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Scranton Mayor: Minimum Wage For All Or Become Stockton
The infamous city of Scanton, PA has had financial troubles for a couple of decades - losing population since the end of WWII - but as NPR reported this weekend, the $16.8 million budget gap that Mayor Chris Doherty is trying to fill (and the disagreements between his taxation proposal and the city council's borrow-more-money view) has driven the mayor to an incredible action. Doherty has reduced everyone's pay - including his own - to the state's minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. In an ironic choice of words, the desperate mayor noted: "I'm trying to do the best I can with the limited amount of funds that I have," Doherty says, "I want the employees to get paid. Our people work hard — our police and fire — I just don't have enough money and I can't print it in the basement." NPR continues, After paying workers Friday, the city had only about $5,000 left in the bank. More money flowed into city accounts that day, but it was still not enough to pay the $1 million the city still owes to its nearly 400 employees.
This is, of course, stressful on the union workers affected as one notes: "[The] kids aren't going to be able to do certain activities this summer — maybe we're not going to be able to go on vacation" (to Italy we wonder?) adding that (via HuffPo), "With Scranton and Pennsylvania being such a hot bed for the next election, we want to make sure that they know there's a Democratic mayor that's not taking care of his public safety unions,". The unions plan to be back in court first thing Monday morning to ask the judge to hold Doherty in contempt. It seems municipalties across the country are increasingly turning to austerity measures to tackle their budget gaps and protect bond-holders (until they finally become Stockton, CA).
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I BLAME THAT CLOWN DWIGHT SCHRUTE!
Obumma wants us all on the beet farm...
Problem was that Scanton PA should have not incorporaed itself as a city but as a bank holding corporation like Goldman and JPM... then the cash and bonuses would still be flowing.
A typical result of poor planning. Sucks to be them.
You don't see anyone working for minimum wage at GS or JPM do you?
Only the cleaning and security crews.
They will eventually regret that oversight.
LOL.. that made me chuckle..
...and the banquet waiters. Your cream of mushroom soup, Lord Blankfein
I can't confirm the US news outlets are not covering this.. but maybe ZH would like to..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szwlWYewPsw&feature=related
Holy guacamole dude, that is a gnarly protest. I have not heard anything about it until you posted this link.
Following the election in Mexico there was an article in the print edition of our local newspaper that detailed how groups affiliated with Peña Nieto widely distributed gift cards to prospective prior to the election, telling them the cards were worth about 500 pesos (about $37 dollars). After the election, when the people tried to use them the cards had a value about one fifth of that amount -- if they were worth anything at all. That made for some ill will in itself.
The online edition of the article has deleted that section.
"Stand your ground. Don't fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here." -- Capt. John Parker
Articles still abound:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/throngs-mexico-hit-stores-gift-car...
http://azstarnet.com/news/national/govt-and-politics/elections/accusatio...
http://wonkette.com/477267/grocery-shoppers-outraged-their-mexican-elect...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/04/mexico-elections-shadow-pena...
VIDEO:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srMdHkSbgkI&sns=em
Thanks Rahm. The local one was the AP piece, printed in full but truncated online.
l love the request to remove requests. On what basis?
Oh....stupid question.
WOWOWOWWWW!!!!!! Fucking awesome. Lazy Americants get all divided amongst themselves over left vs. right bullshit. Viva La Mexico!
America is actually behind Mexico.
Smart Mexicans are out protesting against celebrity president, dumb Americans just watching about Tom Cruise divorce on TV
Thanks for the info MH. I see the US illegal alien Mexicans who have flooded back into Mexico have taken their protesting skills they learned back with them. Very nice.
Damn poor people.. trying to live... the nerve..
One must think if one wishes to continue to live or to live well. Let's hope that their energy get pointed in the most effective direction.
The Zocalo can hold about 250,000 people if its crowded, twice that if it is REALLY crowded. Hardly the largest protest ever. It just looks that way because the side streets are all filled up. Washington can accomodate MUCH larger protests than Mexico City.
Nice scoutin', pale face. +27.35
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/08/mexicans-protest-pena-nieto-election?newsfeed=true
Ha Ha! I was actually there! It was a pretty big event. I have been visiting Mexico City for 20 years and by far, this was the largest event of this type I have ever seen. What struck me was the very low level of police prescence (over the years there has been a steady shift away from private security to government security, at least in the historic district of Mexico City).
My feel, my gut? Mexico is the US in about fifteen years.
Minimum wage for minimum work. Sounds about right.
Yeah, but the fire-fighters, police and teachers unions have *already* filed lawsuits.
You can explain to a union leech until you're blue in the face that the money simply isn't there and their response will always be: "I don't care. I want money. Get it from somewhere".
Union leeches would just as soon see every man woman and child in the community bury themselves in unsustainable debt. The fact that they bribed politicians for the past 4 decades doesn't enter into their moral equation for one minute.
I look forward to seeing the entire system go belly up -- every municipality included. Kaboom motherf*ckers.
We're about to see the true face of unions. They've always been about breaking legs (and much worse) to get what they want.
That mentality has been successfully laundered through "democracy" for the last century ++, where the state smiles at you and threatens you on their behalf with fines, incarceration or outright bodily harm / death if you don't comply with the unionistas wishes.
Now that the money's run out, the organized crime with a flag on the wall crowd (aka, most of your governments) will have to resort to more forthright actions to shake loose their plunder.
Disclosure: I'm Long baseball bats, shin-guards and helmets.
"Democracy is a religion, with only one Commandment: thou shalt not steal, except by majority vote."
The mayor is a diehard (D)
This is a SET-UP.
Indeed. Just as in Athens and Paris, the unions are on side with the NWO in stonewalling any attempt at "austerity" (LOL!...reducing an 8% deficit to a 7% deficit is "austerity" ... ROFL!).
This is just part of the NWO script to bankrupt all western governments and drive them (problem... reaction... solution) into the "solution" of world government for the "failure" of national governments.
Too funny! ... if it wasn't so sad......
ahh, indeed - if you lose "faith" in your govt, if you believe them to be crooks and thieves and liars,
(which they are, so it's the truth!)
then what else is left but a global Father overseeing all things, who loves you and will protect you from all harm, if you only follow His teachings, guidance, supreme laws.
halfway there, aren't we?
I'm long Benelli shotguns, extended mag tubes, double-ought buck, and bullet proof vests.
Union goons are the praetorian guard for the elites and politicians. Protect and serve...the elites.
The 140 k government workers in Greece are able to resist layoffs in a broke economy. Apparently it is not easy to shrink the number of government employees.
Have you ever followed a cleaning crew around for 8 hours? You'll never describe it as minimum work again.
Audrey: He worked really hard, Grandma.
Art: So do washing machines.
In all seriousness, though, there are janitors for school districts in major cities earning six figures stacking overtime and retiring with commensurate pensions.
Let the market pay the going rate. It's not enviable work, but it ain't rocket science.
Yeah, but those guys were always right there to sprinkle some of that orange confetti stuff whenever I barfed on the playground. What was that stuff?
That stuff (and the vomit it absorbed) is the basis of numerous financial instruments upon which our great republic depends. If children stop vomiting (or even slow down) the entire system will collapse.
But it's for the children!!!!!
The only real cleaning crew I've 'followed around' in these parts is by the side of the freeway while driving my car. They were doing DUI remedial work and had bright orange vests on. Caltrans. The only distinction between them and southern chain gangs was they weren't ankle shackled. Minimum wage indeed as in zero. Minimum work not so much.
we really have been living in disney world as a country atonement is going to be a bitch after this election
I hereby volunteer to wrestle Fear in the barn of America. Or Mose. Whichever.
That fecking clown Joe Biden is from that area. What an asshat.
Why do the Liberal Scum always bemoan "the teachers, police and firemen" when the public unions are under attack?
They only make up a small minority og Government "workers"
I never hear "we can't be laying off the DMV workers, heath and human services supervisors and the poor useless paper pushers at the Labor dept"
I don't know, why do the right wing SCUM think a piece of shit like Romney or any fuck working at Goldman Sachs deserves more than minimum wages?
Honestly what do these fucking maggots do for society compared to teachers or fire fighters or police?
I guess asking a website filled with DAY TRADERS (*cough gamblers*) is the wrong crowd to ask "what the fuck do you do for your money?".
Honestly what do these fucking maggots do for society compared to teachers or fire fighters or police?
Thanks for proving my point. I notice you did not insert a DMV slug. a useless Human Services Manager or a Labor Dept paper pushing maggot.
And true Right Wing Scum are not fans of Goldman Sachs.
And never forget about the legions of imperialism-defending thugs and cannon fodder, er, hired mercenaries of oligarchic control, er, "the troops".
...And let's not forget all the operational people who support them...and their managers...and their directors...and their VPs...and their chief executives...and their board members...
suck my dick
<---- blow me
The difference is that the entire nation does not subsidize day traders. The brilliance of the free market is that everyone is allowed to do what they want.
But I agree, as does about 99.98% of the people on this site, that Romney is pure garbage. He is basically Obama with a couple hundred million more in his bank account, kind of like BO was wit Bush but with a few billion less.
Also Romney is more ethnic than Obama, what with being a Mormon and all.
Huh?? if you bought GM or AIG or the banks after the blowup you got subsidized profits on the fake rebound
Personally BC, as a 'right wing SCUM', I take umbrage. But allow me to address your vitriol with some cogent points.
1.) POS Romney does appear currently to be a far better choice, (though granted not the best), than the incumbent. How's that 'Hopey-changey' thing working for you?
2.) Whether 'Any fuck' at Goldman Sachs deserves more than minimum wage is up to GS, as it determines the relative worth of their employees, not you or anyone else.
3.) When you say, "fucking maggots", I presume you are referring to a) 'right wing SCUM', b) POS Romney, and/or c) 'Any fuck' at Goldman Sachs. Let me break this to you gently. People don't live their lives for what they 'do for society'. Here's the difference between the aforementioned and the 'teachers or fire fighters or police'. The former are involved in private enterprise, the latter work for the government, (though you will have to go a long way to explain to me what the government is doing in the education business). That they work for the government is not the problem. The problem lies in the fact that they have compensation packages that are infinitely sweeter than 95% of the folks in the private sector, (including 'right wing SCUM' who own businesses). They have arrived at these princely compensations due to government-employee UNIONS. (You will also have a difficult time explaining to me why governments are involved in the pension business.)
4.) And lastly, by all means, you are more than welcome to ask the rest of us, "what the fuck do you do for your money?".
Here's your answer.
None of your fucking business.
How you like them apples?
Spot on Goodfellow. I know voting is relly no longer a choice for us working stiffs. Obama had his changce and blew it to be honest. He will not get my vote. I will vote for Romney this time and if he fucks it up out he goes in 4 years. I may not have a choice anymore but I do have a choice after looking at this president's record.
Most people do nto get it anyway Dems and Repub are basically the same. They will promise their base and others prosperity to garner a vote. They are both laughing at all of us as they get their money from big interests and unions and some billionaires.
What I do with my money if no ones business. Herein lies the problem with this administration is they want me to sacrifice and give up more money or do their best to make you feel like a fucking criminal when you pretest this theft. We the people now are the terrorists if we disagree with the goverenment and thats what scares me. While we point fingers at each other and bitch about bankers or rich people they continue to laugh at us because they got us to do what they wanted all along. Wake the fuck up, quit playing their game and you will be better off for it.
I always ponder why rational human beings (even o nthis site) that see thru to crap and yet politics polarize people. Who the fuck cares. We are all screwed if we do not prepare.
So, you are not giving to Obama re election through your wedding registry? sarc/
ROFLMAO made my day Arnold! +1
Nice...the "hey, those guys are raping a bus load of children so it's okay if I nail one too" is all part and parcel of the parasitic mentality that has taken us past the event horizon. Just because the former is macro and the latter micro doesn't really help the long-term prospects to the host.
But, in the interests of finding a common good, I bet the "right wingers" here at ZH would gladly hang all of your identified SCUM from a lampost if they could also then identify and hang the "left wing" SCUM from the same lamposts.
Thunderdome is a better solution
I'm not a Day Trader, I'm a Security Advisor and Financial Coordinator. I tell people with "stuff" how to properly use that "stuff" to protect their wealth, and how to proper secure it from people like you. I also teach kids how to shoot. In essence, I'm an educator doing the job that parents and schools used to do. You know show people how to sink boats filled with metals, and how to properly retreive it at a later date.
There's 3 million teachers. Labor Dept only 8,000. DMV is outsourced in my state. HHS usually required by courts.
Over recent decades, the number of teachers in front of students has significantly decreased, while the "education" headcount and costs have significantly increased. Just sayin'....
True and those non-teaching jobs are not low paying. Even the minor ones. In my town, they hire people to help handicapped students get around. Basically follow them and sleep through the class. Make like 40K to do that. This again court ordered. Administrators 120K is a low paid one.
But people vote for most of this stuff. True they make it a special election at an inconvenient time so teachers and PTA can dominate it but the teachers alone can't do it. People believe they are making their house value go up by voting for more money for schools. Plus some of the believe the teachers are doing something. And all these officials that negotiate the contracts, elected as well. That's democracy.
And private schools are no cheaper around me despite not having the pension benefits so much for teachers. At least not the non-Catholic ones. The Catholic ones aren't cheap anymore either since not so many nuns available to teach or as much donations.
I forget the exact figure but New York City supposedly has more teachers AND "administrators" than all of Europe has teachers!
You mean the guy who said: "We have to go spend MORE MONEY so that we don't go bankrupt". That guy? Yeah, that guy.
As stupid as it sounds that's probably a fairly accurate statement with our current debt equal money model. We either grow or die, once the "growth"( there has been no real growth since the 70s) stops the bankruptcy of the country is there for everybody to see.
"We either grow or die," ...........................................then by all means let it die.....Quit diggen the hole deeper
I agree...but that is not what they are going to do.
Don't forget, Bob "I'm not Rick Santorum" Casey, Jr was nepotised there also.
Eat your peas!
Would those be SNAP peas?
This is absolute genius on the part of the Mayor!
There is NO DOUBT that with PA being a swing state, he will find the Feds bailing out Scranton before the first minimum wage paychecks are cut. And he knows this.
SMART MAYOR!
As I understand it, the minimum wage paychecks went out last Friday. What this article is implying is that there are not enough funds in the payroll account to make the next pay period checks.
Bankruptcy isn't mentioned re: Scranton at all. I must assume municipal BK laws are different in PA as compared to CA.
What happens when a city can't meet payroll? We're about to find out. A town of about 76,000 people, PA's sixth largest city, with an unpaid municipal staff. Should be fun.
What happens when a city can't meet payroll?
They learn what life is like in the private sector...
the fireworks are still in Harrisburg... might be BK this month
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-14/harrisburg-ex-mayor-left-pennsylvania-city-near-bankrupt.html
more politics.. Tommy pushed the BK ban until Nov... everything must be pushed till after the election
http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2012/07/pennsylvania_lawmakers_harrisb.html
Minimum wage is good.
It's a step forward. Now if Congress can do the job at Minimum wage, we all will be better off.
Scranton is doing the right thing.
Hundreds of municipalities are embedded with interest rate derivative WMDs. Cue Meredith Whitney.
hey aren't those tied to LIE-fucking-bor?
Scranton and every other city, state, county, board, etc. lining up to sue the British Banker's Association and all its members. Debt Jubillee approaching fast. San Bernardino county (CA) already planning to use eminent domain to buyout mortgages and sell back to homeowners. The banking swindle is unraveling at breakneck speed (noo implications about lightpoles and/or rope intended).
"we want to make sure that [Obama and Biden] know there's a Democratic mayor that's not taking care of his public safety unions,"
Dude, when the friggin wallet is EMPTY, you cant crap new dollars.Get real,or move.
municipalities also have a red button... that can be pressed any time. Borrow til you drop and then stiff your creditors.
Public servants have been royally served!
Welcome to reality my friends....
Public Servant? Isn't that an oxymoron?
No, it's a lie.
You're an oxymoron. Well, just a moron.
I'd rather be more on than more off. So thank you very much for the compliment.......more off.
I'm becilic!
Public servants have been royally served!
Yep,unfortunately the same shoe 90% of us wear is going to drop on them as well.
I know several retired LE and they got full pension at 20yrs, and then went into a new career.
Same as firefighters, most hold down two jobs, and make a killing.And the take a second career move at 40yrs old, for a 2nd.
Unfortunately depending on what city you have served in, is going to really cause a mierda storm.
The reset is going to be not fun.
"......we want to make sure that they know there's a Democratic mayor that's not taking care of his public safety unions,".
Sounds like extortion to me. Gotta take care of the brave public safety unions because.........well, because we say so.
What about the poor overworked county clerk who processes the huge increase in concealed carry permit (never mind the 'normal' gun permit) applications each and every day?
Just sayin'
it's the uniforms.
That is a very true statement. Uniforms give humans (even dumb humans) "credibility" and "stature". It's just another one of our weaknesses as a human race that has been exploited by the power elite.
We are born into this world unique, a true one-of-a-kind. Yet we spend the rest of our lives desperately trying to be just like everyone else, and uniforms are the epitome of that mentality.
Mind boggling and truly a testament to our training and conditioning as slaves.
yes, if we have to walk around in uniforms, I prefer the ones we were born with.
Sorry, DJ, I don't think I would want to see that.
Perhaps wearing the uniform he was born with includes wrapping up his naughty bits in a throng made from a severed placenta. But I don't think I'd want to see that either.
The time may come when you will want a uniform. Get your free CERT vest, hardhat, backpack, and photo ID while you can. They even throw in a flashlight, wrench, first aid supplies, work gloves, whistle, and safety goggles.
Ha, ha, I had to log in just to give that a up arrow!
Excellent!!
Fucking genius.
The time may come when you will want a uniform. Get your free CERT vest, hardhat, backpack, and photo ID while you can. They even throw in a flashlight, wrench, first aid supplies, work gloves, whistle, and safety goggles.
You canuse it to tryout for The (New) Village People.
Always striving for a cooler looking uniform...
A fitting irony....Biden's home town of Scranton !
Wasn't it scrotum before? I forget.
It was until they lost their balls. Looks like the mayor just grew a new pair.
Always thought it was Scantron.
If Obama had a city, it would look like Scranton,... or maybe Detroit...
actually not much difference in Chicago, Scranton or Detroit.
Right on brother! A civil worker is just that, not working for pofit!!! It's a duty you choose to serve instead of fleece.
These people think they work for Goldman Sucks! You choose to work for the Govt and therefore make the rules but it's the salaries of these surly and lazy city workers that is why you have a huge gap.....NOT JUST IN $ BUT IN YOUR THINKING.... Overpaid to run the city into the shithole!... how bout it....great work if you can get it!
Great move! With this guy doing something, Scott Walker saying no....this fucking ice chunk is starting to break up...FINALLY!
Elected officials make all budget decisions and hire the management.
This is sustainable! I can see how the government workers will cling to the safety of their jobs! Sarcasm aside - if they do not leave to do anything else then you know that is exactly how much they are worth because no one else wants to pay more.
I agree with your sentiment, but the workers will leave. They will likely leave the city altogether, leaving it without any public services, thereby prompting the rest of the residents to leave as well. This mayor is a) bluffing, b) naive, c) stupid, or d) all of the above.
...and when all the city workers leave, no one will notice the difference. Life happens with or without union thugs.
What the fuck does this have to do with union thugs? The mayor could have just as easily put forth a plan to cut salaries by a reasonable amounts months or years ago, but he didn't. In the long run, the real thug in this case will likely be a judge anyway, as usual. Fuck it though. It is apparent from the replies to this thread that none of you see any worth what-so-ever in fire fighters, police services, or emergency services of any kind. Fine. Crawl back into your little holes and daydream about your perfect society of free health care and other totally free government services.
$120,000 a year + benefits is too much for public workers.
I agree, but that doesn't automatically mean $10,000 + no benefits is enough. The extreme polarization of ideas and actions will destroy this Country in the end - not that anyone gives a shit...
I live in Toronto. Ticket collectors for the Toronto Transit Commission get $28/hr plus benefits. For that, they sit on their butts (and have been caught on cellphone cameras numerous times SLEEPING), only accept cash or debit cards (no credit cards, no cheques), and communicate with you through a little window where you can't hear a damn thing they say. They have to know ten prices, max. Don't ask them any questions about what train to take, or how to get to Massey Hall; they don't know.
Now, I compare that with the typical supermarket check out girl. She has to stand on her feet for most of an 8 hour shift, has to know the prices of about 50 produce items (or at least the codes for the items), accepts cash, credit, debit, or cheque (no SNAP cards here - yet!), and has to do it all with (for the most part, at least) a smile. For that, she gets $10.50/hr and usually no benefits.
Someone above mentioned office cleaners. Office cleaners at city hall make about $50,000/yr, or about $25/hr. Private sector office cleaners make about half that.
I don't begrudge paying cops and firemen for what they do, but they make up a fraction of the municipal workforce; it's the nameless, faceless clerks who shuffle paper and stare at you po-faced after you've stood in line for an hour and tell you you've got to go to another department first to get a form 29B/4 before they can give you your permit for your senior citizens group to walk in the park (yes, if there's more than 12 of you walking together, you need a permit) that are breaking cities' backs across the continent. Would we miss most of those, should they disappear? As Wayne and Garth would say, "I highly doubt it".
Many of us believe that these services would be far better provided by individuals rather than by unaccountable governments. Why do you pretend that we don't want such services at all? If we didn't want such services we would ask for more government because as the Scranton example shows government is very effective at taking a community's wealth while still being unable to provide adequate services.
This story is about a failure of government not about a failure of the free market.
Minimum wage does NOT pay for needed community services of ANY kind, regardless of how you want it paid for. That's all I'm trying to say here.
sitenine , in scranton's case I guess your minimum wage does not pay crap, just got shot down because well they just did pay em that.
NWO=importing china's wages to a city or town near you.
That's likely true however minimum wage is an arbitrary construct and not part of a market pricing structure. Therefore we don't know the real cost of labor for many jobs.
Well, I've still not changed my mind, but you have all given me something to think about. Thanks for the critical feedback.
sitenine, I had a friend who chased robbers from his home after calling 911, cops showed up 1/2 hour later. cops are for clean up after a crime. ask a cop they will tell you we are on our own.
fire services are still based on 19th century construction with open flame heating, lights and cooking .. divide the number of fires /yr by cost of fire service and you get a number that if those funds were put away and homes burned to the ground the cost would be covered multiple times.
unfortunately I grew up in scranton, and left never to look back..it is just a little better than detroit, but looking to overtake detroit as a destitute union town.
So, it's cheaper to let it burn to the ground then to pay someone to protect it? Yeah, I guess I know what you mean. I'm starting to get that same feeling about the whole global financial situation lately.
Higgins, I believe sitenine has really got it, now the rain in spain falls mainly on the broke.
let it all burn down much like the TBTF banks should have done in 08.
in Scranton's case it's the town Hillary Clinton and Biden both lived when children, a shrine to Demorats they will find fed funds to bail out the unions bet on it.
Let it burn, Insurance will replace it.
Just protect the other homes and property.
None of us want those Government services.
I think you strolled onto the wrong site if you think any of us regulars want the Government in control of everything. Perhaps you should look at my Avatar here and look up what it means. Maybe you'll catch on to the main philosophy of this site. You've been here almost as long as me, and you haven't picked up on this yet...
sitenine said, "It is apparent from the replies to this thread"
Way to pay attention, champ. It's pretty obvious that I'm not accusing everyone, so why come riding in on a high horse?
Also, I don't give a shit about your avatar, and I don't care much for your sentiment either. So, jog on.
I'm sure this is just an isolated incident. :p
Almost there. http://gordontlong.com/03-10-09-Vicious%20Cycle-2.GIF
I mean, it's a noble gesture... if it was done decades ago... but I'm not sure whether it's beneficial at this point or not... if you look at uncle sugar as having a finite amount of pork to throw around, it seems to me that municipalities everywhere would want to continue on the spree until the fat lady sings. If you're already bankrupt, what does it matter to keep adding marginal debt? Let's at least see our prolifigacy to its natural conclusion and keep our foot in the gas pedal.
Better the wench at the DMV that scowls at me after I had to wait in line for 2 hours and then operates at a snail's pace while I provide all necessary documentation in an organized fashion... than some tard ass banker. While each are total donkeys, one donkey is less... troublesome. At least that money can trickle around the local economy a little bit...
Macho,
More than noble, methinks. I am optimistic (too much perhaps) but even if he fails and gets tarred and feathered the ball was set in motion.
John Brown anyone?? (he was the lucky guy who finally lit the match for the civil war!)
THERE IS NO OTHER CHOICE. EBB AND FLOW....IT HAS TO GO BOTH WAYS....it is not like American's waste-line's...ever expanding....It's not the universe.
It's so hot to work for the Govt teet now but minimum wage is gonna hit hard.
So I guess there will be MORE potholes in Scranton?
That place is a perfect illustration of the late great USA. Slowly crumbling to dust.
They have been "fixing" the I-81 corridor for about 12 years (at least) and counting. One pothole=alignment.
Bullish for suspension shops.
pods
Well, it is GDP growth, and for some reason, GDP hasn't been rejected as a meaningful measurement yet.
No, they replaced I-81 in the last 25 years. Twice.
And then moved a mountain to pave a new patch of land with it.
You have to be there to witness the bare dirt that was being compacted before the new stressed concrete was poured.
Doherty for president !! Or, at least, V.P.
how bout it!!
sign me up!
Probably qualify for food stamps now and don't think for a minute that the retirement plans are not being funded.
Ity also means a cut to the Union coffers , which is usualll two hourse pay a month. Do you think that they would like to have a choise to pay Union dues or not, ala Wisconsin?
So in turn, the guy blames the wages?
Dude, maybe the problem is the fact that you in fact, cannot, print money in the basement.
Also, notice how the politicans always blame the union people - EXCEPT for the firefighters and the cops.
Imagine if teachers had guns, or Trash Men knew how to drive a fire truck?
Let's blame the workers. Let's blame the unions. Let's blame the budget. Let's blame politics. But heaven forbid we actually crititize the Central Bank who actually IS the one IN A BASEMENT PRINTING MONEY YOU AND I WILL NEVER RECEIEVE, THAT KILLS THE VALUE OF THE DOLLAR WE USE EVERYDAY.
Again, brainwashing. Pure and simple.
The Mayor should get with modern banking practices and commit Fraud to solve the problem - there is no stigma or consequences and it solves the immediate problem - so go and sell phony bonds to the muppets
I think that is precisely the genius of that statement...
why doesn't Ben just expand his balance sheet with Scranton bonds? he can buy anything he wants to, and its clear that Scanton's solvency problems will be solved with more debt. why does Ben hate Scranton?
I just drove through there the other day... My kids asked why so many buildings looked empty and abandoned. " It's the new economy..."
"... bitchezzz"
here's a quarter..call someone who cares..lol
This is a continuing problem all over the country. We don't care what was promised. We know it was promised, and we have signed contracts, but we do NOT HAVE THE MONEY> Period. What are you going to do? Sue us, go ahead. What part of broke, insolvent, bankrupt do they not understand. What is so difficult. We cannot continue to pay your pensions, we cannot continue to pay your health care till you die and we cannot hire someone to replace you at the same salary. I don't care if you are a fireman, a cop, a General, an ignorant Senator or a dumb Representative of the broken House.
What is so Fucking hard about the above. Read my Lips......WE ARE FUCKING BROKE!!!!
"What is so Fucking hard about the above. Read my Lips......WE ARE FUCKING BROKE!!!!"
Did the money vanish like the accounts at MF Global? Or was it taken? It is that little detail where people have a fucking problem.
Well, you make a good point LetThem....But the end result is the same. Of course there is theft, corruption and greed of those in power. There is no doubt much of the money is stolen in one form or another. There is no doubt absurd and insane decisions were made to move the insolvency along. Look at bankrupt CA. Just voted to spend on a high speed rail that will never get built. Many wrongs have been done over the years to get us to this point.
But the fact remains, no matter the cause, we are Broke. We do not have and WILL not have the money to pay what was promised. We can argue all day why we are here but the simple fact is Welcome to the New World of insolvent Sovereign Nations. It is over and until the system resets it will continue to get worse. There is no more time or room left for "ME" and "ONLY ME". It is Done!
I agree we need a reset, but there is plenty of blame to go around. Public workers in Scranton sure as hell didn't create this mess themselves, yet they are the ones who will soon be on food stamps or worse while the Ferrari dealerships continue to put in new orders to Italy because they can't keep up with the .1%.
There IS plenty of blame. But no one will step up to the microphone and say I am guilty. And our elected officials will not allow the truth to be told and those responsible be indicted, jailed and their assets taken from them. THAT is why at some point it will all blow up and the world as we know it will no longer be the same. We cannot come out of this until those responsible pay the price. The piper will be paid. Just a matter of how we are going to do it.
But taking it one step further it was idiotic of those in charge to promise 90% pensions with overtime, vacation and whatever. They too are to blame. How can anyone with an IQ over 50 think that the "false riches" that came about over the last decade would last indefinitely. How is that possible? Ahhh, let me give you whatever you want and you will "re-elect me". I forgot what Job 1 was.
Done.
Mistakes were made.
That is as much of a "confession" that you will get from a politician.