Detroit Finally Runs Out of Other People’s Money
Photo Credit: Irish Central Bob Beckel, one of the lefties in the Fox News stable of political pundits, has slowly and grudgingly evolved to accept a harsh reality-Utopian, liberal, social engineering doesn’t always work.
Shockingly on the popular Fox news show “The Five,” Beckel admitted that well intentioned social welfare programs instigated during the 60’s, have created generations of dependent welfare families. The head of household is big daddy government; the real fathers are nowhere to be found.
Welcome to reality Mr. Beckel, you are a perfect example of how long it takes for sunshine to penetrate concrete. In your case is it too soon old and too late smart?
Beckel has been intertwined in shaping left wing social welfare policy using terms such as “social justice” during a long career as a political consultant. He was even the campaign chairman of the failed 1984 Walter Mondale presidential run.
When liberals like Beckel start to see the light at the end of their tunnel, they are just scraping the surface and aren’t quite realizing that light is a speeding train heading their way, fueled on bloated runaway government programs…from social welfare to corporate welfare and every entitlement program in between.
But let’s not expect overnight miracles out of folks who have invested their entire life in a failed ideology. Beckels admission is an important step in his path to his/our recovery; we must measure in terms of progress, not expect perfection.
So it was no surprise as Detroit announced it was filing for bankruptcy, Bob Beckels knee jerk reaction, was a call for the federal government to bail them out of their 18 billion dollar debt. Detroit has been spending 100 million more per year than it takes in. Beckel and people like him default to the bail out in order to avoid the inevitable crash of socialism vs. economic reality…..
Perhaps this hits too close to home for him, since Detroit is the epitome of union control, one party rule that fosters corruption…. and the bottomless pit of every social welfare program dreamed up by utopians in Washington DC, since the 1960’s.
Even Joe Biden was uncharacteristically tongue tied and not able to give a coherent answer when asked about Detroit’s announced bankruptcy; he momentarily had the deer caught in the headlights look as cameras focused in on him….Because this flies in the face of every finger pointing speech he lectured us about how the Obama administrations policies work.
Unfortunately, the failed economic model that Detroit represents is not unique to American cities and states AND our out of control federal government.
Their day of reckoning will come as bondholders refuse to finance debt that just covers operating expenses of bloated/corrupt and inefficient governments. These same governments maintain untenable union contracts with benefits…..Many cities/states pay one active workforce and three retired workforces with lifetime benefits not dreamed of in the private sector.
As Margaret Thatcher once said “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.”
That harsh reality comes when investors no longer want to buy your debt at artificially low interest rates and then problems get compounded when investors don’t want to buy your debt, no matter what the interest rate.
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Ed Farnan is the conservative columnist at IrishCentral, where he has been writing on the need for energy independence, strong self defense, secure borders, 2nd amendment, smaller government and many other issues. His articles appear in many publications throughout the USA and world. He has been a guest on Fox News and a regular guest on radio stations in the US and Europe.