First we had financial institutions asking for money, then we had the auto industry.  Now it appears that cities want to get in on the handouts.  Michael Nutter of Philadelphia, Shirley Franklin of Atlanta and Phil Gordon of Phoenix sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson asking him to use a portion of the $700 billion bailout to help them close budget gaps.  You remember the bailout, don't you?  That is the taxpayer funded debacle that didn't have a solid plan and had a prce tag pulled out of thin air.  Well, since these mayors don't seem to have much faith in their ability to manage their respective city's budgets, they figured they would let the taxpayers subsidize their incompetence.

     Just like I predicted that other sectors would follow the finance industry in asking for assistance, the same will hold true of cities.  If you help a few, the rest will come in droves.  Spending cuts are necessary in many municipalities, but they're obviously not popular with many constituents.  The typical politician will almost always take the money when given the choice of government money or getting their own house in order.  There is no doubt that the slowing economy had made running a city more difficult.  With that said, the mayors got their cities into their mess, and they need to get them out.


http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D94EQHOG0&show_article=1