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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Greece Needs Some "Tough Love"

Most everyone can recognize a spoiled brat when they see one. The brat will kick and scream or threaten to hold their breath 'till death unless mom or dad gives them what they want. The European Union, has their own spoiled brat: Greece. The Greeks are kicking and screaming with riots and widespread public strikes and refusing any and all austerity measures. Usually, it's only "tough love" that can bring a brat to its senses. I say its time for the European Union to practice some very "tough love" and cut Greece loose and allow that country to sink or swim on their own with their own currency. Otherwise, the whole European Union will be taken down by this one country's bad behavior.

Dubai: A Desert Paradise Built On Quick Sand

This morning, the world markets were reeling from the realization that the Emirate of Dubai is on the brink of a credit collapse (Click to See Full Story:)"Dubai seeks to assure markets shaken by debt move". More than $80 billion dollars worth of loans against the country are at risk, with the ripple effect being felt worldwide; including the U.S.

For the last decade, Dubai has been the world leader in excess spending. At the heart of the spending was the current sheik, Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who has spent unlimited amounts of money on the backs of imported slave labor to push his agenda of making Dubai "the" playground for the wealthy in the Middle East. This ABC News expose' from last August will give you a taste of what this has been all about:



Now, it appears that the chickens have come home to roost in Dubai. But, the actual debt of this small Emirate is not really behind the world markets falling. On the grand scale of world debt, $80 billion is hardly anything. We spent nearly $40 billion to bail out AIG in the U.S.. The reason that the markets are so shaken is that this could literally be the canary in the coal mine. The death of Dubai could be representative of the potential collapse of commercial real estate around the world. We've already had the housing bust. Now, commercial properties could be at risk; especially in the U.S.. And, like in Dubai, the collapse of commercial real estate in America could throw at risk state governments, like California, into a similar situation. That is why all of us should seriously worry about this little speck of sand half a world away.