Banks do it! Auto companies do it! Why not let all the cities do it? Sounds like an Broadway tune doesnt it.....
U.S. cities need national bailout agency: Rohatyn
May 6, 2009
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The architect of the 1970s financial rescue of New York City said on Wednesday the federal government should create a powerful national agency to bail out dozens of floundering U.S. cities.
[.....]
Today, scores of cities and states are running billions of dollars of deficits. Some have suspended non-critical services by furloughing workers to save money. California and New York state have raised taxes, unpopular steps in a recession.
Unlike the U.S. government, which can print money to close deficits, states and cities are required to balance their budgets.
(Hot Damn, what a concept!!!)
Rohatyn said hard-pressed state and local governments should be temporarily allowed to run deficits instead of curtailing vital services.
If these governments cannot solve their deficits by themselves, then a national agency could step in, he said. That was how New York state's control board solved the city's budget crisis in the 1970s.
[....]
"I think there is a yawning need for a serious look at urban and state problems," Rohatyn said.
Rohatyn recalled that tens of thousands of city workers were laid off in just a few years while subway fares doubled.
Imagine that, raising the fares to their true value instead of using taxpayers money to offset losses -- what will they think of next
For the full article - go to:
http://www.reuters.com/article/Infrastructure09/idUSTRE5457EC20090506
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