America's Cities In Decline

On Monday, May 1st, Atlantic City avoided a default on its debt payment by the hair of its
mayor's chinny, chin, chin.  They may not be so lucky the next time around.

With a third of its casinos now shuttered, the city is struggling to survive, as shown by this graphic from the Wall Street Journal:

With per-person debt at double that of Detroit and Chicago, Atlantic City looks as if it will  soon be joining Detroit in bankruptcy.  Raising taxes isn't going to do the trick unless you tax everyone an average of 26% against their $26,936 incomes.

Then, there was a story from CNBC that said that 34% of the San Francisco Bay residents surveyed wanted to leave that area due to the cost of living, traffic, poverty, crime, and homelessness.

Add to that the story in Bloomberg News which showed that 20 cities in 2014 -- one-fifth of the top 100 cities -- saw their populations decline.

The point about all this is that declines in populations lead to struggling economies for all too many American cities because the people who do manage to move away are those who can afford to do so.   The ones left behind are generally the poorer and can't afford to move.  As a result, city revenues fall, debt increases; and bankruptcy isn't far behind.

The bottom line is that we have too many population centers in this country that are dying due to high taxes, crime, no jobs, low pay, decaying infrastructure, traffic, record poverty, and homelessness.  The lackluster economic growth of the last 7-1/2 years of the Obama administration have done nothing to correct this urban decay.

References:

Atlantic City, America’s Worst-Rated Town, Stares at Default: https://www.google.com/search?q=Atlantic+City%2C+America%E2%80%99s+Worst-Rated+Town%2C+Stares+at+Default+&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

Atlantic City makes debt payment as mayor averts a default: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-wp-blm-atlantic-city-683c0ab6-1084-11e6-a9b5-bf703a5a7191-20160502-story.html

Survey says: 34 percent of Bay Area residents are ready to leave: http://www.cnbc.com/2016/05/02/survey-says-34-percent-of-bay-area-residents-are-ready-to-leave.html

These Are the Top 20 Cities Americans Are Ditching: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-22/these-are-the-top-20-cities-americans-are-ditching

Obama Whines About Lack of “Credit” for Economy as it Tanks: http://www.whitehousedossier.com/2016/04/28/obama-complains-lack-credit-economy-growth-sinks/

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Are We Really Better Off Since Obama Took Office?

In front of adoring crowds at one of his all-too-many campaign style events, President Obama has claimed that "By almost any measure, we are better off since I took office" or that America is stronger under his watch.

The problem with such statements is that they are factually untrue when looking at the broader state of our union.

Sure, the President can claim that overall unemployment is down from where it was when he took over the reins of government in January 2009.  But, to get there, overall unemployment rose to a rate of 10% in the first year-and-a-half of his presidency.  Something that the so-called "stimulus" was supposed to avoid by promising that the unemployment rate wouldn't go above 8%. Even now, 5 years passed the end of the official end of the recession, this country still has an unemployment rate that is a full point above pre-recession levels.

Our major cities have extraordinarily high unemployment rates.  Chicago, Obama's home town, is still at 8.0%; and, that's just recently down from a January 2014 rate of 9.6%.  Detroit, now in bankruptcy, had an unemployment rate of  17.7% in July.  A city like Atlantic City, that depends heavily on Americans spending leisure-time money, is suffering from cash-strapped tourists unable to indulge in what they have to offer. The casinos are closing and the unemployment rate sits at 13.7%. More worrisome is the fact that our three largest cities -- Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago -- are dangerously close to following Detroit into bankruptcy.

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is stuck at a 5-year growth rate of about 2%. This is, at least, the worst recovery since World War II and, some say in the history of the United States when using alternate methods of calculating GDP.
Then there's the overall economic health of America.  For 5 straight years the median incomes of this country have fallen and income inequality has risen to a record high.  Half the jobs created under this President's watch were low income/low paying.  When he took office, only 30 million Americans were on food stamps.  Today, that number is 47 million; a 56% increase.  Similarly, only 38 million Americans were living in poverty.  Today, that number is a record 47 million and has stood at 15 percent of the population for the last 2 years. Thus, as the population grows, so does the amount of people left in poverty.

Of course, the real elephant in the room is the amount of debt that Obama has left us with; a number that only gets worse by the day.  At the beginning of his first term, the federal debt was $10.6 trillion.  Today, it is closing in on $18 trillion; just $250 billion from the current number (as of this writing) of $17.756 trillion. A number that, for the first time in this nation's history, is greater than the total annual economic output of the country.  Of those advanced economies in the world, only Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain can claim debt levels above their economic output. All of which are near bankruptcy and on the brink of bringing the European Union to its knees.

When we see people standing behind President Obama and nodding in agreement that things are better, you have to wonder what planet they're from.  Most other Americans (74% in one poll) still think that we never recovered from the recession.  And, in so many ways, they're right.

References:

By almost any measure, we are better off since I took office: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2014/07/10/obama_by_almost_every_measure_we_are_better_off_than_when_i_took_office.html

Obama claims US is 'stronger' than 'when I first came into office' as economy weakens, debt soars, America loses global influence and border crisis deepens: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2722926/Obama-claims-US-stronger-I-came-office-economy-weakens-debt-soars-America-loses-global-influence-illegal-immigrants-flood-border.html

Half Of The Jobs Created During The Recovery Were Low-Paying: http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/05/14/2008591/jobs-recovery-low-paying-minimum-wage/

Chicago Unemployment Rate Falls to 8.0%: http://www.worldbusinesschicago.com/news/chicago-unemployment-rate-jul2014

Detroit Unemployment Rates:  https://ycharts.com/indicators/detroit_mi_unemployment_rate

Unemployment rises in most US states in July: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140818/BIZ/308180072

 Another Atlantic City Bust: Trump Plaza Closes: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/trump-plaza-4th-atlantic-city-casino-shutdown-25528499

3 huge cities flirting with bankruptcy: http://money.msn.com/investing/post--3-huge-cities-flirting-with-bankruptcy

Obama’s economic recovery: officially the worst in US history: http://poorrichardsnews.com/post/41366829334/obamas-economic-recovery-officially-the-worst-in-us

Median Income Falls For 5th Year, Inequality At Record High: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/17/median-income-falls-inequality_n_3941514.html

47 million Americans on food stamps: http://img.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/files/2013/09/SNAP-participants.jpg

That’s rich: Poverty level under Obama breaks 50-year record: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jan/7/obamas-rhetoric-on-fighting-poverty-doesnt-match-h/?page=all

America's Poverty Rate Stuck At 15 Percent For Second Straight Year: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/17/poverty-america-census_n_3940812.html

 74% said we are still in a recession: http://patch.com/new-hampshire/concord-nh/is-the-recession-over-yet#.VBR1qmNAVLU

U.S. Federal Debt Exceeds GDP: http://jamesviser.com/?p=995

The Ray Rice Battering Case: A Failure Of The Police And The Justice System

A lot of people are angry that the NFL didn't act quicker and more decisively in meting out punishment to Ray Rice for literally cold-cocking his fiancee in that elevator.  But, instead of targeting the NFL, we should be more upset with a policing and justice system that failed to jail Rice that very night and subsequently file charges against him.  What he did was assault and battery and, potentially, could have killed Janay Palmer.  This is a crime for which Rice could have served up to 6 months in jail.

Blaming the NFL for not acting is to ignore the real villains.

How many of the thousands of battered women in this country can expect the NFL to mete out justice to their particular batterer? Are we now expecting employers, not the justice system, to intervene on behalf of battered women?

Our anger should be aimed at the Atlantic City police department and the criminal justice system in that state for not acting on behalf of the victim, Janay.  It is apparent that they put Ray Rice's celebrity ahead of justice.

The NFL should only have been involved in punishment if Rice failed to show up for work because of his having to serve time for assault and battery; or, punished because of some "morals clause" in his contract. Just like any other employer.

References:

New Jersey Assault and Battery Laws: http://www.assaultandbattery.org/new-jersey/

The Real Story of Unemployment and the Economy In America

Every month, we get an accounting of the overall unemployment rate.  Last month, the number moved up slightly to 6.2% from June's 6.1%.  All-in-all, that number seems reasonable; given that we were at nearly 10% unemployment in 2011. As a result, many Americans feel that unemployment is not a big problem anymore.

However, out of that top-level 6.2%, there are some very disturbing facts.

First, many of our major cities are still suffering.  Take Chicago, for example. That city's unemployment rate is at 8.4% or 35% higher than the national average.  Los Angeles sits at 7.6%.  Cleveland is at 8.5%,  and Detroit -- still in bankruptcy -- is at a whopping 14.5%.

The two cities that depend on gaming and leisure revenues -- Las Vegas and Atlantic City -- are still on the high side of unemployment; indicating that Americans don't have the ability to resume vacationing at these pre-recession, entertainment hot spots.  In Las Vegas, the unemployment rate is still 7.6%.  Atlantic City is almost double that, and worse than Detroit at 14.9%, and we are now seeing once high-trafficked casinos closing for lack of visitors.

The bottom line is that many of our major cities have high rates of unemployment because, quite frankly, their economies haven't recovered.  All three of the major metropolitan areas -- New York, Los Angeles and Chicago -- are struggling to keep their heads above water, and at least 20 more smaller cities such as Oakland, Fresno, and Harrisburg could see themselves in bankruptcy court very soon.

So, when I hear that President Obama is going to "pivot" to the economy and how well it's doing under his watch, I know that he's only able to do so because many Americans only hear the top line numbers every month and too many of those will falsely think it's the truth.  But, this country -- now 5 years since the recession ended -- is still in a world of hurt; and, that's a story that is definitely not being told.

References:

Chicago Unemployment Rate: https://www.google.com/search?q=chicago+unemployment+rate&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=sb

Los Angeles Unemployment Rate:  https://www.google.com/search?q=Los+Angeles+unemployment+rate&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=sb

Cleveland Unemployment Rate: https://www.google.com/search?q=cleveland+unemployment+rate&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=sb

Detroit Unemployment Rate: https://www.google.com/search?q=Detroit+unemployment+rate&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=sb

Las Vegas Unemployment Rate: https://www.google.com/search?q=las+vegas+unemployment+rate&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=sb

Atlantic City Unemployment Rate: https://www.google.com/search?q=atlantic+City+unemployment+rate&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=sb

Casinos no longer golden for Atlantic City: http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-atlantic-city-blues-20140725-story.html

3 huge cities flirting with bankruptcy Staggering under pension obligations and debt, any of these could follow Detroit into court:  http://money.msn.com/investing/post--3-huge-cities-flirting-with-bankruptcy

20 Cities That May Face Bankruptcy After Detroit: http://www.newsmax.com/US/cities-bankruptcy-after-detroit/2013/08/06/id/519081/

Obama pivots to economic legacy: http://thehill.com/news/administration/213888-obama-pivots-to-economic-legacy