From Profit Confidential
Is This What America Has Come To?
By Michael Lombardi, MBA | Wednesday, June 25th, 2014
I’m going to put aside my daily ranting about the stock market and the economy today to bring what I believe is an important story to the attention of my readers.
There is no doubt you’ve heard about how poorly the city of Detroit, Michigan is faring now that the automotive sector has all but closed up there.
Yesterday, news came that the city has started cutting off water to about 150,000 people. About half of the city’s 324,000 water customers are delinquent on paying their water bill, so the city is turning off their taps. (Source: Financial Post, June 24, 2014.)
In protest, residents are appealing to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, saying their human right to water has been denied. (Unfortunately, the right of access to water is not in our Constitution or our Charter of Rights.)
I think what’s happening in Detroit, while it’s not getting much publicity, is very important. It should be a warning to us all.
At the very core, it tells me that if a government is not taking in enough money to pay its bills, it will increase the financial burden on its citizens…and if you can’t pay, you’re cut off.
In the case of Detroit, last week, city council approved a nine-percent hike in what it charges for water. (And the government tells us inflation is below two percent!) This lesson teaches us that if you can’t pay the increased costs the government levies on you, it will cut you off.
Secondly, today’s citizens are responsible for the past actions (or should I say lack of actions) of politicians. You elect politicians to office to run a city, state, or government. They make mistakes, like increasing government debt or choosing to go to war with another country, and it’s the citizens who are ultimately left dealing with the consequences of those decisions.
And that brings me to the current financial situation in America.
Read more from Profit Confidential >>
Is This What America Has Come To?
By Michael Lombardi, MBA | Wednesday, June 25th, 2014
I’m going to put aside my daily ranting about the stock market and the economy today to bring what I believe is an important story to the attention of my readers.
There is no doubt you’ve heard about how poorly the city of Detroit, Michigan is faring now that the automotive sector has all but closed up there.
Yesterday, news came that the city has started cutting off water to about 150,000 people. About half of the city’s 324,000 water customers are delinquent on paying their water bill, so the city is turning off their taps. (Source: Financial Post, June 24, 2014.)
In protest, residents are appealing to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, saying their human right to water has been denied. (Unfortunately, the right of access to water is not in our Constitution or our Charter of Rights.)
I think what’s happening in Detroit, while it’s not getting much publicity, is very important. It should be a warning to us all.
At the very core, it tells me that if a government is not taking in enough money to pay its bills, it will increase the financial burden on its citizens…and if you can’t pay, you’re cut off.
In the case of Detroit, last week, city council approved a nine-percent hike in what it charges for water. (And the government tells us inflation is below two percent!) This lesson teaches us that if you can’t pay the increased costs the government levies on you, it will cut you off.
Secondly, today’s citizens are responsible for the past actions (or should I say lack of actions) of politicians. You elect politicians to office to run a city, state, or government. They make mistakes, like increasing government debt or choosing to go to war with another country, and it’s the citizens who are ultimately left dealing with the consequences of those decisions.
And that brings me to the current financial situation in America.
Read more from Profit Confidential >>
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