New York is broke.  San Francisco is broke.  Los Angeles is broke.  Not just broke, but millions and billions in debt.  California is really broke.  So is Chicago and the state of Illinois.  And pretty much every other liberal or progressive or democrat of whatever you want to call it, run cites and states.  

San Francisco is looking at an $800 million deficit.  Los Angeles, a much larger city than San Francisco, has only a $475 million deficit.  Chicago is looking at deficits in the next few years nearing $2 Billion.  That’s with a B.  New York City is coming in within the same range as Chicago.  

California is facing a budget deficit of nearly $60 Billion.  Illinois is roughly $65 Billion in the red.

How on earth is this possible?  California has the highest sales taxes, the highest personal income taxes, the highest gas taxes, the highest corporate income taxes.  They tax hotel stays, the purchase plastic bags in grocery stores, get money from rental cars, property taxes, the transfer of property and likely another dozen revenue streams that I’m too lazy to research.  

Where does all the money go?  Voters don’t seem to care and are so gullible they’ll vote yes on nearly every proposition that promises to help save schools, fix roads, build trains to nowhere and construct homes for the un-housed – the people formerly known as homeless.  Of course the money rarely goes where the voters think it will.  The roads are terrible, the schools suck and the homeless situation is so bad in San Francisco and Los Angeles tourists are refusing to visit.  

I can give a few lesser answers before the big answer of where all YOUR cash winds up: Focus groups. Consultants.  Community outreach.  Advocates.

Ok, so why are most of the progressive-run cities and states in such bad shame financially?  The answer has one single word:  PENSIONS.  

People in the private sector get a 401k if they choose their company correctly.  Part of their paycheck goes into an account run by companies like Fidelity or Schwab, and some companies match up to 6 percent of the workers’ contribution.  This money is usually invested in some form or Mutual Fund and typically grows over time.  The employee sets some aside and so does the company.  Once the company kicks in their share, they’re done – no debt.  

Public sector employees are more often than not, members of some union.  These unions negotiate contacts with the city, county or state for pay, healthcare, and other benefits as well as pensions.  And while some workers do contribute to their own pension, the ultimate responsibility falls to the taxpayer to foot the bill.  Of course the taxpayers have no say in what that fat rude bitch at the DMV ultimately gets for her sunset years, but rest assured she’ll be fine.  Annual cost of living increases and lifetime health benefits for her and her family.  For life.

So when you read that budget cuts are coming and schools and libraries are on the chopping block and you’re rightfully pissed and demand the wealthy pay “their fair share” to make it right – realize this: Pensions get paid first, before anything else.  That means the retired DMV bitch gets her pension check while the library hours get cut, the librarians get cut, school music programs get cut, sports programs cut and so on.  Not because they don’t have enough money – they do, it’s just how it’s allocated.  

Now don’t get me wrong, some public sector workers should be taken care of, and taken care of very well.  Teachers.  Cops.  Firefighters.  Military veterans.  If you teach our kids or protect us, you get a pension.  If you’re a clerk at city hall, drive a truck for the county or are a congressional aide – you get a 401k.  None of this lifetime medical benefits stuff for you and your family.  What a scam.  

But guess what, liberals understand that the larger the public sector workforce who are parts of the unions they support, the more votes they get.  Want to reform this swamp and you’ll either never get elected in the first place or you sure as hell won’t get re-elected.  

Remember when Arnold Schwarzenegger wanted to reform the teacher’s and nurses’ unions in California, when he was governor?  The unions spent millions and millions of dollars running hit-piece commercials aimed at him and measures on the ballot he sponsored.  He was suddenly anti-teacher, anti-kid, anti-healthcare…he was a complete ass and a horrible person and you should vote against teacher tenure and nurse’s ability to strike.  No such thing as a bad teacher and a nurse should be able to walk off her job at a busy hospital, leaving patients in peril, to get their point across.  

Here is the biggest problem of all:  Nobody audits the budget to see where the money really goes.  We take a mouthpiece’s word that it’s going where we hope it does, but there is no journalism, no investigative reporters that will dig into the muck and find the slush funds, side payments and no-bid contracts.  Nobody writes about the retired city managers pulling in $400,000 per year in taxpayer funded pensions.  Ignorance is bliss.  

A recently retired San Francisco firefighter is pulling in $220,000 a year from his pension.  Another guy who worked for 8 years as an IT guy for a school district, and left 20 years ago is getting $16,000, with bumps for life.  That’s pretty sweet, if you ask me.  If you want to get pissed off and scream at the nearest politician who votes for this crap, visit transparentcalifornia.com and increase your blood pressure.  No kidding, there really are retired City Managers pulling in 400-grand a year in taxpayer funded pensions.  

So every time the politicians tell you they’re out of money, that they need to cut something, call BS…because it is.  They have the money, it’s just that the money is being allocated to people no longer producing for you, the citizens.  However it is your responsibility to fund that DMV bitch’s lifestyle as she rides off into the sunset smiling and waving as she drives by.