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10.01.2008 0

The Extinction Agenda

  • On: 10/07/2008 15:17:52
  • In: Fiscal Responsibility
  • “And another one gone, and another one gone,
    Another one bites the dust.” – Queen, “Another One Bites the Dust”


    Yet another big fat, government has run out of food, as the species of governmentus overspendus lumbers on to certain extinction.

    The city of Vallejo, California, a suburb of San Francisco has filed for bankruptcy after a unanimous vote by the city council:

    “City Manager Joseph Tanner and the city’s finance director had advised filing for bankruptcy before its fiscal year ends on June 30 because Vallejo faces a projected budget deficit of $16 million and has no money in its reserves.

    “The San Francisco suburb of 117,000 people also is expected to generate $5 million less in revenue than projected because retail sales and property values are down amid an economic slowdown and slumping real estate market, according to a report issued by Tanner.”

    In other words, this city alone was facing an actual $21 million deficit, and with no extra cash on hand, had to bite the bullet.

    Apparently, the city’s mayor, Osby Davis was worried, before voting for bankruptcy, that the move would stigmatize the city. One consultant had consoling words for city officials:

    “‘There is a stigma associated with bankruptcy that’s not necessarily warranted,’ said Sajan George, an Atlanta-based financial turnaround consultant who worked on the Orange County bankruptcy.”

    How’s this for a stigma? You spent so much money now you don’t have any. You’re spendthrifts. If you were a publicly-traded business, we’d short you.

    This example should probably serve to remind governments not to base budgets on the revenues generated by overvalued homes. One effect of a slumping housing market is that cities and municipalities collect far less in property taxes as property values plummet. Of course, that doesn’t mean that those localities ought to jack up the tax rates to make up shortfalls.

    What it does mean is that Big Government across America must find ways to survive with less, and to scale back where necessary.

    Else, other starving breeds of governmentus overspendus too will bite the dust.

    ALG Prediction: This is only just the beginning. The unsustainable growth of government throughout the nation was dependent in gargantuan ways to a growing economy. Just to give you an idea of how unsustainable Big Government is, America is not even currently in a recession. The city of Vallejo could not even survive the current economic slowdown its spending was so excessive. What if the nation actually went into recession or worse?


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