Thursday, August 15, 2013

How to Bankrupt a City

Democracy sucks - that's why the United States of America opted for a Constitutional Republican form of government instead of the mob rule that results from pure democracy. The frequent ballot initiatives mounted by the CO    and the NA CP are good examples of bad governance, the charter amendment proposed by dubious out of state and out of town groups to radically alter the City of Cincinnati's pension system is the epitome of bad governance. No surprise CO    supports it as bankrupting the city appears to be their main goal.
The amendment purports to patching a hole in the pension fund but actually doesn't address that at all but actually does wind up costing the city more. While supporters claim their plan will avert bankruptcy, it will more probably make bankruptcy more likely.
The local supporters (most are not) appear woefully ignorant of details in the plan, how the current pension system works and wven their own organization.
From the Biz Courier:
"Supporters of the plan have said they did not consider the Social Security issue when they wrote the amendment"
From the Warp:
"However, committee member Robinson, a Procter & Gamble retiree, seemed relatively new to the effort. He said he believes in the need for pension reform, but doesn’t know a lot of specifics about how this proposal was formed.
"There is an organization – I can’t tell you the name of it – that created a model and offered it to cities," he said."
Considering the secrecy surrounding the supporters, it is not surprising to find some of them have been investigated by the IRS.
FWIW, the only mayoral candidate who supports this idea is the tomato smoking Jim Berns.

For more see Biz Courier, Biz Courier, Fishwarp

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