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A Philadelphia Story - 30 Blocks Of Squalor & Government Incompetence

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Submitted by Jim Quinn via The Burning Platform blog,

There were two accidents on the Schuylkill Expressway last Monday morning. You know what this meant. I had the pleasure of traveling to work on the scenic 30 Blocks of Squalor. The 30 blocks from 69th Street in Upper Darby to 39th Street in West Philly is a tribute to government incompetence, failed government policies, shoddy union labor practices and fiscal mismanagement.

This entire thirty block trek could be completed in 5 to 10 minutes if the hundreds of union government drones in the Philadelphia Streets Department would get off their fat asses and timed the lights. The blocks are identical in distance. They don’t need advanced degrees in physics or calculus to set the lights to go green every ten seconds in order. They were timed in the 1970s and 1980s. Would smoothly flowing traffic be such a bad thing? Do they not care or are they really this incompetent? The first light at 61st Street was red when I arrived. It turned green and before you could touch the gas, it immediately turned yellow and red again. I wondered how long they’d allow this to go on. My guess would be days.

I’ve noted in previous 30 Blocks screeds that Philadelphia put a thin veneer of blacktop on the entirety of Chestnut Street about two years ago. I’ve also detailed the dozens of water main breaks that occur on a regular basis under the streets of Philadelphia, causing tens of millions in property damage. This is how corrupt incompetent government drones run the show. They gloss over the long-term real structural problems with a thin veneer of cheap half assed faux solutions that provide the false appearance of fixing something.

Ignoring the deeply rooted fundamental issues like crumbling hundred year old pipes and dangerous disintegrating Amtrak traintracks, while throwing down some blacktop, painting white bike lanes on streets where no one in their right mind would ride a bike, and installing wheel chair ramps on every corner even though a wheel chair could never navigate the crumbling trash strewn sidewalks, is the height of willful dishonesty and incompetence. Two years after smoothing over the bumps and potholes on Chestnut Street with tons of blacktop, driving the 30 Blocks of Squalor is now like driving in downtown Baghdad after a Sunni/Shia family reunion.

 

There are gaping craters dotting the landscape along the entire putrid route of boarded up hovels, dying businesses with bars on every window, collapsing porches, sidewalks strewn with trash & debris, and murals of black people doing great things. The streets are literally collapsing into the rat infested sewers below. There is an occasional orange cone in front of the gaping holes, but most are unidentified until your car blows a tire or ruins their alignment. Cars come to sudden stops if they recognize the danger ahead. If the lights were timed this would be a real bummer. Luckily the average speed is 10 miles per hour, so you can usually survive the trek.

What is the point in spending millions of taxpayer dollars blacktopping streets which are crumbling from below? Why not fix the problems below before applying the blacktop above? Because the city is bankrupt. The infrastructure isn’t crumbling because they don’t have enough money. It’s crumbling because they have chosen to spend taxpayer money on gold plated pensions and health benefits for union government workers and teachers. They’ve wasted hundreds of millions on public schools that only graduate 50% of those entering and most of those graduates are functionally illiterate. They spend millions painting murals, giving tax breaks to mega-corporations like Comcast, and building sports stadiums for billionaires. The corruption, mismanagement, incompetence and stupidity of politicians, government bureaucrats, and union officials is breathtaking to behold.

Building 101 luxury low income townhouses in the midst of squalor, depravity, drugs, crime, and welfare mentality, with $27 million of taxpayer funds is the kind of waste created by liberal do-gooder politicians like Michael Nutter and Barack Obama. The $27 million should have been spent replacing ancient water mains before they burst and destroyed businesses and homes, costing the city and its citizens millions in lost business and property damage. The Mantua Square debacle gets better by the day. It was built using Obama’s $900 billion porkulus funds. It sits within one of Obama’s Promise Zones in the Mantua section of West Philly. Last month they found a dead body on the same block as Mantua Square. Ten people were shot a few blocks away on the same night. Does it sound like this low income housing estate has upgraded the neighborhood?

I’ve previously noted the eight retail store outlets built into the project remain vacant three years after their construction. It seems if you build it in West Philly they won’t come. Not one black entrepreneur has launched the next Google or even a new hip hop clothing store. Mayor Nutter said these retail outlets would revitalize the neighborhood. This is how liberal lunatic politicians think. They actually think a business would open in a neighborhood where median household income is $18,000, drugs and crime are rampant, the population is uneducated and unemployed, and the city taxes are outrageously high. The mind of a liberal is a waste of brain cells.

But the story has gotten even better in the last month. This gated monument to liberal waste has now proven to be another testament to government incompetence. It is located on Wallace Street between 35th and 36th Street. Virtually every morning, I make a right turn at 34th and Wallace and then make a left turn onto 36th to get to my job. The street began to sink at 34th and Wallace about a month ago. Someone put up three orange cones, but nary a government union drone from the Streets Department has arrived to fix it. Of course, this is just a minor pothole compared to the moon sized crater at 35th and Wallace. It began to sink months ago. Someone eventually filled it with some blacktop, but it now has grown to approximately 5 feet in circumference  and three feet deep. The residents have filled it with crates and miscellaneous debris. Multiply this one block by hundreds to get a feel for the deterioration of this city.

In the last few weeks it seems the taxpayer is getting the opportunity to pay union construction workers more money to fix the incompetent shoddy work they did when building this low income paradise. The picture below, besides showing the vacant retail outlets, emphasizes the protruding windows on each unit. Keep in mind you paid $245,000 per townhouse, just three years ago. The union construction workers are now ripping off the facings of every protruding window section and replacing them. Evidently, every one must be leaking. You can be sure the place was originally built with requirements that minority contractors must be used. I’m sure the taxpayer is paying a 40% union labor premium for more shoddy repair work. But at least they’ll be slow so they can milk this job for a few months. Incompetence abounds in Philadelphia. There is no accountability, no brains, no common sense, and when they are done – no money.

Into this crumbling city of bumbling fools we have Pope Francis arriving in late September. The city will be overwhelmed with 2 million more people than normal. It’s a gridlocked shitshow on a normal day. It will become an epic clusterfuck during this week. I will either use vacation time or work from home. The incompetence of government was on full display last week as SEPTA announced to great fanfare that people would need a special Pope Pass to ride SEPTA during his visit. They hired a vendor with $500,000 of taxpayer funds to build a website where people could purchase a pass. The site crashed 15 minutes after it was launched and hasn’t been back up since. I wonder if the taxpayer will get a refund.

It seems the politicians, government bureaucrats, union bosses, school board, and civic leaders of Philadelphia have achieved hierarchical nirvana.

“In a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence.”

Laurence J. Peter, The Peter Principle

 

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Mon, 07/27/2015 - 13:57 | 6359642 Jugdish787
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Philly is a shithole...Another past great american city, circling the bowl.  

 

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 14:03 | 6359666 KnuckleDragger-X
KnuckleDragger-X's picture

They could always try good old fashioned Roman decimation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimation_%28Roman_army%29 Of course they'd need to start with the mayor and city council.....

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 14:06 | 6359676 CrazyCooter
CrazyCooter's picture

This is the primary example for why I will never desire to own any property ... unless it is commercial with cash flow.

Cities are in a constant state of decay and without productive economic activity, will simply fall apart. No city with any history looks the same four to five decades apart. Things look like shit because the economy has been shit for long enough for the entropy to shine through.

Given the trend towards deflation (or hyperinflation which is likely worse) and corrupt muni/county/state management, it is best to just be able to pack and go when things go sideways.

Regards,

Cooter

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 14:20 | 6359739 knukles
knukles's picture

Hey, in early 1985 Philly Mayor W. Wilson Goode demonstrated the appropriate way to proceed with urban renewal when his police dropped a bomb on the Move HQ after a protracted gun battle.  The ensuing conflagration burnt down so 50 to 60 homes.
Never a job too big for some big guys in a big city

https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?p=philadelphia+police+drop+bomb+on+h...

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 14:36 | 6359800 Headbanger
Headbanger's picture

Ah yes... Philthaduhphia...

A graveyard with lights..

Now get away from me boyyy.. You bother me...

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 15:32 | 6360014 0b1knob
0b1knob's picture

Meanwhile in Ohio, dozens of "youths" loot a circle K.

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/buster/akron/circle-k-mob-and-rob-786429

Shockingly they are all Canadians.  Damn Canadians.  And many of the "youths" look to be over 30.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 17:26 | 6360451 giggler321
giggler321's picture

Where was the last time I saw a car sink like that?  Arhhh Ghostbusters.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=mNuG25oq_b0#t=154

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 18:31 | 6360636 Arnold
Arnold's picture

The best that Black Democrats can do.

A Showcase of Possibilities.

Tue, 07/28/2015 - 00:44 | 6361815 pretty bird
pretty bird's picture

American cities are third world crap holes.  This is no big secret.  Nobody should be shocked.

Tue, 07/28/2015 - 03:28 | 6361981 Four chan
Four chan's picture

blacks, someone needs to say it.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 15:49 | 6360073 Bangin7GramRocks
Bangin7GramRocks's picture

That area was really nice until Whitey started moving back 10 years ago.
Fuckin' white people!

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 17:09 | 6360393 ironsky
ironsky's picture

You a liar boy! White people been takin the Paoli local into town to do all the crime since 1960. Why you think they so rich on the Main Line?

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 16:16 | 6360172 Countrybunkererd
Countrybunkererd's picture

Had a flight issue causing me to stay overnight there.  I got there 3.5 hours early, you know unions and all that imaging of your bits and such and by the time we got through security, the plane was 3 minutes from stated departure time...the incompetence is unbelievable and i fly into that hole only when other options require more than 2 jumps. 

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 17:07 | 6360382 bonderøven-farm ass
bonderøven-farm ass's picture

I was stationed at PNSY in the late 80's. First Summer I was there I had my shitty '84 Chevy Cavalier stolen, was chased by thugs through Roosevelt Park after getting off the Subway, and watched cars being broke into on S St as cops sat in their vehicles and drove by. 

Fuck Philly....(exception: forgive me Pat and Joe and to your legendary "One Provalone with".....preference given to Geno's)

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 18:33 | 6360647 Arnold
Arnold's picture

Good thing the feds are in some parts, The Liberty Bell would be slagged by now.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 22:51 | 6361558 Billy the Poet
Billy the Poet's picture

The bell is fine, the liberty not so much.

Tue, 07/28/2015 - 04:52 | 6362025 August
August's picture

You haven't lived until you've experienced a touch-and-go landing at the Philadelphia airport.

Those 727s, it turns out, can show some real nimbleness, when the pilot's life is on the line....

Thanks Philly Air Traffic Control... for the memory of a lifetime!

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 15:00 | 6359883 Georgia_Boy
Georgia_Boy's picture

I grew up outside philly and remember the bad old days of the 70s. It seemed to get better under Ed Rendell but last time I was there I made the mistake of driving up the 611 from center city to the turnpike. Shocking. Bombed out looking rowhouses, trash everywhere, sketchy looking people just hanging around doing not much.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 15:07 | 6359919 Handful of Dust
Handful of Dust's picture

Philly downtown is alot better now then when I lived there in the early 80's; at least one murder a week near their Little Italy, mostly from Thugs preying on innocent tourists. Luckily, many of them have downgraded to the knockout punch.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 15:24 | 6359983 Divine Wind
Divine Wind's picture

 

 

 

Dindus and Democrats .... A deadly combination for any American city.

 

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 15:37 | 6360031 Money Counterfeiter
Money Counterfeiter's picture

Life sucks when you are stupid.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 15:41 | 6360047 Countrybunkererd
Countrybunkererd's picture

I wonder if life sucks more when you aren't stupid.  Don't you sometimes think how nice it would be to understand absolutely nothing about what is going on these days (and decades prior)?  Until the checks stop showing up in the mail for doing nothing at least...if that will ever happen in this print happy place called the USSA.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 15:44 | 6360058 Budd aka Sidewinder
Budd aka Sidewinder's picture

I'm sure the white suburbs of Philadelphia are clean and relatively crime free....you can't throw money at an intelligence problem and expect stupid people to suddenly become smart and start behaving like civilized people.

We should have picked our own cotton.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 17:39 | 6360487 theTribster
theTribster's picture

We did try picking our own cotton, but people wanted to get paid...funny what slavery does to the cost of labor. Your right though, we should have picked our own...

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 18:50 | 6360658 Arnold
Arnold's picture

http://www.measuringworth.com/slavery.php

The best Brothas were very costly.

And probably not sub prime financeable.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 20:59 | 6361143 Ace006
Ace006's picture

What?! You have disdain for 50 years of R and D policy?

My entire adult life I've witnessed a constant procession of problems caused by negroes. Day by day. Hour by hour. Never fucking ending bullshit about "opportunities" we've got to provide, tests to throw in the trash, the racism they've got to endure, their crime, their inevitable failure/unwillingness to just take hold of life and get on with it.

Highest ambitions? Hurt YT, snivel, vote for the Clown Party.

Take responsibility? Not so much.

It's way too depressing to think of that original, monstrous mistake. It's odd in the extreme to see the Europeans and Brits actually choose to re-create our little experiment. Whatever possessed those fools to commit the worst mistake imaginable - importing foreigners by the millions?

Tue, 07/28/2015 - 01:06 | 6361845 Oh regional Indian
Oh regional Indian's picture

Righteous indignation there Ace006...NOT!

Now think about the genocided NATIVE americans and your own, recent, migrant, immigrant path to the land you are calling your OWN! ......and....whatever...

Blinkered you are if you think the sins of your fore fathers will not come back to BITE you in yo ass!

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 15:22 | 6359923 10mm
10mm's picture

Rendell took care of Center City, river to river. Some would say that was wrong. It was not. He took care of the jewel in need of repair that being tourism and buisness. Neighberhoods should take care of their own. And most don't in sections of Philly. Trash all over the streets. Old timers would clean their stupes or hose down front sidewalks. Cleaned curb lines in streets.

 

Tue, 07/28/2015 - 02:49 | 6361946 dark pools of soros
dark pools of soros's picture

just shut down the EBT and force them to walk the bridge to Camden

 

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 14:07 | 6359678 kaiserhoff
kaiserhoff's picture

Kill section 8 housing and medicare (some states are already moving in that direction).

Let them work or starve.  A man with a job is a very different creature from a drug dealer.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 14:15 | 6359717 CrazyCooter
CrazyCooter's picture

Which states? Links please. :-)

Regards,

Cooter

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 14:36 | 6359729 kaiserhoff
kaiserhoff's picture

Brain fart.  Some states have petitioned the Feds to end MEDICAID for able bodied adults.

Further along than I thought, Cooter.  The House has already voted to impose a five year max on medicaid.

http://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2014/04/17/house-approves-five-year-limit...

 

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 15:16 | 6359952 g speed
g speed's picture

Brain fart???  read the fine print--

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 16:04 | 6360118 Countrybunkererd
Countrybunkererd's picture

The "poorest of the poor" will end up in ER for services AGAIN.  This new law did what exactly, other than raise all our rates and fees, and give the Fed access to every record we have ever had.  What a hole this country is anymore, Trump is too late.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 18:02 | 6360556 g speed
g speed's picture

fine print says family with an under 5 yr old-----read that as and out for "foster care" families in the 100K range of welfare income--or just more of the same--- 

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 21:05 | 6361166 Ace006
Ace006's picture

I ran that through Google Translate but I still can't understand what you just wrote.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 14:32 | 6359786 Jstanley011
Jstanley011's picture

With minimum wage there at $12 an hour, dealing drugs to one's fellow ghetto heads is the only work around.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 21:58 | 6361402 MeBizarro
MeBizarro's picture

Minimum wage in PA is $7.25 (federal minimum wage).  Ditto in Philly. It is only $12/hr for employees of city subcontractors.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 15:09 | 6359927 BabboNatale
BabboNatale's picture

Legalize and tax the drugs.  Let the drug users use all they can handle, then let them die.  This already works pretty well with alcohol and note the number of celebrities who can afford the drugs then kill themselves with them.  It's all very natural.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 15:47 | 6360070 Countrybunkererd
Countrybunkererd's picture

If it gives the moocher class skin in the game i am for it without reading it...the way things go anyway these days for laws put into place.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 15:10 | 6359930 BabboNatale
BabboNatale's picture

Legalize and tax the drugs.  Let the drug users use all they can handle, then let them die.  This already works pretty well with alcohol and note the number of celebrities who can afford the drugs then kill themselves with them.  It's all very natural.

Tue, 07/28/2015 - 07:45 | 6362235 Refuse-Resist
Refuse-Resist's picture

Give them all the crack/coke/meth/heroin/alcohol they want till they die.  It'll be over in less than a year.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 15:45 | 6360062 Countrybunkererd
Countrybunkererd's picture

When i had to write the checks for taxes this year and emptied my accounts by well over $10,000.00 monopoly bills I was very angry about it.  I see this and my stomach tightens all over again.  How long can this unbalance continue?  When do we all stop writing checks to this pig pen of a government?

Tue, 07/28/2015 - 07:44 | 6362234 Refuse-Resist
Refuse-Resist's picture

I know what you mean, I never see those pharma reps with dirty hands or sweat stains.

 

What gives?

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 14:08 | 6359685 HandyCrapper
HandyCrapper's picture

It's not a city any longer but a village of idiots.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 14:12 | 6359699 KnuckleDragger-X
KnuckleDragger-X's picture

According to Hitlery it takes a village.....

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 14:14 | 6359709 HandyCrapper
HandyCrapper's picture

Lol. These "villagers" will vote her in to office.

Tue, 07/28/2015 - 03:31 | 6360131 giovanni_f
giovanni_f's picture

and it  gives the Europeans an idea about where their cities might be heading to.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 14:32 | 6359783 junction
junction's picture

Making a left turn from Jewel Avenue onto the ramp entrance down to the Van Wyck Expressway in Queens, I saw a cop car in the middle of the way, on one side, scoping out any people who make the turn after the green arrow turns red.  Found money.  For three weeks, DOT crews with newly leased from Hertz milling machines have been grading and repaving neighborhood streets near where I live.  Trouble is, now all the concrete curbs are busted.  One newly paved street had Con Edison saw horses on a spot where there was a gas leak.  Now, the spot is paved over.  Out of sight, out of mind until the gas pressure builds up.  Following NYPD Commissioner Bratton's brooken police template, cops are now on the prowl to give out tickets to speeders going over the new DeBlasio 25 mph speed limit (the investigation of the WTC collapse is not a "broken window" priority for sell out artist Bratton).  The Saturday before last, I was on 57th Street in Manhattan, the traffic crawling as a construction crew did work on a building right across from 432 Park Avenue, the 1,400 foot residential building built thanks to former Mayor Bloomberg's gutting zoning regulations.  New York City has plenty of glitz but underneath, it is just as rotten as Philadelphia, a third world city where police starngle people with impunity.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 15:26 | 6359993 p00k1e
p00k1e's picture

Preach on!  But we’re doomed.   

I live in Wayne County, a county contemplating bankruptcy.

The County is doing a road repair on a primary route, a major thoroughfare.  Nice. 

The problem is the trucks hauling the removed asphalt and delivering the new asphalt are running down secondary and residential roads.  The secondary and residential roads are being destroyed. 

And a normal person can’t get any of these county/union road jobs because of nepotism.  

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 15:46 | 6360069 Seek_Truth
Seek_Truth's picture

Pennsylvania has been ranked the 5th most corrupt state in the US for many years.

http://standardspeaker.com/news/study-ranks-pennsylvania-fifth-most-corr...

http://fortune.com/2014/06/10/most-corrupt-states-in-america/

Yes, corrupt, incompetent, nepotistic and ruled by organized crime and absolutely corrupt attorneys and politicians.

I call it home.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 16:21 | 6360192 Countrybunkererd
Countrybunkererd's picture

Me too.  My neighbor is a lawyer, and probably very corrupt, but he will hopefully keep our streets paved with 1/2 inch of blacktop every decade or so as we slide into inept oblivion.  Every single government entity (Fed, St., & Local) is bankrupt as far as I can tell, if you find one that isn't let me know (search the southeastern states).

Tue, 07/28/2015 - 03:35 | 6361969 zhandax
zhandax's picture

ST, you would probably be surprised at what transpires in the smallest rural hamlet behind closed doors if you were a fly on the wall.  It is all a matter of scale. 

Tue, 07/28/2015 - 07:57 | 6362267 Seek_Truth
Seek_Truth's picture

Yeah, I've been an eyewitness to it.

From tiny Townships, to City, County and State/Commonwealth gubmints, to School Districts.

I've met with many over the decades, and I've seen the waste of tax dollars, nepotism and corruption firsthand.

I'll celebrate when it all comes crashing down.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 14:32 | 6359791 Condition 1SQ
Condition 1SQ's picture

Calling Philly a shithole is an insult to holes filled with shit.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 14:38 | 6359815 City_Of_Champyinz
City_Of_Champyinz's picture

I am from Pittsburgh, and am very biased when I say that one of the local pastimes in Philthadelphia is to always throw empty fast food bags & other trash out of the window while driving.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 21:10 | 6361187 Ace006
Ace006's picture

A must.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 14:57 | 6359873 duo
duo's picture

I hear that Mumbai actually has holes filled with shit.  If that is the future of our cities I cringe, but if the liberals get their dream of 500 million peple living in the US, our cities will be like that.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 16:25 | 6360207 Countrybunkererd
Countrybunkererd's picture

Isn't their goal a reduction in global population to 500 mil?  All in the US make sense since we have a prison system larger than any ever in recorded history.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 15:26 | 6359994 Grinder74
Grinder74's picture

Where's Rocky?? Where are the Duke brothers??

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 16:05 | 6360120 gatorengineer
gatorengineer's picture

When was philly great?  It was always a shithole....

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 17:50 | 6360519 Dugald
Dugald's picture

The Philadelphia story......

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 18:25 | 6360621 drendebe10
drendebe10's picture

Sheesh... another large municipality driven into the ground by the policies of elected progressive liberal democrap miedras with no accountability or responsibility to outcomes of the bullshit bureacracy and policies... who woulda thiunk it...

Tue, 07/28/2015 - 00:18 | 6361755 Roger Knights
Roger Knights's picture

About a dozen years ago a Philly reporter wrote a book similar to this head post, titled, "The United States of Incompetence."

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 13:58 | 6359645 JJdog
JJdog's picture

Can the Philly Fed printing money to fix all these problems? Why not? 

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 21:12 | 6361197 Ace006
Ace006's picture

Infrastructure will save us.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 14:00 | 6359652 Joebloinvestor
Mon, 07/27/2015 - 15:25 | 6359990 BearOfNH
BearOfNH's picture

The answer:

I would sooner be here than in Philadelphia.

-- takes fewer characters than the damn URL. Real efficient of you.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 16:18 | 6360184 Joebloinvestor
Joebloinvestor's picture

I posted a link so I wouldn't be accused of inventing the quote.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 16:19 | 6360188 Urban Roman
Mon, 07/27/2015 - 14:02 | 6359657 Grimaldus
Grimaldus's picture

Another progressive utopia, like Baltimore.

The progressive stupid, it burns.

 

 

Grimaldus

 

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 15:07 | 6359916 GeezerGeek
GeezerGeek's picture

Progressive utioias are unsustainable. They drive out the productive and cannot survive with only the local oligarchy and the FSA slaves.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 14:06 | 6359672 enforcer92677
enforcer92677's picture

The putrid zenith of progressive liberal policies. 

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 14:16 | 6359720 silverer
silverer's picture

Some other poster said they're all Republicans.  I laugh now when somebody mentions a party.  Is there any difference anymore?  Repulicans are just as progressive.  I think there may be about five conservatives in the whole of congress.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 14:37 | 6359812 Jstanley011
Jstanley011's picture

"Progressive"? As in "shit for brains"? Right, gotcha.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 21:17 | 6361216 Ace006
Ace006's picture

I think you may be confusing the Congress with the universities.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 14:07 | 6359679 ShorTed
ShorTed's picture

Not feeling the "Brotherly Love"

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 14:19 | 6359733 silverer
silverer's picture

Yes, but 'You Have A Friend In Pennsylvania'.  They're about 30 to 40 inches under the grade of the road.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 15:54 | 6360090 Bangin7GramRocks
Bangin7GramRocks's picture

Still the only place where a corrupt politician blew his brains out live on TV during a press conference. It was way fucking cool and took brass balls!

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 16:10 | 6360136 10mm
10mm's picture

That would be Bud Dwyer. A 44 Mag to his melon in the Finance Bldg on Capitol Complex in Harrisburg. Don't forget the injected lottery balls bringing up number 666.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 14:09 | 6359687 vq1
vq1's picture

1985: FBI bombs a leftist group in Cobbs Creek and subsequently burns down 64 other buildings in the neighboorhood. 

 

Then rebuilt the neighboorhood. 

 

Then the rebuilt buildings were condemned due to shoddy construction. 

So at this point in history, negligence may be the best possible outcome philly can hope for. 

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 14:13 | 6359702 KnuckleDragger-X
KnuckleDragger-X's picture

Government full employement.....

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 17:49 | 6360515 monad
monad's picture

Alinskyites did it and miked it from every angle.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 20:30 | 6361022 caustixoid
caustixoid's picture

Good documentary about it:  "Let the Fire Burn"

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2119463/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

A lot like Waco, except they burned down a lot more people's homes.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 14:10 | 6359689 Berspankme
Berspankme's picture

Those boarded up townhouses make excellent crack houses

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 14:22 | 6359748 knukles
knukles's picture

Personalizin' the neighborhood!  No White Privilege here, honkey!

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 14:11 | 6359696 wmbz
wmbz's picture

Just give Mayor Nutball some mo money he'll get right on it!

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 14:11 | 6359697 Platinum
Platinum's picture

Imagine what happens when the fiat money runs out.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 14:20 | 6359741 Dr. Engali
Dr. Engali's picture

That's the beaut of fiat, it never runs out. You may not be able to buy anything with it, but there will be plenty of it.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 16:12 | 6360154 gatorengineer
gatorengineer's picture

Oh it does run out..... The turnpike tolls are not at About 13 cents a MILE, why to support mass transit in Philly.  Its unaffordable to drive the PA turnpike.....

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 14:13 | 6359703 silverer
silverer's picture

All that, AND you still get the parking fine if the meter runs out.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 14:13 | 6359708 Bastiat
Bastiat's picture

Puerto Rico Default Likelihood 'Approaching 100%,' Moody's Says

by JACK CASEY

 

The probability of a Puerto Rico default that would cause “substantial” losses “is approaching 100%,” Moody’s Investors Service said.
READ MORE »

Financial Emergency Declared for Wayne County, Mich.

by CAITLIN DEVITT

 

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder declared Wayne County, home of Detroit, to be in a financial emergency, just one day after a state review team made the recommendation.
READ MORE »

Chicago Schools Line Up Billion Dollar-Plus in Borrowing

by YVETTE SHIELDS

 

Swap termination fees are among the items to be financed under a $1.16 billion general obligation bond authorization that is up for a Chicago Board of Education vote.
READ MORE »

This last one is a gem: the credit downgrade a while back triggered the swap terminations.  The swaps come into play when an issuer is led down the swap path by banksters.  Instead of issuen fixed rate debt, they issue floating rate debt and enter into a swap, floating to fixed.  Often the issuer gets a nice fat check up front and pays the same fixed interest he would have paid had he issued straight fixed bonds.  No brainer, right?  Wrong.  All kinds of nasty contingencies built into this crap--like mandatory termination, with present value based fees, if you get downgraded below a certain level. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 14:26 | 6359764 knukles
knukles's picture

Hey!  I got an idea!  Let's issue a boat load of 30 year fixed rate bonds to raise the money to pay off the swap termination fees. 
Oh already tried that.
Sorry.  Quit yelling at me!  I didn't do that, it was Goldman, for Christ's sakes!

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 14:36 | 6359809 Bastiat
Bastiat's picture

The pathetic thing is that you don't have to Einstein to play this scenario out before doing the stupid fucking swap deal to begin with.  Picture one of those decision flow charts:  Will it make me look good? => Is it stupid? => Will anyone know => Does "everyone" do it =>  How long till it blows up? => Can I leverage my innovative financing wizardry to get a new job before it blows up => DO IT!!

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 14:14 | 6359712 BoPeople
BoPeople's picture

Hmmm ... if the government has a coordinated plan then they would be putting money into the areas that are strategically important for them and not putting it money into areas they will sacrifice... just saying.

Wasn't it Philadelphia where more people cast votes for Obummer than were registered to vote? How is that hopey/changey thing going for ya?

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 16:12 | 6360156 optimator
optimator's picture

You don't remember what Secretary of Agriculture said about blacks, privately on an aircraft?  A little joke that got him fired.

"A Negro only wants three things, a warm place to shi*, l loose pair of shoes, and a tight pussey.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 16:23 | 6360194 HandyCrapper
HandyCrapper's picture

Philadelphia had 43 voting wards in the jungle areas that voted 100% for Obama last election.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 16:26 | 6360216 Seek_Truth
Seek_Truth's picture

Philadelphia had 43 voting wards in the jungle areas that Diebold rigged votes 100% for Obama last election.

FIFY

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 17:47 | 6360511 monad
monad's picture

Bet they all feel cheated.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 14:14 | 6359714 Bill of Rights
Bill of Rights's picture

The stupid, it burns!!!

Government orders citizen to keep BBQ smoke from leaving his property

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fu8bODcFfAQ

 

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 14:44 | 6359835 TeethVillage88s
TeethVillage88s's picture

Attractive and smart older Kathleen Willey said this:

“She is the one that everybody should be scared of. All of these women. Hillary Clinton is without a doubt the most corrupt human being, the most corrupt politician that this nation has ever seen, man or woman."
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2015/07/bill-clinton-sex-accuser-launches-anti-hillar..."

Obviously, She IS NOT A ZH Reader!! She should not talk in Absolutes it makes her appear less smart.

Politicians are a bottomless pit which can not be filled when it comes to corruption & Stupidity.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 16:12 | 6360149 Kprime
Kprime's picture

Politicians are a sinkhole which can not be filled with any amount of taxation.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 16:16 | 6360175 Meat Hammer
Meat Hammer's picture

Those brothas shoulda just disappeared that government scumbag.  Nobody would've missed him.

Oh, and the lady that called to complain about them.......they should have a cookout on her front sidewalk every damn night.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 14:17 | 6359725 Able Ape
Able Ape's picture

Government excels at incompetence since workers who are managers or department heads are probably related to politicians or are friends and no one EVER gets fired....Why give a fuck when you can sit on your FAT ass all day waiting to collect that FAT pension...The most work done in a day by a government worker is getting up and walking to the vending machine...

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 14:49 | 6359856 Ralph Spoilsport
Ralph Spoilsport's picture

A lot of these clowns don't even have to show up for work to get a check.

http://www.myfoxphilly.com/story/22197347/da-promises-probe-into-no-show...

 

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 15:01 | 6359893 Allen_H
Allen_H's picture

The United States of Detroit.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 16:10 | 6360135 Kprime
Kprime's picture

what vending machine.  they have kitchens fully stocked at taxpayer expense.  the bar is in the back.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 14:23 | 6359749 Ms No
Ms No's picture

For some reason I just got a visual on the Pope-mobile cruising down the road only to fall into a sinkhole.  I swear I wasn't laughing.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 14:45 | 6359842 Jstanley011
Mon, 07/27/2015 - 15:18 | 6359960 BearOfNH
BearOfNH's picture

Was it really too difficult to copy and paste:

God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.

?

Not that I understand it in the slightest...

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 21:27 | 6361260 Ace006
Ace006's picture

That be amusing.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 15:00 | 6359885 zorba THE GREEK
zorba THE GREEK's picture

MS no...now that is funny, hopefully it will be bottomless with flames visible far below.

When it comes to corruption, Philly's got nothing on the Vatican.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 14:24 | 6359757 TrumpXVI
TrumpXVI's picture

Sum Ting Wong with this story.

According to the map, one cannot make a right hand turn from 34th street onto Wallace St.  Wallace St. is one way and one cannot take it to get from 34th St. to 36th.  One may only turn LEFT from 34th onto Wallace (toward 33rd St.)

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 14:29 | 6359769 22winmag
Mon, 07/27/2015 - 14:27 | 6359772 robertocarlos
robertocarlos's picture

Philadelphia, Pu.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 14:27 | 6359773 Seasmoke
Seasmoke's picture

Governor Wolf in sheep's clothing and Tribe member will get right on it. 

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 14:29 | 6359775 cowdiddly
cowdiddly's picture

He calls everyone else stupid, but he continues to live in Philadelphia. hmmm.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 14:34 | 6359799 City_Of_Champyinz
City_Of_Champyinz's picture

He doesn't live in Philly, did you miss the part about how he was forced to take a detour from his COMMUTE into Philly after the highway was closed due to an accident?

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 14:35 | 6359795 Laddie
Laddie's picture

Mr Quinn, to all appearances is not very happy with the new and improved America. Tsk, tsk.

Well you know, Mr Quinn the roads and bridges in Brazil, an advanced nation, or so we are told, are not any better.

On the major highways in Brazil they have lombadas, i.e. SPEED BUMPS, on HIGHWAYS!

Now during the day it is possible to see them but at night oh dear what a BIG SURPRISE, especially at 70MPH!

Alas that is not the biggest problem, you see the roads COLLAPSE, a minor matter perhaps but...
You see in Brazil they don't do it the way they USED to in America, you know in the EVIL OLD WHITE CHRISTIAN America, no they do it in the exciting and above all VIBRANT manner: they just clear the top soil and lay down the asphalt.
That is it! No lime, no gravel, not even curbs. So guess what happens when it rains? Oh you guessed! Since it rains quite a bit in Brazil the roads MOVE, they SLIDE and large portions of the road slide away, same sort of technical expertise on hills and mountains and the roads with parts of hill and mountain just slide away. Sounds like fun!

And guess how the government fixes that? With TRAFFIC CONES! Yes permanently placed...

The interstate highway bridges often FALL DOWN, you see the same techniques as in road building go with bridge building, when they build the bridge supports they do nothing to protect the foundation from ground water. There is nothing to repel water from the footings. So when it rains, and as I said it rains a lot in Brazil, the ground gets saturated and can you guess what happens Mr Quinn? Oh of course you are most intelligent man well learned as well, the foundation move and slide and VOILA! No more bridge, now if this happens whilst you are on the bridge then what fun!

And favelas as in Brazil or shantytowns as in South Africa are coming to America, isn't that something for you to look forward to Mr Quinn?

IMMIGRANT FLOOD TURNING VIRGINIA BLUE... 1/5th Nation of El Salvador Living Inside USA...MS-13 Gang in Land of Colonial Williamsburg...More green cards issued in year than entire population of original 13 colonies...

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 16:01 | 6360112 Hyjinx
Hyjinx's picture

Yes, white people are better.  No doubt.  That isn't because of our skin color though, it is because of our long, proud and increasingly forgotten heritage of getting shit done.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 21:40 | 6361327 Ace006
Ace006's picture

Super duper correlation between SC and GSD.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 16:23 | 6360198 Spectre
Spectre's picture

It just happens the Mr Quinn is wiser than a tree full of owls and you're not.  Who gives a flying fuck about Brazil, it's not relative.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 14:59 | 6359879 sam site
sam site's picture

 

Liberal Entitlement Politics - Making America great, one inner city at a time. 

They didn't say why the Pope is visiting this cluster in September.  The globalists like to celebrate urban victim hood.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 15:59 | 6360104 Dublinmick
Dublinmick's picture

There must be a satanic sacrifice planned.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 15:05 | 6359907 Mike Honcho
Mike Honcho's picture

Philly still has some work to do if they want to be the twinkle in the Kenyans eye.

 

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-05-18/obama-just-called-rotting-decaying-hellhole-symbol-promise-nation

OBAMA SAYS CAMDEN IS SYMBOL OF PROMISE FOR NATION

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 15:05 | 6359909 poland spring
poland spring's picture

Damn my hometown made ZH news!  I was just at Wheels of Soul over the weekend.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 15:06 | 6359912 RichardENixon
RichardENixon's picture

Philadelphia does have one thing going for it, in that it is not prone to the natural disasters which exponentially accelerate the damages caused by a crumbling infrastructure and government malfeasance.

I lived in New Orleans in 2005, when Katrina inundated my house with 11 feet of water. For years prior, my daily run took me along the 17th Street Canal, which runs from Lake Pontchartrain into the city. The water in the canal was supposed to be contained by a flimsy "levee" which runs from the lake through the heavily populated residential neiborhood of Lakeview.

Sometime around 2000 I began to notice that even during periods when there had been no rainfall for weeks, there would be standing water in the street near the spot where the the levee eventually collapsed. This was about a mile from my house. 

I stopped several times to talk to the residents living near this spot and they all told me the same story. They would call the city, the city would send a truckload of people out, one person would get out of the truck and mill around for a bit, and they would all leave. Nothing was ever done to actually address the issue.

Of course as we all know, when Katrina hit the levee failed, hundreds drowned, and billions in property was ruined. Every government agency pointed the finger of blame at some other government agency, the bodies were scooped up and buried, and the US taxpayer was stuck with the $250 billion bill.

Last year, a local TV station got access to the city's records from the period running up to the disaster. The news story did not mention anything about the city being put on notice of the pending fiasco years in advance. I called the reporter who did the story and he told me that the city's records indicated that their inspectors went out, tested the water, found it to be brackish--ie coming from the lake and leaking under the levee--and that therefore it was not the city's responsibility, since the city was only responsible for maintaining the sewer system. The city apparently did not even bother alerting the US Army Corps of Engineers,who had built the levee years ago, and whom they eventually blamed for the catastrophe.

When I asked the reporter why his station wasn't making a huge stink about this story, and instead weren't even really telling it, he brushed it off by essentially saying nothing would be done about it anyway so they weren't going to bother. And I'm not either, I've become almost pathologically cynical after what I've witnessed in the past 10 years.

These days thousands of young hipsters from around the country have decided that living in New Orleans is cool and they're coming here in droves. Property values are skyrocketing. The Feds are putting a huge VA Hospital in the center of the city. Billions have been spent upgrading the pumping system in a futile effort to save a city which is 11 feet below sea level, sinks a little more every year, and is surrounded on all sides by water. There are still tens of thousands of impoverished residents who will have no way out when the next big storm comes, and it will come. The young hipsters have no idea what it's like here when the big storms come. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Similar fates await San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, etc etc.

Tue, 07/28/2015 - 14:40 | 6363880 A is A
A is A's picture

LOL. You obviously don't live here. The roads get destoyed in the winter and it happens every single year, not just once in a lifetime. They are getting worse and worse and the money to fix them after paying off their constituencies, cronies and union thugs gets less and less.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 15:12 | 6359928 Banker Buster
Banker Buster's picture

Those houses in the first picture, the townhome:  Anyone know if one of those are for sale?  They would probably be asking 1 million dollars for one of those.  They probably have been trying to sell this same unit for 3 or 4 years now and they started at 300k then have been moving it up rapidly to around 1 million dollars.  Tell you what, I'll pay 1.5 million to make sure I get it.

Does the listing price strategy sound messed up a little?  Not in this willy wonka horse shit centrally planned market.  I've seen people trying to sell their houses for years now and they take it off the market then put it back on for a few hundred thousand more in a few months?  Note to all the genius real estate agents, if it didn't sell for X a year ago, you list it for X-Y, not X+Y.

 

By the way those townhomes are dogshit, I'd really pay max 10k for one of those, maybe even less. 

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 16:33 | 6360063 optimator
optimator's picture

Banker,

 

I'd bet you a bundle it's owned by the bank in forclosure but they won't sell it and show the loss.  And partial proof is that in photo one there is not the smallest piece of trash to be seen.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 15:12 | 6359934 mastersnark
mastersnark's picture

Govt employees are literally parasites, so don't get all in a huff that they don't live up to your working man expectations. If they could accomplish a goal, or repair a road for example, they wouldn't have joined the govt.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 15:19 | 6359965 gregga777
gregga777's picture

This article exemplifies Affirmative Action at its best!

Thu, 07/30/2015 - 05:54 | 6370219 Kobe Beef
Kobe Beef's picture

Equality is a Social Construct.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 15:21 | 6359974 Vin
Vin's picture

And now Obola is going to force feed this crap into every single suburb in the country.  It's only "fair" ya know.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 15:22 | 6359977 gregga777
gregga777's picture

The same outrageous incompetence and attendant results can be seen throughout the Veterans Administration's Hospitals and other programs for Veterans.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 16:27 | 6360220 Billy Sol Estes
Billy Sol Estes's picture

Don't you just love those commercials of our HEROES coming home to their dogs/wives/children and tears filling the audience? We should roll those daily on TV, you know to boost enlistment. "You too can experience this, and post it on Youtube. The few, the proud, the marines..."

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 22:54 | 6361566 Ace006
Ace006's picture

Actually, I do.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 21:49 | 6361373 Ace006
Ace006's picture

VA medical care has been excellent in my experience - clean, responsive, competent, gracious, accommodating.

Yoar mileage may differ.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 15:23 | 6359981 Duc888
Duc888's picture

 

 

 

Hey government workers are great.

 

"I smell smoke".

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fu8bODcFfAQ

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 15:31 | 6360007 gregga777
gregga777's picture

Just another city of the Free Shit Army.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 15:36 | 6360027 decon
decon's picture

Government is a reflection of the people.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 16:02 | 6360113 Kprime
Kprime's picture

Government is reflection in the toilet bowl.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 15:36 | 6360030 Obamamerica
Obamamerica's picture

Great hookers though

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 22:07 | 6361436 MeBizarro
MeBizarro's picture

You pick up chickenheads in Mantua for a good time? 

 

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 15:45 | 6360066 Obamamerica
Obamamerica's picture

Philly's Muslim community is exploding. In another 20-30 years, I swear there will be beheadings and an ISIS stronghold there. Dems overplayed their hand. All this undocumented illegal immigration from 3rd world countries will be the end of everything

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 16:10 | 6360138 TeethVillage88s
TeethVillage88s's picture

"...like driving in downtown Baghdad after a Sunni/Shia family reunion..."

Which is a good question.

Is there a Shia Section of Philly and a Sunni Section of Philly? Is there a Kurdistan part of Philly?

Part of Wall Street might be affected.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 17:07 | 6360385 STP
STP's picture

Don't you know?  It's always 'Sunni' in Philadelphia!

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 21:52 | 6361383 Ace006
Ace006's picture

>> Is there a Shia Section of Philly <<

There soon will be.

Mon, 07/27/2015 - 16:06 | 6360125 Froman
Froman's picture

Unfortunately, not substantively different from Pittsburgh at the other end of the State.  Virtually everything that is mentioned is a problem in Pittsburgh as well.  The only revitalization of West Philadelphia that I have seen in 25 years is the University of Pennsylavania and Drexel buying blocks of blighted property, kicking the denizens out, rebuilding then policing it with the University police force.

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