Why Big Towns are Going Bankrupt

Have you ever heard the phrase “you must live within your means?” Many of our big cities have no idea what that means and if you take a look at the biggest offenders you will notice three glaring commonalities. First, in the US what are the five most indebted big cities? I will go down the list from the biggest to the smallest and give you the general deficit and the unfunded liabilities and at the end I will give you the commonalities.

 

1.     Los Angeles, California with a population of 3.82 million people. It has a general deficit of $222 million and unfunded liabilities of $27 billion. http://ivn.us/2012/08/14/los-angeles-bankruptcy-may-be-coming/

2.     San Diego, California with a population of 1,326k. It has a general deficit of $2.1billion and unfunded liabilities of $45.4 billion. http://farquharlaw.wordpress.com/2011/02/21/should-the-city-of-san-diego-file-for-bankruptcy-it-has-45-4-billion-in-unfunded-pension-liabilities/

3.     Detroit, Michigan with a population of 706k. It has a general deficit of $45 million and unfunded liabilities of $12.7 billion. http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130314/METRO01/303140443

4.     Long Beach, California with a population of       465k. It has a general deficit of $18.5 million and unfunded liabilities of $1.164 billion. http://lbbusinessjournal.com/component/content/article/202-13-02-26/1336-long-beach-has-1164-billion-in-unfunded-personnel-costs.html

5.     Oakland, California with a population of 396k. It has a general deficit of $50 million and unfunded liabilities of $494 million. https://www.baycitizen.org/news/pensions/no-resolution-oaklands-unfunded-pension/

Have you noticed any oddities yet? California has four of the top five and you can guarantee they are just following their leadership. Of all the states, California is the number one state with the highest deficit. It has a general deficit of $21.3 billion and unfunded liabilities over $500 billion. I don’t want you to misunderstand; this isn’t their complete debt, just two of the highest areas. http://californiawatch.org/dailyreport/states-pension-liability-tops-500-billion-stanford-study-finds-1641

The state in second place is Illinois It has a general deficit of $96.8 billion and unfunded liabilities over $275 billion. http://survivalandprosperity.com/2013/01/31/illinois-total-unfunded-liabilities-275-billion/

These two states by themselves have almost $1 trillion in deficits do to nefarious and destructive management. Remember what I said in the beginning, you must live within your means; well this is only part of the problem; the biggest part is poor or criminal leadership. So who are the leaders and their affiliations?

2013 Cities with Highest Deficit	Mayor	Party
1. Los Angeles, CA	Mayor Villaraigosa	Democrat
2. San Diego, CA	Mayor Bob Filner	Democrat
3. Detroit, MI	Mayor David Bing	Democrat
4. Long Beach, CA	Mayor Bob Foster	Democrat
5. Oakland, CA	Mayor Jean Quan	Democrat

Well what about the two states with the highest debt:

2013 States with Highest Deficit	Mayor	Party
1. California	Governor Jerry Brown	Democrat
2. Illinois	Governor Pat Quinn	Democrat

I don’t like Republicans any more then I like Democrats because neither party is doing what is best for their citizens, state, or country. That being said the Democrats are doing a worse job then the Republicans if you look at the stats. The ten most violent cities are also ran by all Democrats.

2013 Most Dangerous City	Mayor	Party
1. Camden, NJ	Mayor Dana Redd	Democrat
2. Detroit, MI	Mayor Dave Bing	Democrat
3. Atlanta, GA	Mayor Kasim Reed	Democrat
4. St. Louis, MO	Mayor Francis G. Slay	Democrat
5. Gary, IN	Mayor Karen Wilson	Democrat
6. Washington, DC	Mayor Vincent C. Gray	Democrat
7. Hartford, CT	Mayor Pedro Segarra	Democrat
8. New Orleans, LA	Mayor Mitch Landrieu	Democrat
9. Richmond, VA	Mayor Dwight Jones	Democrat
10. Birmingham, AL	Mayor William A. Bell	Democrat

Both parties, especially the Democrats want to give hard working peoples money to those who refuse to work to get votes. As a libertarian I am a firm believer you work for what you get; if you don’t work, you don’t get. People refusing to work and staying on welfare is the main reason for people living in poverty; like it or not poverty is directly related to crime.

2013 Poorest Large Cities	Mayor	Party
1. Detroit, MI	Dave Bing	Democrat
2. Cleveland, OH	Frank G. Jackson	Democrat
3. Buffalo, NY	Byron Brown	Democrat
4. Milwaukee, WI	Tom Barrett	Democrat
5. St. Louis, MO	Francis G. Slay	Democrat
6. Miami, FL	Tomás Regalado	Republican
7. Memphis, TN	A.C. Wharton	Democrat
8. Cincinnati, OH	Mark Mallory	Democrat
9. Philadelphia,  PA	Karen Freeman-Wilson	Democrat
10. Newark, NJ		Democrat

 If you turn the cities, states, and our country away from being full of entitlements and return to manufacturing and working, we the citizens will have a higher quality of life. If you are elderly or truly disabled, we as a nation need to take care of you. If you are an able body person you need to work. What really gets my blood pumping is when you have someone receiving a free cell phone because “it’s their right”. I am sorry it is not a right and when I grew up we were so poor we had a party line; now let’s see how many out there know what I’m talking about. Entitlements are killing our cities, states, and nation and it’s not just the welfare and free hand out entitlements, but also our government worker entitlements, something is wrong when the a government worker receives twice as much as a non-government worker doing the same job.

So why has so manufacturing jobs left so many states and even the US? Our city, state, and federal government have applied so many regulations to the manufactures they cannot compete in the global market so they move their facilities to a country where they can make a profit. In some cases (not all) it’s because unions become ridicules with their demands to a point that if the company doesn’t meet their demands they strike; it’s a loose, loose for both sides. If the employer stays and the union strike the company can loose contracts which makes them loose work and profits. If they give everything the union wants, they won’t make a profit. A company is in the business to make a profit.

Another question I have is why do these big town which are in financial trouble keep electing the same idiots to the elected positions if they haven’t fixed the problems? Are they so ignorant they don’t realize when the government goes broke all your free stuff will be gone. If the government you elected can’t pay their own bills and live within their means without taxing everyone to Kingdom Come, they are not good stewards of your money and should never be reelected. If you want to wake up one day and realize you can’t eat or feed your family because no one will take food stamps knowing if they do they won’t get paid; keep electing these financially irresponsible people. The choice is yours. They are not helping the poor; they are oppressing the poor.

The UN Verses US Rights on Taxes and Guns

The UN is voting on resolutions which could directly affect you. Why are we not being informed of these resolutions by our elected officials?

United Nations Taxation

Why do most people in the US not know there is a bill at the UN to levy a tax on all US citizens? I don’t know about you but I don’t even like our government taking money from me let alone the UN. The reason most have not heard about it is because our news agencies do not have our best interest as a nation set in their agendas. Out of all of the “Big News” providers, ABC, BBC, CBS, CNN, Fox, PBS, New York Times, NBC, The Washington Post, and The Washington Times after looking for hours I only found four to have an article about the UN’s plan to tax every person in the US; BBC, Fox, New York Times, and The Washington Times. Only two of them, BBC and Fox could I find anything without digging, the stories are listed below.

New York Times-  http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F30D1FFA385E17738DDDAD0A94D8415B8788F1D3

BBC- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8375406.stm

 Fox- http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/10/08/in-second-term-obama-will-allow-un-to-tax-americans/

The Washington Times- http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/aug/22/gop-platform-opposes-un-tax-plans-levies-infringe-/

The UN wants to tax all people especially us in the US and many of our law makers are accepting it; Read below.

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/europeans-push-global-tax-fund-poverty-reduction-climate-change-causes

Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST); it needs to be lost permanently!

http://www.cnsnews.com/blog/ken-blackwell/sink-law-sea-treaty-it-hits-us-taxes-lawfare-and-tribunal

If they tax us 1 cent on every $1,000 dollars how long will it be before they are taxiing us 10 cents, then $1, then $10 and so on. We should know if you let any government official start a tax, they will never stop it and always raise it.

United Nations Gun Control

I do not like Secretary of State John Kerry, I never have and never will but as I have said before I am an independent and as much as it pains me I have to give him a pat on the back. The UN is the most corrupt organization on earth, make no doubt about it. Recently even though John Kerry is against civilian gun ownership he told the UN General Assembly "The United States is steadfast in its commitment to achieve a strong and effective Arms Trade Treaty that helps address the adverse effects of the international arms trade on global peace and stability," and latter clarified, "We will not support any treaty that would be inconsistent with U.S. law and the rights of American citizens under our Constitution, including the Second Amendment". As I said, I can not stand Mr. Kerry but in this case he has done the right thing but his past history has shown he will flip, flop on anything that will give him more recognition or power. If he holds this line I can do nothing but praise his actions but the question is, why did he have to make this statement?

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/15/us-arms-treaty-usa-idUSBRE92E12N20130315

General Assembly Resolution-18 Dec 2006

“Recognizing that arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation are essential for the maintenance of international peace and security” and “Further requests the Secretary-General to provide the group of governmental experts with any assistance and services that may be required for the discharge of its tasks”

http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/61/89

General Assembly Resolution- 8 Jan 2009

“Recognizing that arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation are essential for the maintenance of international peace and security”

IV. Record-keeping

11. The choice of methods for record-keeping is a national prerogative. States will ensure that accurate and comprehensive records are established for all marked small arms and light weapons within their territory and maintained in accordance with paragraph 12 below in order to enable their competent national authorities to trace illicit small arms and light weapons in a timely and reliable manner.

12. From the time of the adoption of this instrument, records pertaining to marked small arms and light weapons will, to the extent possible, be kept indefinitely, but in any case a State will ensure the maintenance of: (a) Manufacturing records for at least 30 years; and (b) All other records, including records of import and export, for at least 20 years.

13. States will require that records pertaining to small arms and light weapons held by companies that go out of business be forwarded to the State in accordance with its national legislation.

http://www.poa-iss.org/InternationalTracing/ITI_English.pdf

United Nations Disarmament Yearbook 2011: Part II

Page 74

A number of States established and revised national legislative frameworks, integrated small arms action plans into national development strategies, worked on weapons collection and destruction programs, improved on their stockpile management, and entered into international cooperation and assistance. States further improved the security of stockpiles and destroyed surplus weapons, often with assistance provided by the United Nations, including its three regional centers for peace and disarmament, in partnership with donors, regional organizations and civil society. A growing number of States increased transparency by reporting their small arms transfers to the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms.

Page 76

CASA continued to undertake, coordinate and oversee activities such as the development of the International Small Arms Control Standards; the improvement of the Programs of Action Implementation Support System;13 assessing the adverse impact of unregulated arms transfers on the work of the United Nations; the formulation of an implementation framework for the International Ammunition Technical Guidelines; and the establishment of implementation modalities for the assistance proposals submitted by affected States in combating the proliferation of small arms through the Group of Interested States in Practical Disarmament Measures.

Page 77

Participating States also agreed that the GIS should serve as a forum for information sharing to promote policy dialogue on relevant issues. In this connection, it facilitated the exchange of views related to the United Nations small arms process; the link between small arms issues, conflict prevention and an arms trade treaty; and the partnership between disarmament communities based in New York and Geneva.

I have to ask myself, is our government protecting our right to privacy and possible unconstitutional search and seizure?  The answer is no, just look below at what was taken from the UN’s dada base. If you look up the meaning “Procurement through national product” is the US Government telling the UN civilian arm production rates and registration data; does this scare you because it does me?

Page 112

Page 118

I hope you know what “Additional information and clarification” means; it’s your registration information.

We need to get these traitorous elected officials who support UN items which infringe on our constitutional rights out of our government; they are selling our nation to the highest bidder. Next the UN will want to tell us how many children we can have; actually it has already been brought up in the UN.  The United Nations published a 240-page document talking about how to accomplish this endeavor in 2004.

https://calculators.io/world-population-to-2300/

Now do you think our news agencies or politicians are protecting us? If the UN was here to help us why would nine of the UN Human Rights Council be supporters of slavery (been there, seen it first hand). I have been to many countries but have not been to all countries on the UNHRC so the number may be higher. Why would the UN allow it’s vehicles be used in a terrorist attack and it happens repeatedly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRmYYSp0-B8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Uql98I1RdI

The UN is nothing but a money pit and we need to be out of it. The money we give to the UN, which is so disproportionate to the rest of the UN members, can be better used at home.

America’s Biggest Problem; No Leadership

One of my favorite people who ever lived and had to deal with on of the worst time in American history said it best;

“America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.” Abraham Lincoln

I set back for a long time trying to figure out why our elected officials seemed to lack the intelligence and the common sense of the common man yet trumpet that they have all the answers when in truth the problems they have the answer to were a result of their previous answers. When you look at our current politicians (minis a very few) all you can see aspiring, vain, self centered people, trying be become as powerful as possible by removing the power of the people. You have politicians you know are criminals and yet most major cities reelect them and wonder why their city is going to the dogs.

“If ever time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in Government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin.” Samuel Adams

We need these patriots now, when you elect people who state “you have to pass the bill to see what is in it” or “we need to remove guns from the law abiding citizen to protect the law abiding citizen”, you know you have just witnessed an arrogant, ignorant, reckless, and corrupt government and yet we still reelect them.

“Now more than ever before, the people are responsible for the character of their Congress. If that body be ignorant, reckless and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness and corruption. If it be intelligent, brave and pure, it is because the people demand these high qualities to represent them in the national legislature. James Garfield,

Why did our founding fathers put so much effort into the Constitution and why are there so many politicians today trying to get rid of it? Why today is the 1^st, 2^nd, and 4^th Amendment under attack?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxXy-r7aatA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mSFU0vwOT0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWCQhAx_U38

http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/first-amendment-under-attack-18-examples-of-how-they-are-coming-for-our-free-speech

The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people; it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government.” Patrick Henry

The 1^st Amendment has been attacked by the leadership of our country for far too long. Most of Congress and the citizens of our great nation have never read the constitution If you want to see the examples of our first Amendment rights being violated by our elected officials it is all over the web. It is sad when our own leaders who are sworn to uphold the constitution, violates the 1^st Amendment and some are so blatant their answer is, “If you don’t like it sue me”. Let’s see the 1^st Amendment:

1^st Amendment:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=MApjMm-I9_E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ql0KGTu8yrg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5g0kEqhlt4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWL_m2ABISo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cc9R7DivSCc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdjG2zNyClo

“Every step we take towards making the State our Caretaker of our lives, by that much we move toward making the State our Master.” Dwight D. Eisenhower

One of the biggest infringement and attacks is on the 2^nd Amendment.

2^nd Amendment:

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a Free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Now many of our “Elected Officials” would tell you that the 2^nd Amendment was meant to protect us against foreign attack and not for every citizen to have a weapon so lets see what the founding fathers say.

"And that the said Constitution be never construed to authorize Congress to infringe the just liberty of the Press, or the rights of Conscience; or to prevent the people of the United States, who are peaceable citizens, from keeping their own arms; …" Samuel Adams

"The people are not to be disarmed of their weapons. They are left in full possessions of them." Zachariah Johnson

The beauty of the second amendment is that it will not be needed until they try to take it.” Thomas Jefferson

I think Thomas Jefferson hit the nail on the head with his quote and this is no doubt the reason our elected officials have chosen this path. Throughout history only two things have happened when people were disarmed. Ottoman Turkey in 1915 disarmed the people then killed 1.5 million of them, Soviet Union in 1929 disarmed the people then killed 20 million of them, Germany in 1933 disarmed the people then killed counting the Jews near 20 million, China’s two régimes in 1927 and 1949 disarmed the people then killed 30-45 million people and the list goes on and on. I know what you are thinking, “It will never happen in America”, the citizens said the same in the countries I mentioned and they were wrong, dead wrong.

http://jpfo.org/filegen-a-m/deathgc.htm

The one thing I need to bring up because in today’s politics it makes no sense is why most of the minorities are for the Democrats when if you look at the history of civil right the biggest obstacle to civil rights was the Democrats; does George Wallace, Strom Thurmond, and Robert Byrd who said” I have never been interested in the KKK” he was a recruiter for them; ring a bell? Now for all the people who don’t want to look at the past to discover the truth about it another founding father said it the best:

"I ask, Sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people. To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them." George Mason

Now I ask you to identify which elected officials, Democrat or Republican, are trying to disarm America and vote them out of office. Leadership is not deceiving “We the People” but today that is what most does with the help of our inept media.

4^th Amendment:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMr06uKKdSo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bB_jp3Sm1BY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRtsqvLLC9I

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9pS5cEUorI

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

“They, who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty nor security.” Benjamin Franklin

I have ran into so many people who have been illegally searched that it’s not even funny but it is one more reason no one trust our government. The sad side of it is the main reason the 4^th Amendment is violated so often is two fold; 1^st sense the 2^nd Amendment is majorly infringed no crime rate has went through the roof in those areas, if you don’t believe me look it up. The ten most violent cities all have the strictest gun control.  

http://theamericapartyusa.blogspot.com/2013/02/crime-and-cause.html

2^nd when you elect people who want bigger government you are electing people who think you are not smart enough to know what is best for you. They are enslaving America each time they pass another group of regulations just to provide move power to them and remove it from We the People. A leader must have character to do what is right and let us be free.

Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without the strategy. Norman Schwarzkopf

A good leader is a person who takes a little more than his share of the blame and a little less than his share of the credit. John Maxwell

Leaders are what we are lacking or bad leaders are what we have received but we voted them into place. Peter Drucker was a very wise man at the turn of the century who understood what it took to be a leader. Too much talk or actions with agendas instead of results were sticking points he believed defined good leaders.

Effective leadership is not about making speeches or being liked; leadership is defined by results not attributes. Peter Drucker

Does this sound like anyone we know in politics today? Our politicians are lacking the one basic premise to being a good leader.

The supreme quality of leadership is integrity. Dwight Eisenhower

The worse part is the politicians which keep taking everything from those who work and giving everything to those who refuse to work. You don’t inspire people to become better and stand on their own two feet but lazy and be carried on everyone else’s back, the ones doing the carrying shouldn’t have to.  

If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader. John Quincy Adams

The bottom line is we need to start researching the people for which you vote. If you are one of those which just pull the “D” or “R” lever blindly following party lines without ever doing research; stay at home. Your ignorance is killing our nation.