This is what I have concluded after spending about five hours writing up on San Diego's fiscal crisis, and about five weeks researching and writing on other American fiscal crises, from the huge New York one in '75 to Orange County's sudden bankruptcy in 1994.
It's now 5am, and I've been up all night dealing with San Diego, so please bear with me on this little rant: Can people elected to public office count? Do they know very basic mathematical statistics (like the type I could teach a seven-year-old)? Do they have any sort of common sense?
Miami didn't have a CPA on their payroll for TEN years. Hey, there's someone in the office who knows how to ten-key - it's cool! San Diego made a "good deal" by giving the unions increased retirement benefits instead of wage increases in exchange for the right to underfund the pension fund. Twice! Orange County thought that the Fed would always lower the interest rate - after all, hadn't the interest rate been lowering the past six or seven years? With that much history, its clear that interest rates are now affected by gravity and must always fall. Let's bet all our money on that assumption, borrow a bunch of money, and then bet it too! New York, bless its little heart, thought that it, like the nation, could run as large a deficit as it wanted, and the market would still buy its bonds. Pittsburgh believed that, despite a 50% decrease in population, its citizens required just as many municipal swimming pools and rec centers open as before.
Ah, American politics, I love thee.
Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
Hey, I hope you enjoyed your foray into local politics. It's maddening, isn't it?
One of the problems in NYC was an outmoded system of power brokering by the Borough Presidents. There were 5 of them and they basically decided things for over a hundred years, swapping favors and political patronage, etc.
In addition, the union concessions in NYC had done great damage to the city's economy, to the point where it went from the busiest port in the nation to a backwater with only one tug operator (Moran) and the Brooklyn Navy yard still in operation. Oh wait, I forgot that there was still a cruise ship dock, two ferry boat operations (one free, the other cost a quarter round trip), and some sightseeing operations left too.
The mayor weilded a lot of power, but so did the commissioners of major agencies. The mayor didn't get to just put anyone in charge of things -- there was patronage there too.
Sadly, the system was "improved" by taking power away from the borough presidents and vesting it in the City Council. I say sadly because city council people were about as intelligent and politically astute as the average school board. I.e., not much. I assume over time that people put more effort into finding good ones to serve, but at the time of the fiscal crisis, a bunch of neighborhood cranks became powerful. Didn't know squat about how things ran, and, predictably, cut a destructive swath through the City's programs.
ah well.
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
And you didn't even get around to talking about rent controls .
Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
Yeah! Stupid rent control. Great if you inherited your apartment from your grandmother, but if you just moved into the City -- watch out!
Yikes!
Stupid rent control.
Posted by HollowEarth (Member # 2586) on :
quote:Originally posted by Jhai: Pittsburgh believed that, despite a 50% decrease in population, its citizens required just as many municipal swimming pools and rec centers open as before.
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
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