands at $375 million, or roughly $700 million when adjusted for recent deficit borrowing. For perspective, that's within the context of a $1 billion fiscal year (FY) 2014 budget.
  • The city projects negative cash flow of $198 million in FY 2014. By the end of FY 2013, the city will have deferred $100 million in pension funding, and 
  • Perhaps as much as $20 billion in unfunded liabilities [for the state of CT that number is at least $42 billion].
Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr and Detroit Mayor Dave Bing met with White House officials including Obama’s senior adviser Valerie Jarrett in early April to discuss Detroit’s financial situation. Last week, Orr updated Jarrett and other White House officials by phone about the city’s woes.  “They wanted an update about what’s going on in Detroit,” he said of this week’s call. Last week, Orr spokesman Bill Nowling said at the April White House meeting “there was never a formal ask, but I think the way it was portrayed to me that it was pretty clear there was going to be no bailout ... akin to what we saw in scope and intent for the autos or for Wall Street.”

Late yesterday Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) and Emergency Manager, Orr, filed for Chapter 9 Bankruptcy for the city of Detroit after failing to achieve concession from creditors, unions, retirees or a commitment on a bailout from the Obama Administration.

Detroit has been kicking the can [of their fiscal problems] down the road for decades not unlike many cities in CT [not to mention the state] for whom this should be a cautionary tail. Detroit like CT and the Federal Government has made promises it does not have the financial wherewithal to keep. Pay close attention to what happens to the citizens of Detroit, it may be the coming attraction for a drama to be played out in a city near your [if not the nation as a whole].  When you keep taking from the maker and giving to the take, the maker walk or stop making!

It will be interesting to see if the Obama Administration and Congress stick to their no bailout stance.  The taxpayers of the nation should not be asked to make good on the fraud perpetrated by years of Progressive city administrations.  There are no free lunches. You made the mess, now it is up to you to clean it up [it's not a NATIONAL DISASTER].  I and the Sovereign Citizens of the United States of America are not interested in saving you from the consequences of your actions.  Sometimes you have to hit rock bottom before you are willing to admit that you have a problem and seek help. The Progressive Democrats in Detroit are addicted to Other People's Property [not talk'en about Naughty by Nature] and they just OD'ed.  The patient is going to live but it will not be pretty.  I hope Detroit finds a few friends of Bill W. or Jimmy K. and earns a few coins, the city deserves better.

But the Sovereign Citizens of America should not spend one penny of their hard earned money [Progressives / Collectivists take note] on yet another "Methadone Tab" for Detroit's addiction.  Cold Turkey and One Day At A Time are the orders of the day. It is time to Cowboy up and start acting like the great city you once were!
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