Life in "Progress" City - San Francisco edition

They called it Paradise
I don't know why
You call some place Paradise
Kiss it Goodbye


You would have to admit, by any standards, San Francisco has to be the "progressive" utopia. Unfortunately, utopias are like unicorns..... they don't exist in reality. And neither will San Francisco in a few years................

"Infinite" is not a word you expect to find in a report on municipal spending. It's more of a science fiction–type term — Tremble, Earthling, before the infinite might of Galaxor! But there it was, in a recent report on San Francisco's finances: Spending on the city's employee retirement system in the past decade had grown at an "infinite" rate.

Naturally, that's an exaggeration. If you do the math, the city's retirement costs for employees in the past 10 years actually grew only 66,733 percent.

Still, you might call that a Galaxor-sized number.

In fiscal year 1999-2000, the city spent about $300,000 on its retirement system. In fiscal year 2009-10, it was $200.5 million. Benefits alone — not salaries, just benefits — for current and retired employees this year are budgeted at $993 million. Spending on retirees' health care and pensions is conservatively projected to triple within five years.

And after that? Infinite.

I'm old enough to remember when jobs in the public sector were not that lucrative but secure. I'm also old enough to remember the old saying "good enough for government work" identifying something half ass. But apparently, if you want wealth, half ass, and security, the government is your ticket to the big time.

Seriously, are you "progressives" so devoid of basic math skills you cannot grasp the impending implosion of our governments at all levels? Or do you not care?

I've got a hint for all you folks. When these entities declare bankruptcy, the rich are going to continue to be quite well off. The poor? Not so much.

Looting a city via pension liabilities?

Now that's "progressive"!

More.....