bear sterns

California Cities Going Under, No Bear-Sterns Style Bailout in Store

by Nate W [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

I posted yesterday about the painful irony of the Fed bailing out egregious greedheads Bear Sterns but refusing to lift a finger to help the majority of states that are falling into the red.

Edit by Brian: Look over the flip.
And its not just Vallejo, now its Los Angeles too:

Facing a tough financial year, officials proposed a reduced $21.9 billion Los Angeles County budget that may yet take hits from potential state and federal cuts, while Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa proposed a $7 billion city budget that calls for employee layoffs and higher service fees.


Villaraigosa's 2008-09 spending plan comes as the nation's second-largest city faces a projected $406 million shortfall.


The plan calls for eliminating 767 city jobs and mandating "short-term layoffs" that could force employees to take several unpaid vacation days.


The difference between a private entity like Bear Sterns and a public one like LA or Vallejo, or California which is facing an enormous deficit of its own, is that public entities do more than employ a lot of people. They also provide essential services to children, the elderly and the ill.

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