With radicals like Van Jones standing side by side with the police protesting in Wisconsin, rest assured Mr. Jones has no intention of leaving Wisconsin with his tail between his legs if the governor should prevail. if Ohio beats Wisconsin to the draw and passes their version of the Wisconsin changes, Mr. Jones and his radical band will be trucking off to Ohio to make mischief there.
From the cities to the states to Washington DC, politicians have made promises they can’t keep. We are in the same shape as countries like Greece, France, Spain, and the United Kingdom, just lagging them by a few months. Those countries, too, over promised, and had to adjust. Not all of the protests in those countries have been peaceful when the promises had to be broken.
Sub prime mortgages were blamed for the housing bubble bursting. I don’t recall hearing that term until we sank into recession, and you heard that term every day. The term described people who were not qualified to have a mortgage but got one anyway. Greedy Wall Street fat cats were blamed for the problem. Did fat cats decide it was an American right to home ownership? No that was Dick Durbin, Chris Dodd, and Barney Frank and many of their fellow progressives who made that decision. Then, supported by SEIU and others they protested at banks that didn’t get the message. But, no banker would have issued a mortgage to any sub prime buyer were it not for Freddie and Fannie, again, the government playing around in the mortgage market.
Well, here’s a new term. Sub prime country, sub prime state, or sub prime city. Ireland, Spain, Greece, and the UK are sub prime countries. They had to be bailed out because they can’t meet their financial obligations. But, those who were over promised and are being adjusted by their governments far after the fact, still refuse to take the adjustment quietly. They want more taxes on the rich and the business community to continue their benefits. The US is fast becoming a sub prime country. No one is willing to touch the big promises that can’t be kept. They are the third rail of politics and if you touch it your political career is over. But, not touching it just delays the day when it has to be touched. Trading votes for dollars is a global issue.
Illinois is a sub prime state. The people responsible for running Illinois are either in prison, going to prison, or should be in prison. They have obligated the state for financial promises that can’t be paid. The state has to hope the Federal Government will forgive their mistakes, like Freddie and Fannie, and bail Illinois out before the state has to file bankruptcy.
California is close behind. Promised pension debt in California is estimated to be $500 billion over the next 10 years. Can’t pay it. A sub prime state.
Detroit is a sub prime city. Once the fifth largest city in America, Detroit is done. A blight on the American landscape, and a lesson in how running a city with corrupt mayors, a progressive agenda, and freebies for all, works. It doesn’t, and Detroit can’t be saved. It is now a multi-cultural model gone bad. The African Americans, the Hispanics and the Muslims don’t like each other. Crime escalates and violence follows. I was there in 1967 when the City was burning and it hasn’t stopped burning since.
Not far behind is San Francisco. The budget shortfall there for public pensions is $4 billion. The poster city for progressive politics, it’s now a sub prime city. The city of Orange, California, paid $13 million in pensions with a total budget of $88 million. That pension number is projected to be $23 million in 2012. Another sub prime city.
According to Daniel DiSalvo in National Affairs magazine, public employees today earn $14 an hour in total compensation more than their private counterparts.
How did this happen. It’s called accountability. Politicians who approve salaries for public employees have one objective. Get reelected. They trade dollars for votes. They have hidden them in benefits since salaries are more obvious. At all levels of government.
It’s going to take strong leadership and courage to face the pressure we are seeing in Wisconsin. And, the sacrifices being requested in Wisconsin are pretty small compared to what’s coming down the road. If it’s ugly in Wisconsin, what’s going to happen in Detroit, San Francisco, Illinois, California, and the United States in total.
You think Greece can’t happen here, think again. With radicals like Van Jones stoking the fires, it can happen. With more and more Americans angry about sacrifices that must be made to fix the problems, it’s a tinder keg.
