Ready for a quiz? Who is this? Remember, no peeking :
1- She recently filed for bankruptcy, just like Stockton, Calif., America’s most “famous” bankrupt city.
2- Her massive debt includes $10 million in unpaid taxes. Sounds like San Bernardino, California’s second bankrupt city.
3- Currently,she still has a very high income ($20,950 per month!). So did citizens of Vallejo, another one of California’s “rich” bankrupt towns.
4- She has huge monthly expenses (get this one) of $20,940 dollars.(that’s monthly) Its not easy living on $250,000 dollars per year! Mammoth Lakes, a fourth California town in bankruptcy, couldn’t handle all that income either.
5- Her huge salary has existed for decades and she still blames those “evil” bankers and financial advisors, just like numerous other cities and towns who are also facing bankruptcy.
6- “Say a little prayer for her”. Now do you know who it is? It’s none other than the Grammy winner, Dionne Warwick. Her spending and borrowing habits seem self-destructing but they are so similar to what’s going on elsewhere.
Last year, Brookhaven, right here on Long Island, spent $8.4 million dollars more than they took in.
For such a small town, that really took quite an effort. Furthermore, it is projected that in the next three years, this quaint little town will run up a deficit of $28 million dollars.
In spite of U.S. bankruptcies being at an all time high, 21.5 percent of all homeowners still “underwater,” with more people using food stamps and in poverty than ever before, and our under-employment rate remaining at 12-14 percent, Brookhaven still continues to tax, spend and borrow as if nothing is wrong.
ObamaCare promised to lower our insurance premiums. After all, wasn’t providing “free” healthcare to 15 million new people, supposed to be “free”?
However, a recent California actuarial study predicts that insurance premiums are actually going up 30 percent, just to pay for Obamacare’s “ free” uninsured, recipients.
So, it’s not surprising that, over the next three years, Brookhaven’s insurance premiums are going up a whopping $3 million dollars!
Maybe they should have listened to Randy Alschuler instead of congressmen Tim Bishop or Steve Israel.
Also, did you hear that Obamacare will tax every employer $63 dollars for each person they insure. This projected $25 billion dollar new tax is to offset the cost of covering people with pre-existing medical conditions.
Oh I forgot, I thought that was “free” also. Wait till the town gets that bill!
Another amazing revelation occurred when Brookhaven found out that next year, they will have to start paying back millions of dollars for their previously borrowed money! Really? Now you see why politicians don’t want to be in office when the bills come rolling in.
And what happens when your debt/GDP ratio get too high?
Good question! Brookhaven is now in danger of losing its excellent credit rating, just like Ms. Warwick, California. Greece, and all the others who tried this unlimited tax and spend approach.
Maybe we should “say a little prayer” for all those Long Island towns, who just will not face reality.
One-time fixes and going further into debt is insane! “Restructuring” our debt and selling our assets are only stop-gap measures and will only put off the necessary meaningful reductions needed to save us from bankruptcy.
Brookhaven’s Democratic Councilwoman, Connie Kepert recently said that unless she raises taxes, she must cut employees or reduce services. Her apparent economic expertise is “underwhelming.”
Sounds like she went to the Dionne Warwick School of Finance instead of studying with Scott Walker or Paul Ryan.
Wake up Brookhaven. Or better yet, wake up. Long Island.
Dr. Stephen Morris, DDS
North Hills
