By DAN VALENTI

PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY

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EDITOR’S NOTE: Here is the YouTube link for Dan Valenti’s feature film, KENTUCKY FRIED PITTSFIELD … or … WHERE HAVE YOU GONE, COL. SANDERS? You’ll laugh! You’ll cry! You’ll will be in wonder! Click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzflpEb_zQQ .

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(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEEKEND EDITION, JULY 31-AUG. 2, 2015) — The following lead to a recent Reuters story provides the comforting illusion of geographical distance, having occurred 4,813.6 miles from Pitstfield:

ATHENS (Reuters) – Stunned Greeks faced shuttered banks, long supermarket lines and overwhelming uncertainty on Monday as a breakdown in talks with international lenders plunged their country deep into crisis.

Nonetheless, this is a local story. The financial chaos that followed brings home the danger of unlimited spending in the face of a declining tax base and taking on unsustainable debt. It sunk Greece. It sunk Detroit, Mich, Sacramento, Calif., and a number of other U.S. cities. What makes the mayor think Pittsfield is an exception to that surefire formula for economic disaster?

$5 Trillion, Before You Blink

Keep thinking large for a moment longer. The networked nature of every aspect of civilized life, especially the economy, should give you pause. A quick look at just one example — foreign exchange rates. Each 24 hours, traders in chatrooms move $5 trillion dollars in an effort to take advantage of the most minute rate shifts.

Computers deal in microseconds and make gargantuan movements in the same time as it does to add 5+2 “the old way” (the answer, by the way, used to be “7”). The ability to rapidly move voluminous amounts of national currencies to hop on the tiniest of movements has given traders license to manipulate rates almost at will. Making $10 million in 10 seconds gives you an idea of the temptation involved.

Once you move beyond the personal piggy bank, finances bear little relation to day-to-day life. The preponderance of debt only exacerbates the unreal situation. Enter Pittsfield, aka, Podunk, Mass. The city has a combined pension and OPEB debt of around $400 million. A corrupt coalition recently approved $121 million in new borrowing for a school building project made unnecessary by a declining school population and the existence of two large campuses, each half empty (not half full). The city still owes $23 million from the most previous round of school renovations.

The ever-clueless mayor proposed (and the council passed) a bloated $145+ million city budget. On top of that, they added $11 million in borrowing for capital expenses. When you add up the debt, you get $555 million obligation facing taxpayers.

Under Mayor TES, The Special Interest Special keeps moving down the line. Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski need not apply for a ticket.

Unless there are significant electoral changes in the corner office, council, and school committee, Pittsfield will be in the Greece within five years. It it might pull a Puerto Rico sooner.

Pulling a ‘Puerto Rico’

The governor of the U.S. island recently told the international community that the protectorate can’t pay its $72 billion public debt.

THE PLANET played an interesting little game. Play with us. Think “Pittsfield” for the quotes in an AP story about Puerto Rican debt:

Quote 1. “There is no other option. I would love to have an easier option. This is not politics. This is math.”

2. “The last four administrations have kicked the can down the road. At this point, there is no more can to kick. So we’re going to take some very strict measures and some very profound measures. It’s going to hurt, but there’s no way out.”

3. “This is a daunting agenda politically, legally, and organizationally. It is also an urgent one: The government’s cash balances can evaporate in the face of delays, reducing the room for maneuver and intensifying the crisis.”

4. “I think it’s irresponsible.”

Doesn’t each apply nicely?

Deficit and Defeat

With Apathy turning away voters, cynical, selfish politicians have plundered the treasury, awarded lucrative contracts to the “connected,” and feathered their own nests. Falling population, an influx of a bottom-feeding class of leeches, gangs, a drug epidemic, escalating violence, and a diminishing tax base make it certain: Unless there’s a swift reversal of course in November, Pittsfield’s default (and defeat) is certain. Never has change been more the order of the day.

We leave you with one last quote: “The challenge for the incumbent is to let people know what you’re doing such as attracting market rate housing and making Pittsfield a destination.” — Dan Bianchi.

We can hardly wait.

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The Comment Line is Open

With that, THE PLANET opens The Comment Line. We solicit any and all comments, any and all topics. Move the discussion forward and write to the best of your ability, wit, and intelligence.

Have a great weekend, everybody.

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“I thought the only lonely face was on the moon.” — Paul McCartney and Wings, “Jet,” from the Band on the Run album, (1973).

“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”

LOVE TO ALL.

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