Showing posts with label los angeles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label los angeles. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 28, 2026

The Race To Bankruptcy Court: New York City and Los Angeles Continue Down Their Financial Death Spiral

  Let’s check in with our discussion on which  city or state government is going to  get to bankruptcy court first. Our primary cities in the race to bankruptcy include New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and newcomer, Seattle. The state governments that we think are soon heading into bankruptcy include New York, New Jersey, Illinois, and California with Washington state a newcomer to the race.


The reason for returning to this topic in the midst of our corruption series is because there have been some significant developments in the race to bankruptcy court. However, before reviewing the latest news and seeing which state or city is making the best progress towards government bankruptcy, let’s review how these cities and states got themselves into this financial death spiral position to begin with:


  • A government entity keeps expanding its budget, eventually putting pressure on the tax revenue stream it receives. 

  • At some point, rather than cut government spending or make its programs more efficient financially, the politicians in charge raise taxes to meet the ever growing government expenditures.

  • The raising of taxes causes some residents and businesses to leave the city or state for less tax burdensome areas, reducing the tax base and reducing the revenue stream.

  • Rather than cut expenses and become more efficient to match the reduced tax revenue stream, politicians in the above cities or states raise the tax burden even more.

  • This causes more residents and businesses to flee the city or state, further reducing the tax base and tax revenue stream.

  • At some point politicians panic and raise taxes more and start cutting vital government services (e.g. police, fire, education) in order to try and balance government spending against the shrinking tax base and revenue stream.

  • The reduction in quality of government services in particular and quality of life in general drives more residents and businesses out of the area.

  • Eventually, the expenses, costs and financial liabilities outstrip the reduced tax stream and bankruptcy occurs.


Okay that’s the process. Let’s see  what is going on with the top candidates in the race to bankruptcy court.


1)New York City has always been a  top candidate  to win the race to bankruptcy  court, experiencing many of the traits we listed above  on what would cause bankruptcy. We have already discussed  the reality that many residents and businesses,  small and  large, have left the city to  avoid the high taxes and crime rates  and that out migration is still going strong:

  • A recent analysis from the City Comptroller office found that  about 30,000 New  York  City jobs have disappeared in just two months.

  • The industries hit the  hardest by the job  loss have been the leisure/hospitality and finance industries.

  • This indicates  that quite possibly tourists are now starting to avoid the city and the  migration of financial jobs continues, with many of them  going to Florida.

  • Leisure/hospitality lost 7,700 jobs and finance lost almost 6.000 jobs.

  • The 6,000 jobs is particularly troubling since the city very heavily depends on  the financial sector to pay a lot  of the city’s  taxes.

  • Chef  Dan Kluger closed his  Loring Place  restaurant because of high property taxes and spiking electric and insurance bills.

  • Restaurant owner, George Tenedios, said the city permit process now takes  10-15 weeks  vs. the usual 4  weeks which delays operations, profits, and jobs: “If [Mayor Zohran] Mamdani put things in place to make things easier for small business owners, I haven’t experienced it.”

  • Heather Mulligan,  president  of  the Business Council of NewYOrk State, understands the problem:  “This recent data should be a wake-up call.  It’s time to ensure we’re creating a business climate in The Big Apple, and throughout the entire state, that allows business to invest, expand and create jobs, not lose them.”

Thus, New York City is still a  major competitor in the race  to bankruptcy court: high taxes, high business  regulations, politicians that have no idea how to  grow and manage a  robust economy that generates increasing tax revenue  as the out migration  of businesses and  residents grows. Remember, one grows a tax stream by growing the economy, not by growing the tax rate.

2)And the mismanagement deterioration of New York City’s tax base has not gone unnoticed by those that understand economics, unlike Mamdani and his cohorts:

  • In one year, Mamdani  has increased  the  city budget from  $115 billion to $127 billion despite a  shrinking tax base of businesses  and residents.

  • To cover this 10% increase  in  the city budget  Mamdani is  proposing a possible  9.5% increase  in property taxes, he raided the city’s rainy day fund for $1 billion, and got  some funds  from the state government.

  • The city’s  budget office predicts that city revenues will be growing annually at about 2% a year while expenses are growing at a 4.5% rate, not a formula for financial success.

  • City Comptroller Mark  Levine says the city  is  “quite simply spending more than it  takes in.”

  • And all of this  bad financial news has now resulted in  Moody’s  Ratings dropping the city’s  credit outlook from stable to negative,  a first step towards a downgrading of the city’s bond rating.

  • And as the  bond rating drops, the ability to borrow money becomes more  difficult  and more expensive and the financial death  spiral continues.

  • According to amNY: “It is the first negative outlook the City has received since the COVID crisis,” Levine said. “The fact that this is happening at a time of relative health in our local economy is all the more remarkable. The underlying challenge is clear: New York City is currently spending more than it is bringing in.”

  • This is the economic insanity that Moody’s is looking at: city education spending has grown  almost 32% since 2020 despite there being 100,000 fewer students,  rental assistance will  likely explode from $300 million to a whopping $3.5 billion  projected by 2030 and the  city's surplus budget has lost 94% of  its value in a  single  year.


A shrinking tax base, downgrading  of the  city’s credit  worthiness, exploding  city expenses: yes, New York City is still a prime  candidate to go bankrupt relatively soon.


3)Let's jump across the  county to another  probable  bankruptcy candidate, Los Angeles. As we have discussed  many  times, LA has  many bad economic trends going on: high tax rates and tax burden, horrendous  and  growing homelessness problem, high crime rates, cumbersome business  regulations, strong out migration  of jobs/residents/businesses, etc., all of which will be difficult to correct before going  bankrupt.


Now, San Francisco has also been on our list to go bankrupt since they were losing their bread and butter taxpayers, high tech, high paid, highly taxed workers in Silicon Valley. Los Angeles does not have an extensive tech industry,  their tax base gets a lot of their revenue  from the Hollywood  show business  type businesses. But a recent  development may show that base may also be in danger:


  • The long running, 25 year old  TV show, “American  Idol" is  packing up and moving production to Atlanta.

  • Not only does the show and its  employees escape the problems in Los  Angeles that we discussed above, the state of Georgia offered some serious  incentives to move to  that state.

  • The  state incentives include a 30% tax credit  for unscripted and  reality TV shows that spend at least $500,000.

  • Other Hollywood productions are also  moving out of California with the number of “shoot days” in Los Angeles having declined 12% in the second quarter of 2026 vs. second quarter of 2025.

  • Breitbart reports  that the  new Baywatch reboot is also considering leaving California due  to layers of  government regulations.


As productions leave the city and state, jobs  and the taxes these productions contribute to  the state  and  city tax  revenue streams  continue to  decline.  And as out of city and out of state productions show  the way and the savings that come with the  out migration, it  encourages  other productions to  also  leave and the city financial death  spiral goes into high gear.


That will do  it for  today: New York City and Los Angeles are still prime candidates for bankruptcy as the out  migration  of businesses, residents, and tax dollars continue  with no end in sight.


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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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Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:
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Tuesday, October 6, 2026

October, 2026, Political Class Insanity, Part 2: West Coast Political Stupidity From Oregon to Los Angeles To Seattle

 For  many, many years we have written about the ineptness, ignorance, and inability of the American political class to efficiently and effectively manage out tax dollars  and resolve the problems facing the  county. They never learn from  past mistakes and continue to  just make stupid decisions. Today’s political  class  insanity discussion just reinforces their historical incompetence.


1)Government intervention in the  medical care/health  care industry around the world and through  history has rarely ended  well:


  • Nationalized health care in England, Canada, and elsewhere has shown that health care quality deteriorates while the cost for government care management rises and rises when politicians get involved.

  • Obama Care promised to get every American on an affordable health insurance  plan  and “bend  the cost curve” of health  care while in  reality over 25 million Americans still don't have health insurance coverage and the Obama Car insurance policies failed to bend any curve.

  • The Federal government  has already tried to manage the  nation's health via Medicare and Medicaid, two programs  that are rocketing towards bankruptcy and as we have discussed extensively in our  government fraud posts, both programs are infested with fraud that steals billions and billions of  taxpayer wealth every year.

  • Vermont, one of the most liberal states in the country, tried to implement a  total state based government healthcare process over 12 years ago and had to give up before  even starting its implementation  since they could not find  any way to  fund it without going bankrupt.

  • Oregon voters voted against a universal  care strategy and plan at the  state level in 2002 with only about 20% voting in favor.


So history has shown that government controlled/politician-controlled healthcare management  has rarely, if ever, delivered better health care in an economical manner. And yet, that has not stopped the  politicians out in Oregon to  try and do what has never been successfully and efficiently accomplished before:


  • Oregon politicians want to take total control of healthcare over every Oregon resident by taking over Medicare and Medicaid control, Obama Care, and private insurance programs in the state.

  • The state politicians created the so-called Universal Health Plan Governance Board in 2023.

  • The purpose of  the  Board was to design  a publicly funded, government  controlled health  care system for  every resident, a “publicly funded health plan covering everyone who lives in Oregon.”

  • “Publicly funded” are code words for taxpayer funded.

  •  The original plan  was to develop the plan  and roll it out starting in 2028 and  complete the rollout by 2032.

  • However, the Board has delayed its final report  because those  serving on the  board cannot figure out how to pay for  the plan.


Such stupidity. Every resident in  Oregon likely has a unique health  care need. To think  that the state politicians can come up with a program that efficiently serves every resident and their unique  health  care needs is Soviet Union-like thinking, another example where government-control of health care failed  dramatically.


Dr. Delose Cosgrove is the former CEO of the Cleveland Clinic. I would bet that he has more health care and medical knowledge than every member of the Oregon state legislature combined. We previously discussed his belief  that smoking, diet, and lack of exercise contribute to  40% of premature deaths in this country, 70% of chronic diseases such as heart disease, and account for 75% of the nation's total health care.


He proved his point by implementing healthier food in the Clinic cafeteria and sponsoring  exercise and smoke cessation sessions. The  result was massive weight loss of Clinic employees and healthier employees and greatly reduced smoking levels. Politicians seem to always want to resolve public health  issues with economic solutions while the  best way to resolve public health issues is with public health solutions.


Advice to Oregon politicians via Einstein: the definition  of insanity is doing the same  thing over and over and  expecting different  results. Trying to implement government-controlled health  care is insanity, it has rarely if  ever  worked  before..


2)Speaking  of government incompetence, let’s head out to Los Angeles, a city that suffered through decimating wildfires a year ago:


  • A recent investigation  into the wildfires was recently  finished and released.

  • Findings  of  the report, over  700  pages  long, included the fact that fire-fighters were prematurely sent home despite the presence of high/dangerous winds, and evacuation  orders to residents did not go out until their homes were already on fire.

  • The  report  also concluded that the city fire department ignored warnings that a wildfire was still alive and smoldering and which  eventually reignited into a fury.

  • The report stated that firefighting efforts and communications were uncoordinated  and  disjointed.


Combine these findings with the reality that is already known  about firefighting infrastructure, ( e.g. dry hydrants, dry reservoirs, etc.)  and you see a massive failure of the local government  agencies and politicians, a failure that destroyed homes, businesses, lives, and trust.


A very basic duty of any government entity is to  protect the lives and property of the  citizens it serves. In the case of  the wildfires, Los Angeles politicians failed dramatically.


3)Obviously, American politicians do not know much  about affordable and available  healthcare or fire  fighting. But Seattle politicians show that politicians constantly show their economic ignorance:


  • We have recently and often discussed the reality that Seattle may actually be  the leading city candidate to go bankrupt first.

  • Violent crime, high taxes, high homelessness problem, and fleeing residents and businesses have  seriously  degraded the size of the city’s tax  base and revenue stream.

  • The fleeing tax base has created a severe crisis  in the city, with expected  city tax revenues facing a three year budget hole totaling hundreds of millions of dollars.

  • The  business  office vacancy rate is now the highest in the country with about 35% of the business space in the city now vacant.


Obviously, city politicians in Seattle have not managed the city economy efficiently  and effectively. And their recent decision is going to make  this  bad  situation  even worse:


  • According to reporting by the Western Journal, the city is raising the  minimum wage  to $22.14 on January 1st, up from the current level of $21.30.

  • That will give it one  of the highest minimum wage levels of any major  American city.

  • But this higher and higher rate  puts additional profitability strain especially on small businesses in the city, a  population  that has already been shrinking because of crime, a shrinking  customer  base, and already high taxes

  • These small business owners will likely reduce the number of  workers, reduce the number of hours of operation, take away other employee benefits, replace workers with  automation, and possibly leave the city altogether.

  • These options are not theoretical, we have  reported on similar economic insanity of raising the  minimum wage too quickly in  other cities and other states  with the  same  consequences.


An  old saying goes as  follows: “When stuck  in a hole, stop  digging.” Seattle  is stuck in a  financial crisis hole. Businesses are shutting down or moving their operations out of the  city for various reasons. Making it harder for a business to remain profitable and viable  should be the priority, not  increasing the major  expense item in its operation, labor. 


All  of which leads to another saying; ”The good news  is  that  your  wages just went up. The bad news is you no  longer have a  job.” Which is exactly what will happen if history is any guideline: businesses  will  tighten up their  labor  expense line to  compensate for the higher minimum wage, resulting in fewer jobs, fewer employee benefits,  fewer hours,  and  use of  automation to  replace human  labor. Or they will abandon the  city,  further reducing a shrinking tax base. In either case, residents, employees, and the Seattle city income statement  suffer.


Enough insanity for today: Seattle  continues to commit economic suicide, Los Angeles politicians failed dramatically in  fire  protection, and Oregon politicians  want to  go somewhere where no one has been successful before, government controlled healthcare.


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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



**********************


Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:`
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Sunday, August 30, 2026

August, 2026, Part 2, Political Class Insanity: A California Rail Project May Finally Die, A Teachers' Union That Does Not Care About Teaching, and Food Poisoning On the Menu In LA

 We have spent a  lot of blog time recently on trying  to figure out which state or city government will go bankrupt first and the massive amount of criminal fraud that exists within many government programs. However, that does not  mean that other, regular political class insanity has stopped:


1)We have often written  about the total fiasco known as the California bullet train project. It was supposed to create a high  speed rail line to run from the northern part of the state to the southern  part of the state and deliver fast, efficient train  service. It should have been completed years ago but it is  nowhere close to being  completed despite billions of dollars already being spent.


And it appears that this political class  dream is finally going  to die forever:


  • According to a report from the  state’s office of the  Inspector General, the unfinished project “will  exhaust its current  funding  resources  as  soon as  December 2027 if it does not secure funding.”

  • The  report went on to say the project faces an almost $10 billion funding gap over the next five years and there is no plan right now to find that funding  in the state government  budget

  • Furthermore, there were "significant concerns" regarding the transparency and ever slipping completion date of the project.

  •  Not surprising since the current completion date estimate is 2034 and  there  is nothing in  the history of the project that says this is a hard date.

  • State politician Vince Fong, long an opponent of the project, called it for what it  is:  “California’s High-Speed Rail is the quintessential example of government mismanagement. I’ve called it out since day 1. Californians were promised a completed rail 6 years ago. Today we’ve spent billions and billions, for a total of zero trains. Gavin Newsom owes us an explanation. And an apology. It’s beyond time to shut this down.”


Another failure for the American political  class: lofty goals, massive budget overruns, grossly missed implementation dates, non-transparent disclosures, etc. This one had it all.


2)We have  often discussed the overall failure of the  public education  system in this  country:


  • Our discussion on  how a Baltimore high school  graduating class had  about 70% of its members reading  at only the third grade level or below.

  • How the  U.S. kids rank behind dozens  of  other countries’ kids when  it comes to education  proficiency.

  • How over  90% of Detroit public school  eighth graders were NOT proficient in  math and reading.


Given  the  sorry state of  most of  the public  education  complex in this country ,one  would expect and hope teachers  and  their union to be laser focused on  improving this dismal performance. But that hope  is probably not going to happen,  given  the latest from the teachers’ main union:


  • Randi Weingarten  is  the leader  of the American Federation  of Teachers.

  • One would hope that she  would be the leader  in improving school performance.

  • However, she has other priorities including badgering the Target  department store company for not kowtowing to  her demands  relative to illegal immigrants.

  • She is urging parents not to shop for back to school needs because Target has not condemned ICE actions against illegal immigrants, many of whom are rapists, murderers, drug  traffickers,  sex traffickers, and child abusers.

  • Specifically:  “We gave Target ample time to stand with the communities in which they operate and help their neighbors, but its silence about federal immigration abuses has been deafening, We wrote letters, passed resolutions and reached out to management in good faith but have yet to see any meaningful movement. The issue could not be more pressing. Seven months since the murders of Alex Pretti and Renée Good, masked ICE agents are still in our streets, our schools and our communities, terrorizing families in the name of Donald Trump’s illegal and immoral assault on immigrants striving for their American Dream. That’s why we’re urging our members to avoid Target and patronize more ethical shopping alternatives this back-to-school season.”


Seriously, your job  is to  educate  kids, and you are doing a very bad job at that,  and yet you are wasting time and energy and priorities to address an issue the union  has no reason to address? ICE is enforcing the law of the land relative to illegal immigrants. Renee  Good and Alex Pretti were illegally and violently  interfering with that obligation  and law enforcement. 


Ms  Weingarten,  stay in your lane and  do  what you have failed to  do: properly educate American  kids.


3)So many times  we have discussed the role that the government should play in our lives  with the utmost primary goal being  to protect the lives and property of the citizens of any government entity it serves. Most of the time we have discussed this basic tenet in the context of police and judicial protections. 


But there are also other  government functions that should be used to protect citizens’  lives. One of those would be public health  functions  that make sure that food, water, and  other common life necessities are safe  for consumption  and use via a board of health  duties


But apparently the mayor of Los Angeles, Karen  Bass, does not  understand that a basic  function of her  administration  is board of health functions and  safety relative to the selling of food and meals  in the city:


  • Most rationally run  cities have a  formal board  of health function that makes sure that restaurants and other food servers  comply with  hygiene and health  code rules and regulations  to ensure the safety of the citizens consuming that food.

  • That requires regular inspections of food processing operations and the  paying for permit  fees by those food providers.

  • Again, a very basic function of government, protecting the safety of its  citizens.

  • But Bass has prioritized illegal  immigrants’  welfare over the food safety of her  own U.S. citizens.

  • According to Breitbart reporting, Bass  ordered the LA Police Department  to  stop issuing criminal citations for  food vendors, many of whom are illegal  immigrants, in the streets of the  city for  not conforming to board of health  regulations and permitting rules.

  • Specifically:  “Street vending is a quintessential part of LA’s world-class food scene and a livelihood for thousands of hardworking Angelenos. Supporting LA’s street vendors is more important than ever given ongoing attacks by ICE.”

  • Thus, the hell with  public health, it  is more important to protect illegal immigrants from Federal law enforcement officers  enforcing the laws of the land, than public food safety.

  • Breitbart further reported that  there are about 50,000 food vendors in the city while the  city government has issued  only 700 active  board of health permits.

  • Those 700 food vendors pay fees, subject themselves to board of health inspections and  possible  fines, and comply with health code  laws and rules while tens of thousands of others get a free ride.

  • Thus, in addition to massive homeless encampments in  the city, there are thousands and  thousands  of illegal and unregulated food vendors  also  setting up  shop  on the  streets with no fear of being  arrested or fines, adding another dimension  to  the  zoo that is  LA.

  • These vendors may not always  comply with food sanitation rules  and common sense food storage and prep rules, endangering any consumers  of food from these unlicensed and uninspected food vendors.

  • Los Angeles County is following Bass’ lead on  dangerous food vending: “The Los Angeles County Health Department, citing immigration enforcement efforts by the Trump administration, last fall suspended all enforcement of thousands of noncompliant street food vendors who have proliferated with the massive influx of illegals under the Biden administration.”

  • Again,  the welfare of illegal immigrants at the county level is more important  than  the  food safety for citizens.

  • As a result  of  this negligence in enforcing  common  sense  board of health rules, the county reported almost 3,000 reported food poisoning  instances in 2025 with the feeling  being that the unreported instances of food poisoning never get reported is far greater  than 3,000.

  • Thus, on  average at least eight LA citizens  in the city and county  are getting  food poisoned every day.

  • One citizen on  social media pointed  out how ridiculous this  is: “You do everything legally, pay rent, employees, taxes, business licenses, and a street food vendor pops up across the street with no overhead, no license, cash only, and undercuts your business. L.A. city officials suck.”


Another example  of where Democratic and liberal politicians care more about  the welfare of illegal immigrants than their  own citizens. They give illegal immigrants free food, free  shelter,  free medical care, and other free services while Americans suffer from homelessness, food insecurity, and other unresolved problems.


And now in LA, illegal immigrant food vendors  are more important than legally run American citizen food establishments and operations, resulting in potentially massive health  harm by the unlicensed  and uncontrolled illegal immigrant  street food vendors.


Enough  insanity for  today: food poisoning  on the menu in LA, a teachers’  union that cares more  about politics than teaching, and a boondoggle project  may finally die.


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Vote Now!!!! Go to to the following link and vote  on which state  or city government you think  will go bankrupt first:


https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61592458935721


**********************

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



**********************


Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:
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