Rhode Island's Central Falls files for bankruptcy

Rhode Island's Central Falls files for bankruptcy

www.reuters.com

The smallest city in the smallest U.S. state made the filing as it grappled with an $80 million unfunded pension and retiree health benefit liability that is nearly quadruple its annual budget of $17 million.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Would one say that this is a victory for Unions? Or would it be more accurately depicted as the results of what unions are doing to this country? I personally feel that these unfunded liabilities will ultimately bankrupt many more town/cities. In most cases these people do not even pay anything into their pensions.

www.reuters.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

What you are seeing here is not caused by Unions or unfunded pensions.
It's the exploding cost of health care.
If i say it one time i'll say it again , some markets should never be free.
And health care is one of them.
What do you get for your dollar America?
God this is so stupid.

Anything "unfunded" is always a warning sign - it should be illegal for public organisations to enter this state in the first place - if they have a liability they should be forced to fund it adequately, so that the true cost is reflected and appreciated by all and sundry - whether union or anyone else.

reply to post by Doom and Gloom


I know ATS frowns on one liners but really I am lost for words! WOW ! and not in the good sense.

This is what happens when you:

a. have twelve guys standing around and one guy working
b. have unions dictating what salaries are paid
c. offer benefits that are not in line with main stream America

You cannot offer extravagant benefits while using public money. At some point it will catch up with you. Another perfect example of public trust being violated. When will governments realize that you cannot spend more than you make?

I actually, for the first time ever, disagree with everyone who has posted thus far.

I do not think this is about healthcare cost, Unions, or anything like that. This is about the system. This is an example of what Gerald Celente and many others have been saying is coming. Cities will go bankrupt at the local levels, then it will continue to spread on. We continue to spend, spend and spend some more at every level of Government. It is unsustainable.

Originally posted by shtf2012
What you are seeing here is not caused by Unions or unfunded pensions.
It's the exploding cost of health care.
If i say it one time i'll say it again , some markets should never be free.
And health care is one of them.
What do you get for your dollar America?
God this is so stupid.

your right on the money...as one of the silenced majority of americans, i know that the "costs" or shall we say the amount charged by the medical companies (hospitals, equipment makers, pharma, doctors, specialists, consultants, HMO's, etc.) are the ones that have made massive profits as american people and their government struggle to pay outragous prices that other industrialized countries have been able to control.
american government doesn't seem to work for it's people, it works for corporate america.
of course, this is rarely brought up in our corporate media....SHOCKER!

reply to post by Doom and Gloom


Its certainly not a victory for the unions. The city will have to restructure all of its debt and the unions will get a fraction of what they were planning to get.

The big question is what the state will do. Will they come in and bail out the city? I doubt it because that would set a precedent that they can not sustain and to not treat other cities in similar circumstances the same way would have legal issues.

The biggest question is what happens when a state looks to go bankrupt. Illinois and California are at the top of the list. You could argue that the should already have declared bankrupcy and restructured all of their debt, since there is no way in hell they are going to grow out of the problems they are in. That won't happen of course and they will look to the feds to either bail them out or backstop their bonds and should the feds agree to do that, which essentially spreads state debt and risk to the other states it will ultimately lead to a constitutional crisis in my opinion. Texans are not going to backstop the folly of California and nor should they.

This will be interesting to watch

I grew up in Central Falls the smallest city in the smallest state has so many crazy facts.

Here are just a few..
Nicknames: Sparkle city, due to the large amounts of Bars, taverns and liquor stores, it was common that many of the side walks were littered with many broken bottles.
Chocolate town: Many of the mills , many of which were contructed along the same river as the famed Slater mill, were in the candy business. Later the majority of them converted to costume jewelry production.

The city is 1 square mile!
The city is home to a Federal holding prizon, that happens to over look the Highschools sports complex

During the 40s Central falls was a bustling small city large companies like , Osram Sylvannia were the citys tax pig.

Now many of the large companies that pumped large tax dollers into the city have left. This leaves most of the city income to home owners and small business.

Crime has increased at an alarming rate as well, and im sure you have all heard about the schooling as wel, when the superintendant fires the high school teachers.

Times have changed so fast for a small city, and if the small cities can not sustain them selfs could this be the future for this economy.

reply to post by TheMur


I heard once that Central Falls was the city with the highest population density in the world, back in the early part of the 20th century...even more than anywhere in the third world at the time. It was a big immigrant mill town and people were packed into the triple deckers like sardines.

reply to post by Partygirl


You are correct, its funny when my mother grew up in Central falls it was Italians, polish and portuguese that thrived here, now its mostly Hispanic, This country has gone through alot of migrant history.

There are many double and triple deckers that line the tightly packed streets, although today it is hard to drive down a street without seeing a boarded up house.

There was also alot more work back then than there is today...all the work gone...I guess if you want to kill america you dont let us work.