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  • On the Brink

    From ScottW@21:1/5 to All on Tue Jul 4 15:49:11 2023
    The top 10

    NYC
    Chicago
    Honolulu
    Portland
    New Orleans
    Philadelphia
    St. Louis
    Dallas
    Pittsburgh
    Miami

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/on-the-brink-of-financial-collapse-10-cities-in-serious-danger-of-bankruptcy/ss-AA1dpG0y

    What bankrupts a city? Besides a collapse in revenue from homelessness, drug addiction and crime....we also have unfunded pension benefits. A result of Public Employee Unions and their political activity.

    ScottW

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From ScottW@21:1/5 to All on Wed Jul 5 08:31:17 2023
    On Wednesday, July 5, 2023 at 8:22:23 AM UTC-7, mINE109 wrote:
    On 7/4/23 5:49 PM, ScottW wrote:

    What bankrupts a city?

    Lack of tax revenue.

    Typical of Stephen, those damn piano teachers aren't coughing up their fair share.
    As good commies, they should pay 100%.

    Meanwhile, in the real world, what causes "lack of tax revenue"?
    Businesses failing and fleeing from homelessness, drug addiction and crime.

    ScottW

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Art Sackman@21:1/5 to ScottW on Wed Jul 5 09:00:18 2023
    On Wednesday, July 5, 2023 at 11:31:19 AM UTC-4, ScottW wrote:
    On Wednesday, July 5, 2023 at 8:22:23 AM UTC-7, mINE109 wrote:
    On 7/4/23 5:49 PM, ScottW wrote:

    What bankrupts a city?

    Lack of tax revenue.
    Typical of Stephen, those damn piano teachers aren't coughing up their fair share.
    As good commies, they should pay 100%.

    Meanwhile, in the real world, what causes "lack of tax revenue"?
    Businesses failing and fleeing from homelessness, drug addiction and crime.

    ScottW

    Whoever is left, just tax them even more, to make up the difference.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From mINE109@21:1/5 to ScottW on Wed Jul 5 11:03:54 2023
    On 7/5/23 10:31 AM, ScottW wrote:
    On Wednesday, July 5, 2023 at 8:22:23 AM UTC-7, mINE109 wrote:
    On 7/4/23 5:49 PM, ScottW wrote:

    What bankrupts a city?

    Lack of tax revenue.

    Typical of Stephen, those damn piano teachers aren't coughing up their fair share.
    As good commies, they should pay 100%.

    Meanwhile, in the real world, what causes "lack of tax revenue"?
    Businesses failing and fleeing from homelessness, drug addiction and crime.

    That's not what causes businesses to fail. Your concern about empty
    downtown office buildings is due to lack of workers, not your litany of nuisances.

    Hmm. A proprietary accounting method, claiming they're the only true
    source of "the overall financial condition of every state.”

    https://www.data-z.org/about/page/accounting-methodology

    And it's trade-marked, so it has to be true.

    Let's see about cities...

    https://www.truthinaccounting.org/news/detail/financial-state-of-the-cities-2023

    This is the latest annual report. How many cities went bankrupt
    following earlier just as dire reports?

    You cited a top 10 "sinkhole" cities, here's the "Top Five Sunshine
    Cities" with a surplus after burdens discharged:

    1 Washington, D.C.
    2 San Francisco
    3 Irvine
    4 Los Angeles
    5 Fresno

    Aren't DC, LA and SF considered Democratic hellholes? With lots of "homelessness, drug addiction and crime."?

    "(2) San Francisco moved up in the rankings this year largely due to a temporary decrease in its pension liability and an influx of federal
    stimulus money. The city’s pension liability is calculated by
    subtracting earned and promised benefits from the market value of
    pension assets. The pension assets’ values were high based on an exceptionally good year in the investment markets in 2021. The result
    was a dramatic decrease in the city’s pension liability and a
    corresponding increase in its money available to pay future bills rising
    to $2.1 billion. Each taxpayer’s share of this surplus is $7,700.
    Inflation and market downturns in 2022 are extremely likely to affect
    this positive outlook next year."

    Next year's report might not be as favorable for SF, but this calls into question the usefulness of the report at all for your purpose.

    I'm surprised to see Fresno, which has a reputation for being both cheap
    and unaffordable. Miami, on the "Sinkhole" list, has a Republican mayor.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From mINE109@21:1/5 to ScottW on Wed Jul 5 10:22:20 2023
    On 7/4/23 5:49 PM, ScottW wrote:

    What bankrupts a city?

    Lack of tax revenue.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Art Sackman@21:1/5 to All on Wed Jul 5 11:43:53 2023
    On Wednesday, July 5, 2023 at 12:03:59 PM UTC-4, mINE109 wrote:
    On 7/5/23 10:31 AM, ScottW wrote:
    On Wednesday, July 5, 2023 at 8:22:23 AM UTC-7, mINE109 wrote:
    On 7/4/23 5:49 PM, ScottW wrote:

    What bankrupts a city?

    Lack of tax revenue.

    Typical of Stephen, those damn piano teachers aren't coughing up their fair share.
    As good commies, they should pay 100%.

    Meanwhile, in the real world, what causes "lack of tax revenue"? Businesses failing and fleeing from homelessness, drug addiction and crime.
    That's not what causes businesses to fail.

    for retail, yes, it causes failure of that site.
    Thefts and declining sales.
    For office space, it's not failure of the business, it's just relocation
    to a better site,

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From ScottW@21:1/5 to All on Wed Jul 5 15:15:14 2023
    On Wednesday, July 5, 2023 at 9:03:59 AM UTC-7, mINE109 wrote:
    On 7/5/23 10:31 AM, ScottW wrote:
    On Wednesday, July 5, 2023 at 8:22:23 AM UTC-7, mINE109 wrote:
    On 7/4/23 5:49 PM, ScottW wrote:

    What bankrupts a city?

    Lack of tax revenue.

    Typical of Stephen, those damn piano teachers aren't coughing up their fair share.
    As good commies, they should pay 100%.

    Meanwhile, in the real world, what causes "lack of tax revenue"? Businesses failing and fleeing from homelessness, drug addiction and crime.
    That's not what causes businesses to fail. Your concern about empty
    downtown office buildings is due to lack of workers,

    We're way past that milestone. Now it's on to a lack of investors.

    ScottW

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From ScottW@21:1/5 to Art Sackman on Wed Jul 5 16:07:49 2023
    On Wednesday, July 5, 2023 at 11:43:54 AM UTC-7, Art Sackman wrote:
    On Wednesday, July 5, 2023 at 12:03:59 PM UTC-4, mINE109 wrote:
    On 7/5/23 10:31 AM, ScottW wrote:
    On Wednesday, July 5, 2023 at 8:22:23 AM UTC-7, mINE109 wrote:
    On 7/4/23 5:49 PM, ScottW wrote:

    What bankrupts a city?

    Lack of tax revenue.

    Typical of Stephen, those damn piano teachers aren't coughing up their fair share.
    As good commies, they should pay 100%.

    Meanwhile, in the real world, what causes "lack of tax revenue"? Businesses failing and fleeing from homelessness, drug addiction and crime.
    That's not what causes businesses to fail.
    for retail, yes, it causes failure of that site.
    Thefts and declining sales.
    For office space, it's not failure of the business, it's just relocation
    to a better site,

    "A flood of transplants helped steer about $100 billion in new income to the Southeast in 2020 and 2021 alone, while the Northeast bled out about $60 billion, Bloomberg writes from IRS data."

    ScottW

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)