Three big city mayors asked the federal government Friday to use a portion of the $700 billion financial bailout to assist struggling cities.[Emphasis added.]
The mayors sought help with their pension costs, infrastructure investment and cash-flow problems stemming from the global financial crisis.
The mayors—Michael Nutter of Philadelphia, Shirley Franklin of Atlanta and Phil Gordon of Phoenix—made their request in a letter to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.
Perhaps if these cities restricted themselves to their only legitimate role, that of securing our rights from violation, they wouldn't need any bailouts. Instead, they pay hordes of public bus drivers $20+ per hour, and here in Phoenix, build a shiny new Light Rail system, for a cool $1.4 billion - so far. There are extensions planned. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/METRO_Light_Rail_(Phoenix) That's why they've gone begging to Uncle Sam, who will gladly steal it from the taxpayers across the country to pay for Phoenix's unjustified extravagances.
The solution is a return to a legitimate form of government, which has no role beyond the protection of individual rights. Not more bailouts and stealing from taxpayers.
3 comments:
Phoenix, eh? That's where I live also. It's good to know that there's not just Kelleyites populating this community's Objectivist community.
I haven't really paid any attention to them in a long time. As I remember them, they preach "tolerationism," but in a way that is more akin to collaboration and sanction, than simply tolerating the existence of different philosophies.
Just another group that compromised and watered down a philosophy, and so fell by the wayside.
It does gall me that they have control of the movie rights of Atlas Shrugged, however.
I was recently at a panel discussion about changes in the laws affecting the medical field, and one former federal official spoke and gave some disturbing numbers:
Social Security -- the Treasury will have a debt of 9 TRILLION dollars over the next 8 years to pay out. He went on to state that this will be dealt with by means testing, raising the SS threshold to $125,000 and raising the age to start collecting.
Unfunded Medicaid -- this debt is coming due and he stated it is 34 TRILLION dollars. It's bigger than the entire US economy. Nobody wants this train wreck to happen on their watch, so they are trying to buy time with tightening enforcement on fraud, doctor-provider arrangements, etc.
I will be writing more about this in my own blog at basspig dot wordpress dot com.
Post a Comment