19 Very Disturbing Facts About Illegal Immigration That Every American Should Know

Michael Snyder
American Dream
August 10, 2013
Should we roll out the red carpet and allow millions upon millions of thieves, rapists, gang members and drug dealers to come waltzing into this country any time they would like? 

Credit: CBP Photography via Flickr

Should we broadcast a message to the rest of the world that anyone that can find a way to enter this country and somehow get to a “sanctuary city” can sign up for a plethora of welfare benefits and live a life of leisure at the expense of hard working American citizens?  Yes, those questions sound absurd, but what I have just described will essentially be official U.S. government policy if the immigration bill going through Congress becomes law.  And unfortunately, Democrats now say that they have the Republican votes that they need to get “immigration reform” through the House of Representatives.  If this amnesty bill becomes law, it will encourage even more illegal immigration and it will be one more step toward making the U.S. border essentially meaningless.
Right now, we desperately need the American people to contact their representatives in Congress and demand that they vote against this bill.  Sadly, this is not likely to happen because most Americans have absolutely no idea how negatively illegal immigration is affecting this nation.
The following are 19 very disturbing facts about illegal immigration that every American should know…
#1 57 percent of all households that are led by an immigrant (legal or illegal) are enrolled in at least one welfare program.
#2 According to one study, the cost to U.S. taxpayers of legalizing current illegal immigrants would be approximately 6.3 trillion dollars over the next 50 years.
#3 The Obama administration has distributed flyers that tell illegal immigrants that their immigration status will not be checked when they apply for food stamps.
#4 The Department of Homeland Security says that it has lost track of a million people that have entered this country but that appear never to have left.
#5 One out of every five children living in Los Angeles County has a parent that is in the country illegally.
#6 In one recent year, taxpayers in Los Angeles County spent 600 million dollars on welfare for children of illegal immigrants.
#7 Thanks to illegal immigration, California’s overstretched health care system is on the verge of collapse.  Dozens of California hospitals and emergency rooms have shut down over the past decade because they could not afford to stay open after being endlessly swamped by illegal immigrants who were simply not able to pay for the services that they were receiving.  As a result, the remainder of the health care system in the state of California is now beyond overloaded.  This had led to brutally long waits, diverted ambulances and even unnecessary patient deaths.  At this point, the state of California now ranks dead last out of all 50 states in the number of emergency rooms per million people.
#8 It has been estimated that U.S. taxpayers spend $12,000,000,000 a year on primary and secondary school education for the children of illegal immigrants.
#9 It is estimated that illegal aliens make up approximately 30 percent of the population in federal, state and local prisons and that the total cost of incarcerating them is more than $1.6 billion annually.
#10 The federal government actually has a website that teaches immigrants how to sign up for welfare programs once they arrive in the United States.
#11 The Obama administration recently introduced the very first “unmanned” border station along the Texas-Mexico border.
#12 The Obama administration has sued individual states such as Arizona that have tried to crack down on illegal immigration.
#13 According to the FBI, there are approximately 1.4 million gang members living in our cities.  Illegal immigration has been one of the primary factors that has fueled the growth of these gangs.
#14 As I have written about previously, there are only about 200 police officers assigned to Chicago’s Gang Enforcement Unit to handle the estimated 100,000 gang members living in the city.
#15 Mexican drug cartels make approximately 6.6 billion dollars a year“exporting” illegal drugs to the United States.
#16 It is an open secret that Mexican drug cartels are openly conducting military operations inside the United States.  The handful of border patrol agents that we have guarding the border are massively outgunned and out manned.
#17 According to the Justice Department’s National Drug Intelligence Center, Mexican drug cartels were actively operating in 50 different U.S. cities in 2006.  By 2010, that number had skyrocketed to 1,286.
#18 Overall, more than 55,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence in Mexico since 2006.  That same level of violence will eventually show up in major U.S. cities unless something dramatic is done about illegal immigration.
#19 It is being projected that the Senate immigration bill will bring 33 million more people to the United States over the next decade.
One of the very few things that the federal government is actually required to do by the U.S. Constitution is to defend our borders, and unfortunately the Obama administration has willingly chosen to leave our borders completely wide open.  In fact, you can go down to the Texas border right now and watch illegal immigrants hop right across the Rio Grande.
Several retired Border Patrol agents recently drafted an open letter to the American people on the subject of illegal immigration, and what they had to say was quite startling.  The following is an excerpt from that letter that was in a recent Breitbart article…

“Transnational criminal enterprises have annually invested millions of dollars to create and staff international drug and human smuggling networks inside the United States; thus it is no surprise that they continue to accelerate their efforts to get trusted representatives in place as a means to guarantee continued success,” the Border Patrol agents wrote.
“We must never lose sight of the fact that the United States is the market place for the bulk of transnational criminal businesses engaged in human trafficking and the smuggling, distribution and sale of illegal drugs. Organized crime on this scale we are speaking about cannot exist without political protection.”

According to those retired border agents, by refusing to secure our border the Obama administration is openly facilitating the trafficking of drugs into the United States…

“Most heroin, cocaine, meth, and marijuana marketed in the United States is produced outside of our country, and then smuggled into the United States,” they wrote. “The placement of trusted foreign employees inside the United States is imperative to insure success in continuing to supply the demand, and returning the profits to the foreign organization. Members of these vicious transnational crime syndicates are already well established in more than 2,000 American cities and their numbers are increasing as networks expand and demands accelerate. These transnational criminals present a real and present danger to all Americans, and they live among us.”Sadly, in politically correct America you can’t even talk about the problem of illegal immigration these days without being labeled as a “racist”.

For the record, I believe that all people deserve love and respect no matter what they look like or where they are born.  God created us all and He loves us all very much.  I have long been a very strong advocate for racial reconciliation in this country, and I will continue to be.
And there are tens of millions of Latino-Americans in this country that are hard working, law-abiding citizens.  They have done things the right way, and it is extremely unfortunate that they often get lumped in with millions of illegal immigrants that willingly choose to break our laws.
Unfortunately, we have a system of immigration today that greatly rewards lawless behavior.  We have made coming into this country through the front door exceedingly difficult, but we have left the back door completely wide open.
So hard working, law-abiding people that want to do things the right way are kept out, but those that want to come here and commit crimes or abuse the system are free to come on over any time that they would like.
What sense does that make?
Our immigration system is completely broken, but these days we cannot even have a rational debate about these issues.  In politically correct America, illegal immigrants have become a “favored class” of people that you are never supposed to say anything bad about.
In fact, one activist recently went out and actually got people to sign a petition that said that we should let illegal immigrants out of prison no matter what crimes they have committed…
What in the world is happening to this country?
I would love to hear what all of you think.  Please feel free to express your opinion by posting a comment below…

This article was posted: Saturday, August 10, 2013 at 6:07 am

Tags: domestic news, north american union

Now That the "Threat" Is Averted, Can We Address Obama's Phony Scandals?

After a full week where the United States has capitulated to a "terrorist" threat, the president has decided to reopen 18 embassies. And then he goes on vacation.

Indulge me by considering a few questions now that the "threat" is averted?

1. What is the status of the IRS Tea Party investigation?

2. What is the status of the Benghazi coverup?

3. What is the status of the relationship between the US and Turkey now that their top generals have been imprisoned for life by Erdogan?

4. What is the status of Egypt's government?

5. What is the status of Libya's government?

6. Will the United States ever have a federal budget as required by the Constitution?

7. Why are Congressional staffers exempt from the Affordable Health Care Act?

8. Who murdered Michael Hastings and why?

9. When will Congress investigate NSA violations against the fourth amendment? Regardless of your opinion of Edward Snowden, the surveillance of the people by the NSA is illegal.

10. Will Eric Holder be arrested for perjury?

This is not a complete list for your consideration. The main threat facing the United States (and the world) is a financial economic collapse. There are only so many diversions that the government can use to deflect the people from "phony scandals" and reality.

I miss America, but I will not forget.

David DeGerolamo

HISTORY OF MARTHA'S VINEYARD

MARTHA'S VINEYARD, called "Noepe" by the Indians, which means in their picturesque language "In the Midst of the Sea," is the largest island on the southeastern coast of Massachusetts. It is twenty miles long and nine miles wide and but a few feet above the sea level in the eastern part, which is known as the Plains, one of the largest tracts of level ground in New England. However, the land gradually rises to an elevation of over three hundred feet above the sea level at Peaked Hill in Chilmark, not Indian Hill as believed by many summer visitors.

Martha's Vineyard, with Chappaquiddick, No-Man's-Land, and the Elizabeth Islands comprise the County of Dukes County, which was incorporated November 1, 1668. The county was named for the Duke of York by the first governor, Thomas Mayhew, who was hoping thereby to gain royal favor. There are six towns on Martha's Vineyard. Edgartown on the east, named for Edgar, son of James II, who bore the title of Duke of Cambridge; Oak Bluffs on the northeast, named for its location and oak trees; Tisbury for the Mayhew Parish in England; later the village post-office was named Vineyard Haven because of its location; West Tisbury; Chilmark, for the English Parish of Governor Mayhew's wife, and Gay Head on the west, named for its wonderful cliffs of different colored clay.
DISCOVERED BY NORTHMEN IN A. D. 1000 The first Europeans that visited Martha's Vineyard were the Northmen, who landed about the year 1000, naming it Vineland. In some of their writings have been found descriptions that can be of no other place than Martha's Vineyard.





To read more follow link:  http://history.vineyard.net/hfnorton/history.htm

Reid Ripped For 'Race-Baiting' Comment on GOP Opposition to Obama

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says he hopes Republicans who oppose the president do so "based on substance and not the fact that he's an African American."
The comment came during a wide-ranging interview Friday with Las Vegas-based National Public Radio affiliate KNPR, in which Reid, a Nevada Democrat, lamented Republican filibusters and claimed opponents do everything they can to make Obama fail.

He recalled that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, said during Obama's first term that his most important goal was ensuring Obama wasn't re-elected.
"Here we are seven months into his second term and nothing has changed," Reid said. "It's been obvious they are doing everything they can to make him fail. And I hope, I hope, and I say this seriously, it's based on substance and not the fact that he's an African American."

Reid's comments went unchallenged by the program's moderator, but not by Newsmax contributor and conservative African-American columnist Clarence V. McKee, who said there was no reason for Reid to raise the race issue during the interview.

“It’s been typical for the last 3½ years — Obama supporters, black and white — whenever he’s criticized the first thing they yell is ‘race or racism,’” said McKee, who held several positions in the Reagan administration as well as the Reagan presidential campaigns. “For the Senate majority leader to stoop that low and go into the racial gutter is disgusting.”

McKee blamed Reid’s comments and similar ones for the apparent deterioration of race relations since the election of President Obama in 2008.

“He’s just race baiting and the president should disavow it as should other Democrats, but they’re all part of a race-bait chorus,” according to McKee, citing a recent Wall Street Journal poll, which found that attitudes on race relations have plummeted under the president. “They’re doing more to hurt race relations than the Zimmerman verdict will ever do.”

He said Reid’s comments were tantamount to “liberal, elitist, racism.”

McConnell's office referred a request for comment to Sen. Tim Scott, a black Republican from South Carolina, who said Reid's remarks were offensive and asked for an apology.

In 2010, Reid apologized for comments he made about the president’s race during the 2008 presidential campaign.

Reid described then-Sen. Obama as “light skinned’’ and “with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one.’’

In his apology, Reid attributed his private description of Obama to a “poor choice” of words.

“I deeply regret using such a poor choice of words,” he said at the time. “I sincerely apologize for offending any and all Americans, especially African Americans for my improper comments.’’

In his radio interview, Reid also criticized members of the tea party, comparing them to anarchists who helped spark World War I. He said that while modern anarchists don't resort to violence, they do not believe in government and rejoice in its troubles.

"They have the same philosophy as the early anarchists," he said. "They don't believe in government. Anytime anything bad happens to the government, that's a victory for them. It makes it very difficult to get things done."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.


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IRS is a country within itself.

All of these government entities are out of control and belong to their own countries that they have created within the borders of the United States. They have diplomatic immunity from you the average hard working American. If you do express your displeasure with what they are doing two things will happen, #1 Nothing. #2 They come after you.  To get all of the criminals out of office, you would have to first get pass all of the laws government has created to protect themselves from you. Good luck on that.

Phony? Baloney.

“President Obama said we've all been distracted by phony scandals, and it's time we started getting distracted by the phony recovery.”
-- Jay Leno on “The Tonight Show,” July 26.
President Obama hasn’t faced reporters in a solo press conference since April, and what a busy hundred days he’s had since then.
After multiple efforts to change the discussion away from scandals and controversies that have marred the start of his second term, Obama is still facing plenty of unanswered questions about his expansion of domestic surveillance programs, abuses at the IRS and Department of Justice, and doctored talking points about an Islamist raid on a U.S. outpost in Benghazi, Libya.
FOX News pollsters inquired about the president’s “phony scandals” and found that voters disagree in great numbers.
On the snooping by Justice Department lawyers into reporter records? 59 percent say it’s a “serious situation.” The same portion thought targeting of political groups by the IRS was serious. On recent revelations about Obama’s expansions of domestic surveillance? 69 percent disagree with the president. On the Islamist raid on the Benghazi outpost and subsequent changes to official talking points? 78 percent say it’s for real.
Obama’s effort to dismiss and diminish those concerns as “phony scandals” having failed, the president is in for a rough time (at least by his standards).
It’s no wonder, then, that the president has picked a Friday afternoon in August just ahead of his vacation to meet the press. Even considering the “members bounce” Obama gets around the green with the press corps, there’s going to be lots of difficult subjects to discuss. The plan here is to get Obama on the record and then off to Martha’s Vineyard and to do so at a moment when much of Official Washington is gone. Call this a Herb Tarlek press conference: It’s a turkey drop.

On the Islamist raid on the Benghazi outpost and subsequent changes to official talking points? 78 percent say it’s for real.

Aside from going on the record about new revelations about the scandals, like where he was during the Benghazi raid, Obama will have other pressing controversies to address.
What about the growing list of logistical problems for the president’s signature health care law?
Obamacare remains ultra unpopular. The latest FOX News poll shows majorities of voters believe the law will increase their taxes (71 percent), their insurance costs (62 percent) and federal deficits (65 percent), while saying by a 2-to-1 margin that the law will decrease the quality of their own health care.
Or the deadlocked negotiations with Republicans in Congress to avert a government shutdown?
While the establishment press has been gorging itself on stories about Republican divisions over how to block spending increases and delay or defund Obama’s health law, the Democrats haven’t enunciated much on the subject other than some muted support for the president’s call for increased taxes and spending, an impossibility on par with the immediate excision of Obamacare.
Some reporters will surely oblige the president by asking about his thoughts and feelings about his standoff with Russian President Vladimir Putin over Putin’s protection of the government contractor who exposed Obama’s spy programs. But there’s too much to talk about in the realms the president wants to avoid for him to filibuster his way through.
The best hope for the White House is that much of what he says gets swallowed up by the August news sinkhole.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/08/09/phony-baloney/#ixzz2bUv9YTZP

Critics blast Jackson, Sharpton over silence on Florida school bus beating

Self-appointed civil rights leaders and celebrities remained mum on the vicious beating of a white sixth-grader at the hands of three older African-Americans in Florida, despite a growing chorus of critics who called their silence hypocrisy given their recent, racially-charged condemnation of the Sunshine State.
Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, who both blasted Florida in the wake of the Trayvon Martin shooting and the acquittal of George Zimmerman in Martin's death, with Jackson calling it an "apartheid state" and "our Selma," have not spoken publicly of the brutal beating aboard a school bus caught on cellphone and surveillance video. Neither Jackson nor Sharpton responded to requests for comment from FoxNews.com.
“Three 15-yr-old black teens beat up a 13-yr-old white kid because he told school officials they tried to sell him drugs,” former congressman Allen West, an ex-Army Colonel who is African-American, wrote on his Facebook page. “Do you hear anything from Sharpton, Jackson, NAACP, Stevie Wonder, Jay-Z, liberal media, or Hollywood? Cat got your tongues or is it that pathetic hypocrisy revealing itself once again? Y'all just make me sick.”
Robert Zimmerman Jr., who vociferously

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/08/08/jackson-sharpton-stay-silent-on-school-bus-beating/?test=latestnews#ixzz2bSibwDQK

20 Cities That May Face Bankruptcy After Detroit

Think Motown is the only major U.S. city in a boatload of financial trouble? Think again.

Detroit's bankruptcy filing sent shivers down the spine of municipal bondholders, government employees, and big-city urban residents all over the country.

That's because many of the 61 largest U.S. cities are plagued with the same kinds of retirement legacy costs that sent Detroit into Chapter 9 bankruptcy this summer.

Editor's Note: ‘This Wasn’t an Accident’ — Experts Testify on Financial Meltdown

These cities have amassed $118 billion in unfunded healthcare liabilities. These are legal promises to pay healthcare benefits to municipal workers beyond the employee contributions to finance those funds. This is a giant fiscal sink hole — and because of defined benefit plans, the hole keeps getting deeper.

Detroit may be the largest city in American history to go bankrupt, but it is not alone. The city raced to the financial insolvency finish line before anyone else in its class.

Keep an eye on "too big to fail" cities like Chicago, Philadelphia, and New York.

According to an analysis by the Manhattan Institute, several Chicago pension funds are in worse financial shape than the worker pensions in Detroit. One is only 25 percent funded, and where the other 75 percent of the money will come from is anyone's guess. And there are about a dozen major California cities having systemic problems paying their bills.

Here is my worry list, based on bond ratings and other data, of the top 20 cities to watch for financial troubles in the wake of the Detroit story:

1. Compton, Calif.
Compton has teetered on the brink of bankruptcy after it accrued a general-fund deficit of more than $40 million by borrowing from other funds, depleting what had been a $22 million reserve.

2. East Greenbush, N.Y.
A New York state audit concluded that years of fiscal mismanagement — including questionable employment contracts and illegal payments to town officials — left East Greenbush more than $2 million in debt.

3. Fresno, Calif.
Fresno had the ratings of its lease-revenue bonds downgraded to junk-level by Moody's, which also downgraded its convention center and pension obligation bonds due to the city's "exceedingly weak financial position."

4. Gulf County, Fla.
Fitch Ratings warned that Gulf County's predominately rural economy is "narrowly focused," with income levels one-quarter below national averages and economic indicators for the county also comparing unfavorably to national averages.

5. Harrisburg, Pa.
Harrisburg is at least $345 million in debt, thanks largely to municipal bonds it guaranteed in order to finance upgrades to its problematic waste-to-energy trash incinerator.

6. Irvington, N.J.
Irvington has a violent crime rate six times higher than New Jersey's average, with Moody's citing "wealth indicators below state and national averages and tax-base and population declines due to increased tax appeals and foreclosures."

7. Jefferson County, Ala.
Jefferson County, home to the city of Birmingham, has been dealing with the collapse of refinancing for a sewer bond. It filed for bankruptcy protection in 2011 over a $3.14 billion sewer bond debt.

8. Menasha, Wis.
Menasha defaulted on bonds in 2007 it had issued to fund a steam plant which has since closed and left the city permanently in the red and, as of 2011, had $16 million in general fund revenue, but had $43.4 million in outstanding debt.

9. Newburgh, N.Y.
Newburgh was cited by Moody's for "tax base erosion and a weak socioeconomic profile," with 26 percent of its population below the poverty line and its school district facing a $2 million budget gap.

10. Oakland, Calif.
Oakland is trying to get out of a Goldman Sachs-brokered interest rate swap that is costing it $4 million a year. According to a recent city audit, Oakland has lost $250 million from a 1997 pension obligation bond sale and subsequent investment strategy.

11. Philadelphia School District, Pa.
Philadelphia's school district, the nation's eighth-largest, faces a $304 million deficit in its $2.35 billion budget, and is seeking $133 million from labor-contract savings to prevent further cutbacks.

12. Pontiac, Mich.
Pontiac, where the emergency manager has restructured the city's finances, was downgraded by Moody's, reflecting the city's history of fiscal distress and narrow liquidity.

13. Providence, R.I.
Providence, rumored to be filing for bankruptcy for more than a year, experienced consecutive deficits through fiscal 2012, has a high-debt burden and significant unfunded pension liabilities, as well as high unemployment and low income levels.

14. Riverdale, Ill.
The credit rating for Riverdale is under review by Moody's because the city has not released an audit of interim or unaudited data for the year that ended April 30, 2012.

15. Salem, N.J.
Salem is under close fiscal supervision after it issued bonds to finance the construction of the Finlaw State Office Building, which was delayed by construction issues, and its leasing revenues are not enough to cover the debt payments and the maintenance fees.

16. Strafford County, N.H.
Strafford County regularly borrows money to cover its short-term cash needs after it spent two-fifths of its budget on a nursing home, which lost $36 million from 2004 to 2009.

17. Taylor, Mich.
Taylor has a large deficit and is vulnerable due to significant declines in the tax base, limited financial flexibility, and above-average unfunded pension obligations.

18. Vadnais Heights, Minn.
The Minneapolis suburb of Vadnais Heights had its debt rating downgraded to junk last fall by Moody's after the city council voted to stop payments to a sports center financed by bonds.

19. Wenatchee, Wash.
Wenatchee defaulted on $42 million in debt associated with the Town Toyota Center, a multipurpose arena, and has ongoing financial issues due to the default.

20. Woonsocket, R.I.
Woonsocket faces near-term liquidity shortages necessitating an advance in state aid, a high-debt burden and unfunded pension liabilities, with Moody's citing the city's continuing difficulties in making spending cuts because of poor management and imprecise accounting.

The stock market rally in the first half of 2013 has helped many of these cities as they invest pension contributions and get higher returns. But another market downturn could send these teetering cities back into the red.

And the states can't bail them out because Illinois, California, New York, and Pennsylvania face their own money challenges. Republicans in Congress have been insistent that Washington, D.C., won't be tossing a life-preserver to troubled cities, either.
The view among conservatives in Washington is that a federal bailout would only reward cities for their own bad behavior. But that won't stop the unions from trying.

What do most of these ailing cities all have in common? Well, consider that the vast majority are located in states with forced unions, non-right-to-work states.

"Right-to-work laws attract people and businesses," says labor economist Richard Vedder of Ohio University. "Non-right-to-work states repel them." His statistics show that cities in states with right-to-work laws have sturdier tax bases and higher employment levels.

Unions control state legislatures and city halls in non-right-to-work states, so it can become politically paralyzing to try to fix the problem of runaway labor costs.

Another common trait of financially troubled cities: years and years of liberal governance.

For at least the last 20 years major U.S. cities have been playgrounds for left-wing experiments — high taxes on the rich; sanctuaries for illegal immigrants; super-minimum wage rules; strict gun-control laws (that actually contribute to high crime rates); regulations and paperwork that make it onerous to open a business or develop on your own property; crony capitalism with contracts going to political donors and friends; and failing schools ruled by teacher unions, with little competition or productivity.

Starting in the 1970s, Detroit became inhospitable if you wanted to raise a family and send your kids to good schools. Criminal predators also made cities like Detroit unlivable for families with children. Businesses that provide jobs often faced citywide income taxes that were layered on top of state income taxes.

"Declining cities are jurisdictions that levy local income taxes," a Cato Institute report concluded. Detroit levies a 2.5 percent income tax; New York's is 5 percent.

Another problem has been the decline in family structure that has become acute in so many big cities across the country, from Los Angeles to New York. In many cities, as many as two out of three children are born to a family without a father. As Charles Murray of the American Enterprise Institute has warned, "Single-mother families are a recipe for social chaos."

They are a major factor in high-poverty levels of many U.S. cities, again with Detroit being exhibit A. Welfare reforms have helped, but much work needs to be done to reinstall a culture of traditional two-parent families in urban areas. This would lead to less crime, fewer school dropouts, more businesses, and more social stabilization.

But for all these problems, cities could see a potential renaissance. More empty-nesters in their 50s and 60s are moving back into central cities like Chicago and Boston, New York and Washington, D.C., because of the cultural amenities — fine restaurants, the theater, sports, fashion, and river or lakeside condominium properties. As baby
boomers retire, cities may see new populations moving in.

But this creates a Catch 22 for American cities trying to recapture their glory days and attract new residents.

Who wants to pay taxes for retired city workers when they don't provide any services?

These legacy costs are a fiscal millstone. They put cities in a service decline spiral, because current taxes go to retired teachers and other municipal retirees, while city managers and mayors are forced to lay off firefighters, police, and teachers. Detroit has three retired city workers collecting a pension for every two currently working.

The Vallejo, Calif., city manager once told me when that city couldn't pay its bills several years ago, "You have no idea how bad it is here. We are now paying for three police forces: one that is working and two that are retired."

Given that payment of the benefits are often legally guaranteed contracts, bankruptcy may  be a salvation for some cities. It is a way to hit the reset button and erase those costs so cities can start over.

A good example is Stockton, Calif., which overdeveloped and took on $1 billion in debt during the Golden State housing boom six years ago. When the economy collapsed and housing values plummeted, Stockton couldn’t pay its supersized debts. It declared bankruptcy, but now is starting to rebuild.

According to The Fresno Bee, "Stockton has negotiated voluntary agreements with current workers to eliminate retiree healthcare entirely and is awaiting court approval of a plan to eliminate healthcare benefits for existing retirees as well. City Manager Bob Deis says those reductions will generate $1.6 billion in savings. Three years after it sought bankruptcy protection, Stockton is beginning to right itself. Employee pay and benefits have been downsized, allowing for necessary investments in public safety."

So can America's great and iconic cities make a financial and population comeback? The answer is certainly yes, if they can erase from their books the mistakes of 50 years of labor-union political control.

Bankruptcy, strangely enough, may not be the end for cities, but perhaps the dawning of a new urban revival.

Stephen Moore is senior economics writer and member of the editorial board for The Wall Street Journal.

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