[tomder55]

'My City Was Gone' is a song that was on the flip side of 'The Pretenders ' more successful single hit 'Back on the Chain Gang' . Most people who listen to the song notice that the musical riffs were borrowed by Rush Limbaugh for his show intro.

But the song itself could be a symbol for the dying urban centers of America that are governed by Democrats
I went back to Ohio
But my city was gone
There was no train station
There was no downtown
South Howard had disappeared
All my favorite places
My city had been pulled down
Reduced to parking spaces
Ay, oh, way to go, Ohio
Well, I went back to Ohio
But my family was gone
I stood on the back porch
There was nobody home
I was stunned and amazed
My childhood memories
Slowly swirled past
Like the wind through the trees
Ay, oh, way to go, Ohio
I went back to Ohio
But my pretty countryside
Had been paved down the middle
By a government that had no pride

Pretenders-My City Was Gone (1984) HD (youtube.com)

I recalled it today when reading a report about the city of Houston Tx. The previous mayor Sylvester Turner claimed that he left the city in great fiscal shape with a $420 million surplus. The current Mayor John Whitmire told a city council meeting that the city was hopelessly broke ;and blamed Turner . (ever notice how new leaders almost always claim there is some crisis caused by their predecessor ?)

“I think we can all agree on that, we are broke,” Whitmire said at the meeting, according to FOX 26 Houston. “This gives us a chance to discuss the financial picture of this city. It is broken. It was broken when I got here.”

Houston mayor admits city is ‘broke,’ proposes tax hikes and cuts to remedy massive budget deficit - Washington Examiner

Being the responsible Dem Mayor ;Whitmire proposes tax hikes (of course) .....along with cuts in all services except essential services.


Where did the so called surplus come from ? From Federal Government gimmees .The excuse was wealth transfers for covid . Was the money spent on covid related spending ;or was it added to the budget to justify more spending ?

I haven't gone over the nuts and bolts on the city spending . But I'm willing to bet it would not take much effort to trim it sans all the extra that American communities have to foot for the invasion of out southern border.

As the article correctly points out ;Texas with a budger surplus does not have an income tax . Houston with the tax has a deficit big enough to impact services like the Fire Department .

Landmark $650 million agreement ensures Houston fire fighters back pay; annual raises and more | CW39 Houston

[jlisenbe]

So let's see. We are running very high budget deficits, so what might the solution be? Why, it would be to increase spending!!

Under the new contract all existing, retired and family of fire fighters who have died since 2017 will receive all owed wages dating back to 2017. Not only will fire fighters receive back pay, but they will also receive 18% pay increases given to fire fighters in 2021 which will make them permanent. On top of that, the new deal mandates additional raises of 10% beginning July 1.

Someone might have thought that pay cuts were warranted, but that is no longer how we do things in this brave new world of imagination we live in. Men are women, women are men, and large pay increases will close a budget deficit.