My good friend, San Diego City Attorney Jan Goldsmith, is right--when San Diego files for bankruptcy, it will not solve its problems--just slow them down.
Until city officials stop paying off unions and special interests, this will continue.
"The city is not insolvent, Goldsmith said, a precondition of bankruptcy and reform of the city's largest liability -- its $2.1 billion pension debt -- is hamstrung because a number of those benefits are considered vested or guaranteed. Those benefits couldn't be changed in bankruptcy court, he said.
"I haven't found a case in the history of this country in which a municipality has been allowed to void or dissolve pension benefits in a bankruptcy," he said."
Previous payoffs to the unions have made the financial disaster of the pension system one that will last for a generation. Until they fix that, the crisis will continue.
More...
Until city officials stop paying off unions and special interests, this will continue.
"The city is not insolvent, Goldsmith said, a precondition of bankruptcy and reform of the city's largest liability -- its $2.1 billion pension debt -- is hamstrung because a number of those benefits are considered vested or guaranteed. Those benefits couldn't be changed in bankruptcy court, he said.
"I haven't found a case in the history of this country in which a municipality has been allowed to void or dissolve pension benefits in a bankruptcy," he said."
Previous payoffs to the unions have made the financial disaster of the pension system one that will last for a generation. Until they fix that, the crisis will continue.
More...