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It's not getting better - - 7/9/2012 6:23:37 PM

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Scranton Mayor Chris Doherty cut everyone's pay -- including his own -- on Friday, saying the state's sixth-largest city is broke because the City Council blocked his proposed tax increase. Doherty, a Democrat, warned nearly 400 police officers, firefighters and public works employees about his doomsday plan, prompting a Lackawanna County judge to order the city to pay full wages to all employees, citing that it is a violation of their contracts. Hours later, the payday envelopes went out, and, despite the judge's order, they were light.

Amusing, a judge ordering be paid from nonexistent funds.

This needs to be resolved," Scranton firefighter and president of the local firefighters union John Judge told FoxNews.com. "My members are getting a check for $7.25 an hour. These are people that are the head of their households. They have mortgages. They have other living costs. They are now going to have to throw their bills in a hat and randomly pick what gets paid on time.”

The cuts were sudden, as city employees were only given eight days' notice. Doherty also claimed last week that there is only $5,000 left in the city’s accounts.

On another front -

A new report says wealthy Maryland residents may be moving out due to recent tax hikes – a finding that is sure to escalate the battle over taxing the American rich.

Ahh, Scranton?

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RE: It's not getting better - - 7/9/2012 7:25:35 PM

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Not surprisingly of FOX News to 'adjust' the information to the conservative viewpoint. We wouldnt want 'facts' and 'evidence' to reach the conservative audience, right? Better to keep conservatives ignorant, dumb, and clueless; makes it easier to control them....like peons or slaves...

At issue is a budget gap of $16.8 million dollars. As of last friday (July 6), the city had about $5,000 in cash plus what it made that day from payments. But was clear it wasn't enough to stave off the $1 million payroll for 400 city wide workers. An by the looks of it, a few things can be seen:

A) The City Council torpedeo'd any attempts by the mayor to fix the problem by raising taxes 29%. They apparently did not have a better proposal when they voted down the proposal. Likewise, they didnt seem to care what would happen to the city's workers either. As all attempts by the press to meet with them have failed. Also, the MINUTES for the meeting on July 5th are not posted yet.

B) This little gem from NPR (not surprisingly FOX News didnt print...):

quote:

"I'm trying to do the best I can with the limited amount of funds that I have," Doherty says, "I want the employees to get paid. Our people work hard — our police and fire — I just don't have enough money and I can't print it in the basement."

From NPR two days before FOX News reported on it.

C) The mayor and other groups have tried solving the problems in creative ways. But the city council has killed each and every measure. Makes one wonder which political party these members come from?

While I can not verify it right now, this whole thing strikes me as a conservative 'starve the beast' tactic. In that rather than deal with the problems like adults, certain individuals would like to see a US City faulter and die, in some sort of insane manner of showing their financial system is good for America. Well, it doesnt appear to work well. How about those cities just go into deficit spending mode? Worked for Republicans going all the way back to the Reagan Administration! One thing should be noted, the mayor did state to the workers before the July 5th City Council meeting that paychecks might be lighter if things did not go as plan. Unfortunately, the mayor seems to have been proved right.

I suspect the taxes will get raised in the future. And they'll be higher than if the morons trying to 'starve the beast' had never interjected their lame-ass version of economics on the city. Further, those members of the City Council might wish to leave the area for a....LONG....time. Since it appears they are the ones at fault in this mess. The real sad part is.....Scranton is a nice city. Its to bad its having these financial troubles.

(in reply to Yachtie)

RE: It's not getting better - - 7/9/2012 7:58:53 PM

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Just the tip of the iceburg. I won't bring up Wisconsin right now, but they not only made the tough choices, they did what many other states will soon have to do.

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RE: It's not getting better - - 7/9/2012 8:06:13 PM

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Well, duh. Every time that private sector management wants union concessions, they meet with union reps. If they simply claimed they were broke and unilaterally gave a pay cut with no agreement, you'd have this same situation. The judge was right.

It's the mayor's job to figure out how to make things work, even if it's challenging.

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The small-breasted ones want larger breasts. The large-breasted ones want smaller ones. The straight-haired ones curl their hair, and the curly-haired ones straighten theirs...

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RE: It's not getting better - - 7/9/2012 8:39:54 PM

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Their website says they are, "Pennsylvania's Progressive City." Isn't that special?

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RE: It's not getting better - - 7/9/2012 8:41:00 PM

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Being broke is certainly challenging. What about next month ?

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RE: It's not getting better - - 7/9/2012 9:22:03 PM

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There is no shortage of bad news. Consider for example this collection:
http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/25-signs-the-collapse-of-america-is-speeding-up-as-society-rots-from-the-inside-out

I found this amusing: The IRS says that there were approximately 940,000 fake tax returns filed for 2010.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/27/us/id-thieves-loot-tax-checks-filing-early-and-often.html?_r=2

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RE: It's not getting better - - 7/9/2012 9:28:07 PM

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quote:

ORIGINAL: servantforuse

Being broke is certainly challenging. What about next month ?

Pretty obvious. You review the contracts and see what's permitted and what's not. I'd expect to see layoffs, etc. And sitting down with the union reps and attempting contract renegotiation - bringing back some or all of the laid-off workers being a bargaining chip for concessions.

_____________________________

"You women....

The small-breasted ones want larger breasts. The large-breasted ones want smaller ones. The straight-haired ones curl their hair, and the curly-haired ones straighten theirs...

Quit fretting. We men love you."

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RE: It's not getting better - - 7/9/2012 9:28:26 PM

BamaD

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At least he took the same paycut he gave everyone else. They shouldn't have signed contracts they couldn't pay for.

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RE: It's not getting better - - 7/10/2012 10:45:59 AM

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The key word here is 'attempting' contract renegotiation. Once they have something they will not give it up unless forced to do so. Public employee unions have an entitlement attitude that others do not.

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RE: It's not getting better - - 7/10/2012 10:54:25 AM

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Quite. It isn't like bank staff expect the taxpayer to bail them out, is it?

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RE: It's not getting better - - 7/10/2012 11:02:43 AM

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We should never have done that either. There is no such thing as 'to big to fail'..

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RE: It's not getting better - - 7/10/2012 11:08:49 AM

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So why do public sector staff have more of an "entitlement attitude" than those overpaid tosspots, then?

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RE: It's not getting better - - 7/10/2012 11:17:43 AM

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The lower level employees of banks are far from being overpaid.

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RE: It's not getting better - - 7/10/2012 11:26:52 AM

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Yes, but it wasn't them who got their year's end bonuses paid for by the tax payer.

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I like to think he was eaten by rats, in the dark, during a fog. It's what he would have wanted...
(Simon R Green on the late James Herbert)

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RE: It's not getting better - - 7/10/2012 11:28:57 AM

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I don't know. Do clerks, tellers and many others get bonuses ?

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RE: It's not getting better - - 7/10/2012 11:35:43 AM

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Do the higher levels of management have an entitlement attitude or not?

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I like to think he was eaten by rats, in the dark, during a fog. It's what he would have wanted...
(Simon R Green on the late James Herbert)

(in reply to servantforuse)

RE: It's not getting better - - 7/10/2012 11:38:41 AM

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I would say that some definately do. I think we all do to a certain degree.

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RE: It's not getting better - - 7/10/2012 11:41:59 AM

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So your statement that "Public employee unions have an entitlement that others do not," was drivel then.
Glad we've got that sorted.

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I like to think he was eaten by rats, in the dark, during a fog. It's what he would have wanted...
(Simon R Green on the late James Herbert)

(in reply to servantforuse)

RE: It's not getting better - - 7/10/2012 11:46:10 AM

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Not at all. Did you see the public employee unions in Wisconsin the last 16 months ? That is what I'm talking about. They now pay a portion of their pension and health care costs and they became unhinged. They went absolutly beserk .

(in reply to Moonhead)

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