Regular reader BBC wondered about this story earlier this week so I thought I'd address it here. Perhaps you've heard that Jefferson County, Alabama, where I live, is about to declare the single largest municipal bankruptcy in US history over $4billion in sewer bonds it cannot afford to pay. And you thought Chicago politics were corrupt to the core....BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The sheriff in Alabama's most populous county may call for the National Guard to help maintain order, a spokesman said Tuesday, after a judge cleared the way for cuts in the sheriff's budget and hopes dimmed for a quick end to a budget crisis.
Circuit Judge Joseph L. Boohaker ruled that leaders in Jefferson County — now trying to head off a municipal bankruptcy filing of historic proportions — could go ahead with plans to slash $4.1 million from the budget of Sheriff Mike Hale, who had filed a lawsuit that temporarily blocked spending cuts for his office.
About 1,000 county workers already are on unpaid leave because courts threw out a key county tax, and Hale has warned that reductions to his budget would mean fewer patrols by deputies and decreased courthouse security.
A spokesman for Hale, Randy Christian, said the sheriff told Gov. Bob Riley after the ruling that state assistance may be needed to perform basic law enforcement tasks once the department's current funding is exhausted in early September.
"We will certainly be looking at calling in the National Guard," said Christian.
Combine corruption, greed, nepotism, and incompetence with the repeal of an unconstitutional, occupational tax and you have the makings of one of the biggest municipal collapses in US history. For the last 20 years, Jefferson Co. has been seizing a percentage of the paychecks of anybody who works here, even if you don't live here. Not surprisingly, doctors and of course lawyers who wrote the tax, are exempt. A judge recently ruled it to be unconstitutional so it cut the county budget by about 1/3.
Then you have the JeffCo Commission who have been as corrupt, wasteful, and incompetent as any you can imagine, losing billions down various rat holes with nothing to show for it and no accountability. There are literally unaccounted-for billions. Nobody knows what happened to it.
With the county on the brink of bankruptcy and only vital workers still being paid, there is a shortage of cops, prison guards, and admin. workers to run the county. You may have heard that Birmingham always ranks in the top 5 in murders per capita in the US. We like to call ourselves the Detroit of the South. We're very proud! So who's going to tamp down the north-side riff-raff when they get wind that there aren't any cops to shoot at them when they terrorize their own neighborhoods? The national guard, that's who. It'll be like post-Katrina New Orleans but, without the hurricane and cannibalism.
10 comments:
Just to justify myself other doctors and lawyers. The reason we didn't pay an occupational tax is because we already pay an "occupational tax" known as the yearly licensure fee. It was not because of doctors/lawyers writing the law, it's because we were already paying through the nose.
(Currently $200/yr for license, plus $100 if you want to prescribe narcotics)
Billy, you're living in B'ham now? Oh, and I find the idea of lawyers prescribing narcotics a bit scary :-)
Billy, UAB almost charges me that much to park every 2 months. The occupational tax was something like 1% of your gross income.
For all of the control Obama has usurped in the past 6 months, isn't it paradoxal that there is an ever increasing sense of "disorder" within the US? TEA parties, Ron Paul's call to audit the fed, protests incl. anti-healthcare.... government bankruptcy. It looks like things are unraveling faster than B. Hussein's czar list is growing.
Oh - and I love how most levels of government use education and/or safety as leverage. They act as if there is no choice but to eliminate police and schools. Good grief, Charlie Brown!
Does anyone take a minute to think that there just might be a million other ways they could trim budgets without causing a catastrophy? Well, at least you could before you get the the point of bankruptcy.
What about countless government programs that are handy for a few but far from necessary? I'm sick of seeing people on TV crying - pleading - kissing some fat politician's ass to save/increase funding for this cause or that.
Here in PA, even the vital state workers aren't getting paid right now because of dumasses who get paid big bucks to mismanage the finances of the entire state.
"corruption, greed, nepotism, and incompetence "
I'd say incompetence tops the list.
When the shit hits the fan, it's gonna splatter far and wide. Our whole state (MI) is sitting in a boat that's sinking thanks to the corruption and greed flowing out of Lansing.
Bread and circuses - and what do you get?
Unconstitutional laws and taxes and budgets and programs - and what do you get?
Myself, I can't wait. I can SMELL the revolution, over top of the rot and cesspool in our state and in Washington, and I think it smells WONDERFUL.
"Revolution" is the word that my friend Pat over at Belchspeak used to describe what may be brewing in the heartland. It might be all we have left.
I've been saying it for a while, myself. It got old, hearing people tell me how retarded I was, so I just started waiting.
When it comes, its waves will ripple across the world.
I'm ready. We can only hope the rest of America soon wakes up. The protests, etc. I mentioned makes me think it's possible!
If the democrats, Obama, and the media keep treating Americans with contempt, disrespect, and arrogance the way they have been, then the frustration and resentment will boil over at some point....let's hope it happens at the ballot box in 2010.
And let's hope we're able to reverse some of the damage they've done in the past few months.
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