Kansas City is stuck in a suprime downward spiral!!! Now could be the right time to kiss this cowtown goodbye!!!
The answer to the current subprime crisis is on the Internets, apparently a lot of people are abandoning their mortgages altogether. It's not X-mas time but local banks are routinely getting "jingle mail" from customers who simply walk out on their loan.
I know that financial news can get boring but the recent downgrade of Kansas City's economic outlook could be the most important disaster since the Hyatt Regency walkway collapsed in 1981.
I wish it was just TKC saying that the prospects for Kansas City's economy are horrible but this time the word comes white guys who wear suits and have the kind of money that starts wars, elects Presidents and determines Spring fashions. The debt from Sprint Center, Bartle Hall and the P&L District are crippling this town and despite the propaganda that's being run in the local media, most financial experts don't think those venues will ever generate the kind of revenue to service Kansas City's debilitating debt. Again, this news comes from people who do this stuff for a living and make enough money to buy anony commenters and reporters simply transcribing press releases. Put simply, THE SMART MONEY IS ON THE FAILURE OF KANSAS CITY'S NEW ATTRACTIONS!!!
Sorry. Of course, most people absolve Mayor Funky of any role in this situation even though he was the City Auditor who presided over the building boom and only made rumblings on his way out the door to a political campaign. However, it's true that the majority of the blame lies with former Mayor Kay Barnes as she turned over Kansas City's financial future to greedy developers simply looking for subsidies and corporate welfare. Unfortunately, Mayor Funky has done nothing in his year-long tenure to remedy this situation - There's still no anchor tenant for The Sprint Center and the current Mayor could quite possibly be the most dour and uninspiring spokesman for Kansas City.
But it gets worse, Kansas City's financial outlook really seems ugly when this town's crumbling water infrastructure is brought into the equation. That bill starts in the BILLIONS and Mayor Funky would rather talk about his light rail project than address the problem. The recent downgrade means that it could be harder to borrow money when time comes to pay more of Kansas City's bills . . . THAT'S THE CLASSIC DEFINITION OF SUBPRIME STATUS.
So when faced with a town in massive amounts of debt and local water bills that WILL DOUBLE in the coming years IT'S CLEAR THAT IT WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE TO BLAME SMART PEOPLE WHO DECIDED TO MOVE AWAY FROM KANSAS CITY GIVEN THIS TOWN'S HORRIBLE ECONOMIC PROSPECTS!!!
It gets even worse, the budget crisis and Mayor Funky's proposed solution involve cutting hundreds of employees and that means a significant reduction of City Services. There are amenities more important than a brand new Chipotle or a place to see a B-list band . . . Being able to count on the City to deliver a response from any one of its offices is a necessity and Mayor Funky's current slash and burn strategy jeopardizes that by arrogantly, stubbornly discounting the contribution of current City Hall staffers.
Let's put this all in perspective:
And now we're back to the subject of people giving up when it comes to unworkable bills.
I recently rented American Gangster and there's a great line in the flick regarding the same kind of choice. A very wise Southeast Asian drug deal delivered a comment worthy of Confucius and uttered: "Quiting, and quiting while you're ahead are not the same thing."
I think people who have managed to stay financially afloat in Kansas City could soon take that advice. The gloomy financial outlook of Kansas City and the REAL DOLLAR IMPACT on residents far outweighs rising gas prices, even when the cost of fuel hits 4 bucks a gallon this Summer.
Of course the suckers who were tricked into buying condos are stuck with their bad decision in this buyer's market but for those who haven't become trapped in arduous and debt ridden entanglements like marriage, home ownership and children . . . NOW COULD BE THE RIGHT TIME TO LEAVE KANSAS CITY.
The sins of Kansas City's politicos and financial upper classes are now being cast upon the citizenry but not everybody wants to pay someone else's bills simply out of civic pride.
Suddenly, the suburbs aren't looking so bad.
Good, why don't you go away?
ReplyDeleteNOW COULD BE THE RIGHT TIME TO LEAVE KANSAS CITY. because it is better where?? the nation is in a recession dear. mayor funky didnt do that, neither did kay,
ReplyDeleteTony's only about 60 years late in joining the suburban bandwagon.
ReplyDeleteI see your point but that kind of forgets all of the hype about everyone moving back to Kansas City to live in a loft.
ReplyDeleteDamn dude. Sometiems you make me depressed.
ReplyDeleteLinkning a Glenn Beck article. You're a bigger hack than I thought.
ReplyDeleteTONY YOU ARE A WORTHLESS FUCKING BAG OF SHIT. IF YOU DON'T LIKE THIS TOWN THEN YOU SHOULD GO THE FUCK BACK TO MEXICO AND SEE HOW YOU LIKE IT THERE. TAKE YOUR FUCKING SPIC FAMILY WITH YOU TOO. YOU HATE KANSAS CITY AND IT'S GETTING SO FUCKING OLD. ONE OF THESE DAYS SOMEBODY IS GOING TO GET A HOLD OF YOU AND GIVE YOU SOME PAYBACK FOR ALL THE THINGS YOUVE DONE TO HURT KANSAS CITY. THE DAY IS COMING SOONER THAN YOU THINK AND I'LL BE HAPPY WHEN IT HAPPENS. KANSAS CITY WOULD BE BETTER OFF WITHOUT YOU.
ReplyDeletewell he pretty much summed that up!
ReplyDeleteWhatever dude. I think the most important part that everyone should remember is that taking financial advice from a guy who lives in his mother's basement is never a good idea.
ReplyDeleteTake off the caps lock, calm down, enjoy the joke blog.
I would enjoy the joke blog if it was actually funny. As it is, it barely passes juvenile ranting.
ReplyDeleteThe joke's on us. We're the ones who keep coming back.
ReplyDeleteConsider this blog an online version of an automobile accident. You want to turn away and keep on driving, but you can't help but slow down and look at the bloody mess.
And after all, who could blame Tony for staying in Kansas City? He's got it easy. Rita does the heavy lifting. Mommy pays the mortgage. Mommy provides shelter. Mommy provides food. Hell, Mommy probably still wipes Tony's ass from time to time.
You were right all along, Tony. There ARE hardworking Hispanic Americans. I guess sometimes it just skips a generation.
I'm going to move to the suburbs so I can get kidnapped at Target and wind up in a ditch.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure why you think the bond raters at Moody's are so smart, Tony. A good part of the reason we, as a country, are in tough times, and most of the reason companies like Bear Stearns are in trouble, is that the bond raters at Moody's are idiots.
ReplyDeleteBe that as it may, some of us like Kansas City. Some of us bought condos downtown before the entertainment district was even promised, because we want to see a downtown community, and we're willing to take financial risks to help build one. I could pack up and move back to Chicago more easily than you could pack up and move out of your mother's basement, but just like you, I'm not moving.
The only difference is, in five years, regardless of how downtown works out, I'll still be looking to the future, and you'll still be whining.
Let us try to remember that it was KC voters, in their infinite wisdom, who essentially approved the financing arrangements for the new municipal white elephants.
ReplyDeleteNow is the right time to leave KC... if you are a greasy illegal alien.
ReplyDeleteAbout KCs budget "troubles," this won't make you laugh. It's just a few thoughts. First, Funk is making it sound impossible to A) get the attention off his wife and their general ignorance, and B)cast some aspersion on Wayne, the defiant council members and former mayors.
ReplyDeleteHow about these for some budget cuts: 1)Stop buying and keeping take home cars for managers. Let them drive a pool car while they are at work. Parks Dept. is a good example. Several thousand $/annual savings.
2) City should stop paying for some employees' parking in the garage by City Hall. An employee's pay is by ordinance their "total remuneration," but many, mostly higher-paid employees get free parking on the KC taxpayer. The rest of us pay our $65/mo (soon to go up?). Conservatively, $50,000/year there.
3)Stop the monthly stipend (is it 6 or 8 hundred $) for directors' cars. 12 directors @ $600/mo. equals $7,200/mo or nearly $90,000/year!!!
4)Cut all travel for just one year - many thousands of dollars. Sorry mayor, no China vacation for you!!!
5)Cut out most of the Blackberrys and cell phones - just have them for field staff. Directors and managers play with them too much, and most of them don't need to be reached for emergencies. The city would operate fine without any of the directors we currently have, much less their Blackberrys. Again, many thousands of dollars each year.
6) and this is a biggie...Somebody try to make the useless $150 million water line to Cass County work. Oops! Water Dept. forgot to get easements, so it's wasted. KC taxpayers paid for this risk, and are getting soaked. Is that why the director left? Millions in income from Ray-Pec, if we could properly finish the thing.
7)Pull in ALL the police department's "private accounts." Have patrol officers on 8 hour shifts actually take their calls rather than sittiing in Chipotle, Subway, Quik Trip, and always being out of service. The PD fails no matter how much of the General Fund they get - they need new management. Savings: $100s of thousands annually.
8) Cut IT costs. Look at most departments; they have a printer at every desk. More and more, they have individual color printers. Check out Parks and Rec.
9) Stop ALL of the duplication throughout: Marketing, PR, Fleet service, contract administration; dozens of efforts in individual departments, including police, could be handled in one place. This is former City manager Larry Brown's legacy of "rolling out" support functions to each dept.
10) Consultants are out of control. City Hall top managers have staff to do the work, but hire pricey consultants to tell them how to blow their noses. Sure, it passes money from the taxpayers to private businesses, which are sometimes, but not always, in the area. But employees are so afraid to make a mistake, that they'd rather administer an consultant contract for something the employee should do, just so they'll have someone to blame. This goes for the repeated ethics and diversity training, too. No one doing this has been good enough to change anything at the top, anyway. My bet is that hundreds of thousands, if not millions would be saved annually.
But instead, they'd rather lay off some poor working stiffs, thereby reducing tax revenue, increasing the city's unemployment comp. costs, cutting some 200-odd families out of ANY purchasing power, and reducing services to the taxpayers.
Talk to any middle manager for the city, and he or she could give you at least two or three ways that the top dogs could save money without any of the mayor's or council's cuts. Maybe that's why they want to cut middle managers.
Leave Kansas City? You first, hack.
ReplyDelete