We recently ran a post where we predicted that of all the cities in the country that are in a financial death spiral and headed for bankruptcy court, New York City was now the clear leader in that race to insolvency. That post can be viewed at:
https://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2026/01/will-mamdani-make-new-york-city-next.html
High debt loads, high taxes that the new communist mayor wants to go even higher, high crime rates, socialist government policies, residents and businesses moving out of the city, etc. are all factors contributing to the race to bankruptcy. Our other top city candidates for bankruptcy have been Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco but New York City, in our opinion, now leads the race.
But there could be a dark horse contender for the race to bankruptcy court making a move out on the west coast. Consider some basic facts about the city of Seattle today:
According to FBI data analyzed by Security.org, Seattle ranks fourth of major U.S. cities for total crime rate with a crime rate of 5,7822 per 100,000 residents.
This city crime rate is almost 173% higher than the national average.
The Seattle area’s property tax burden is ranked tenth highest among 215 U.S. metro areas according to Attom, a provider of property and real estate data.
Property taxes in the Seattle area have gone up 57% in the past ten years.
The average property tax bill in 2024 in the Seattle area was $7,508, 80% higher than the national average.
The current total sales tax rate in the city of Seattle is a whopping 10.35%, over 37% higher than the national average.
Thus, there are certainly some financial and personal safety challenges for anyone or any business residing in the city of Seattle. The city is displaying many of the characteristics of the four cities listed above that are heading for financial death. It is also losing some big business footprints and employee bases in the city with Amazon moving some of its business operations (and 2,400 employees) out of the city, Meta declining an option to expand its city footprint, Starbucks has shut down a number of city locations, and even Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos, has relocated himself out of the area to Florida. As businesses move out of a high tax and high business regulatory environment, the city tax base shrinks.
And into this dicey environment steps a new mayor with policy ideas that will probably not make the financial future of Seattle any better and will probably make it worse:
Katie Wilson, a self avowed socialist is the new mayor of the city.
Rather than honestly saying she is going to raise city taxes, she has tried the less onerous description of raising taxes as "progressive revenue.”
During her acceptance speech, she discussed her plans to raise taxes on businesses including through a so-called JumpStart payroll tax.
Yes, even though businesses, large and small, are already moving their businesses, their employees, and tax streams out of the city because of high taxes, her solution is to raise taxes even more, ignoring the old adage, “when stuck in a hole, stop digging.”
According to recent news reports, smaller businesses are also either leaving the city or just going out of business.
This has caused the business real estate environment to have a 33% vacancy rate.
The Skillet diner chain recently announced the closure of several locations.
Other restaurants shutting down include one Pablo Y Pablo location, two Pike Brewing locations, Manoon, and Mbar as residents and businesses move out of the city taking their dining options with them.
Jon Scholes, president of the Downtown Seattle Association, summed up the situation quite nicely: "This is a city where everything costs more. We have some of the most expensive housing, we have some of the most expensive food, we have some of the most expensive Ubers, and we should be looking at the set of regulations and taxes that have been put in place over the last decade. Are those helping things? Are they making this city more affordable or not?"
And into this challenging business environment, the new mayor wants to raise business taxes.
In addition to the bad business environment in the city, lax city government policing policy has allowed open air drug use and drug overdoses to skyrocket in the city without criminal repercussions of those openly using drugs and destroying the quality of life for other residents.
This situation and open air drug use has probably contributed to the reality that the Seattle police force is well over 200 people short of a full staff, all of which make the quality of life in the city less than stellar and less safe, another reason why residents and businesses are leaving.
Some bad going ons in the city and the mayor apparently has no plans or no idea how to fix these crime and financial problems. But she is also likely to screw up other aspects of life in Seattle, further driving out businesses and residents:
She has a communist in arms with Zohran Mamdani, the new mayor of New York City, the reason why we believe that NYC will be the first major city in our above list to go bankrupt.
She and he have shared glowing endorsements of each other and share similar plans to bring their respective city into the communist realm.
Wilson, like Mamdani, thinks that the government and politicians should control the housing inventory in their cities, not private ownership.
Wilson, like Mamadani, thinks that the city government can efficiently and cost effectively operate a government grocery store effort despite the historic failures of government run grocery stores, from the Soviet Union to Kansas City's $18 million failed government grocery efforts.
Wilson, like Mamdani, thinks that the city can and should operate city wide no fee day care centers and have taxpayers pay for them despite the massive Somali crisis and scandal of government funded daycare centers in Minnesota (see discussion below).
Wilson, like Mamdani, has pledged not to staff city government and her administration with the most capable people available in order to make most efficient use of taxpayer wealth: she has promised to staff on the basis of race, sexual orientation, immigration history, people with disabilities, religious orientation, etc., not effectiveness or ability, meaning that city services will be suboptimal.
And despite the very personal problems of her residents and businesses regarding high taxes, high crime, etc., she promised to emphasize her efforts on nebulous useless concepts like “climate action and environmental justice,”whatever that means.
Higher taxes, larger city bureaucracies that are staffed with sub-optimal talented people, high tax, drug use ongoing on city streets, businesses and residents leaving the city and taking their taxable assets with them, Seattle has all the earmarks of entering into a financial death spiral. Maybe New York City is not a lock to be the first to bankruptcy court.
Additional note: as we have reported previously, there is a massive criminal fraud network going on in Minnesota where mostly Somali immigrants have been stealing from government programs for years. These criminal efforts have included food banks, day care centers, and transportation programs. People have been arrested, people have pleaded guilty, people are going to jail and the vast majority of them are Somali immigrants.
But there are indications that the same type of fraud has been going on in Seattle, as reported by independent journalists. If so, it is another sad commentary on taxpayer money being siphoned off by criminal enterprises and these reports allege that Somali immigrants are also involved with the fraud in Seattle.
One would hope that any public servant, like the mayor, would look into the potential of fraud in their city, given the proven fraud in Minnesota. However, hope apparently is too much to ask of the Seattle mayor who has already decided that the allegations and proof of alleged fraud in her town is racist and she does not even plan to see if maybe the taxpayers there are really getting ripped off:
She has publicly dismissed even the possibility of fraud in Seattle, claiming that the allegations of Somali welfare fraud is only about "dividing and conquering” and making the Seattle immigrant community a political target.
Consider a recent exchange with a local journalist:
Journalist: “Have you asked anyone to follow up on the fraud claims, either the Department of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs or the SPD [Seattle Police Department]?
Wilson: “No.”
Journalist: “So there’s, as far as you're concerned right now, there’s no reason to suggest there’s any sort of fraud?”
Wilson: “I don’t. This whole issue is not really about fraud, right? It’s about dividing and conquering. It’s about making an immigrant community a target, right? There’s no reason to assume, based on the identity of a day care operator, that their small business is doing anything wrong.”
Pathetic leadership at best and possibly bad by career advice for her own career. Tim Walz, governor of Minnesota withdrew from seeking another term as governor because he ignored, or sandbagged, the massive Somali fraud in Minnesota, a fate she may suffer if the news reports on Somali fraud in Seattle turn out to be true and like Walz, did nothing to stop it.
Whistle blowers in at least two other states have also claimed Somali criminal rings in their states are also ripping off government programs. Thus, this is probably not “about making an immigrant community a target.” It’s about ripping off the taxpayer, plain and simple, and she is a bad steward of taxpayer wealth if she does not at least take a look at what might be happening, given what is going on elsewhere.
Yes, Seattle, with a new mayor, has definitely entered the race to bankruptcy court.
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If you agree that we need to deseat every member of Congress for their lack of success and accomplishment, then please consider going to the following petition link to help the cause:
https://www.change.org/p/deseat-congress-reset-freedom
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