Prices are going to get a lot worse. By 2020 they will be $40 for a pack of 25. In Russia they're about $1.36 for a 20 pack.
Australia officials said it would be good for people's health. Yeah and it ain't too bad for the financial health of the Australian government's either.
Attention Future Farmers
In California weed is around $242 an ounce. There's 28.3496 grams per ounce. Each cigarette contains about 1 gram of tobacco. In other words pot would run around $170 for a pack of 20.
Booze, pot or cigarettes, there's still plenty of money to be made.
Although LCA is limited by a 2.5% yearly increase on Allentown's water rates there's a "but"... Isn't there always?
Exceptions can be made. The biggest one hanging over our heads is the EPA's order to fix the sewer overflows they first issued 7 years ago in 2009. It was suppose to be done by 2014. The EPA granted yet another extension, Face it, the repairs expected to cost hundreds of millions of dollars can't be dragged out forever. This is where the "but" comes in. The LCA can exceed the 2.5% cap on any project that cost more the $1 million in any given year.
The LCA currently is in a argument with Allentown over the method the city used to set sewer rates for those outside of the city. Figures which they say provided them with less revenue then expected. The authority feels it was misled. The thing could ultimately end up being settled in court.
Oh Yeah, Like Nobody Saw This Coming!
Myself along with other critics saw this as a way for the Allentown mayor to rearrange the deck chairs. The LCA gave Allentown just over $211 million in exchange for the 50 year lease. The money was to be used to help bail out Allentown's pension woes. The problem with free money is it's never really free.
Instead of the mayor breaking the bad news Allentown taxpayers would have to cough up more money, he got that monkey off his back by tossing it onto someone else's. The LCA in this case who'll look like the bad guys. Yeah well he might have kicked that can down the road, but now look where are. In the same damn fix.
It doesn't matter forced to open our wallets whether it goes towards taxes or water fees. A buck is still a buck. It benefited no one who's a citizen of Allentown. It might even be worse in my opinion. Had taxes been raised the money dollar for dollar would have gone directly towards pensions. Instead water users will have to help pay interest on the bonds borrowed by the LCA.
We're still going to end up paying million$ for the sewer overflow repairs whether the city still ran the water department or not. Difference is when Allentown still controlled the water department they could set the rates for the big fat commercial water users. That might have helped offset some of this. But no the city gave up that control when they granted the lease. Not too brilliant.
50 years is a long time. Between allowable repair fees being added and possible rate increases it would not be impossible to imagine one day individual water users end up paying 2 to 3 times what they do today. Again this is only my opinion, but it seems to me the mayor did a quick switcheroo hoping he'd be elected to higher office and blow town before the crap hit the fan leaving us holding the bag.
In my opinion there's been a whole lot of shenanigans going on around here. Although many kinds of things may be legal doesn't mean taxpayers' ignorance should be exploited.
Yet I'm certain many will still insist this was a good deal. So I'm not about to harbor any false illusions things will change. I'm sure many who walk among us would still gladly pay ten bucks to see the unicorns at this year's upcoming fair. If so I'd be more then happy to sell them tickets for only $5 with a free pair of rose colored eyeglasses for each ticket purchased.
Because of Budget Problems... * New York City's public housing is 60,000 some work orders behind. * The MTA's debt is greater than that of at least 30 of the world's nations, * Flynt Michigan's water and schools are broke. * Atlantic City is broke. * Puerto Rico is broke. * Amtrak received about $1.39b in subsidies (2014). * The CBO estimates the federal budget deficit in 2016 will be $544 billion. * Pennsylvania's & 15 others states will experience shortfalls in 2016. * 270,000 retired truckers could see a 50% cut in their pensions. * Dairy farmers could be in trouble. About 600,000 tons of surplus cheese is in gov't storage. * etc., etc., etc.
I could list dozens more of similarly alarming items I've come across. The question is how long can things last when more is going out then coming in?
It's fine and dandy that we have more millionaires and billionaires being created then ever before. What good is it if the other 90% receive no benefit from this new found wealth?
Not just here in the United States, it's a worldwide epidemic. There's not a lot of mystery here. Various governments have allowed wealthy people to game the system, Automation has taken away jobs at the same time workers in poverty wage countries were exploited. I can't see how this economic game of musical chairs can last a whole lot longer.
"Redistribution of wealth" has become a dirty phrase sold to those who refuse to believe it's negativity came from the very people who have been most benefiting. There's been a "Redistribution of wealth" alright, but not the kind which will sustain the various government services and the peoples in the long run. Allowed to continue unabated it's not "if" but "when" cities, schools, retirees and the general welfare of ALL the peoples will come crashing down.
These are not some words of a chicken little running around saying the sky's falling. A sensible person need only look around and see what's happened over the last fifty years and the inevitable direction we're headed.
Take a look again at those ten items I mentioned. Is there anyone who seriously believes any one (little alone all ten) will resolve themselves without extreme intervention?
There's are some things that never should be allowed. In such the way federal government sets aside national parks so should it with water.
If this continues I can envision one day a home owner having to pay for the rights to use his/her own well water if were using a company owned aquifer beneath. A time, in the not too distant future, when we shall have to buy our water from private for-profit utility companies much like we do with our heat and electricity today. A time which water is no longer considered a local government's obligation to provide.
