When Bitten, Bite Back

Once Bitten, Bite Back

How did we get into this economic mess?
Consumers like you and me got ahead of ourselves over the past 10 years and spent money that we didn't have on things we didn’t need. We ran up balances on credit cards and treated our houses as ATMs by continually borrowing against them. It was easy, popular, and nothing could slow us down – nothing except economic collapse, of course.
To be fair, some of us were more prudent than others, but by and large, I think we can all agree that the above paragraph illustrates a fair deal of the practices that got us where we are today. But rather than continue, we learned from our mistakes. We, as citizens, heard the message loud and clear: scale down, hang on to your job, and be happy.

Now we’re driving our cars for seven years instead of buying a newer or bigger car every two years. We no longer carry balances on our credit cards if use them at all. We’re planning to stay put in our houses for longer periods of time and learning to be happy with it. We do this because we know that consumer demand for bigger houses or large credit card debt will not return to pre-crisis levels. Consumers aren’t spending like it is 1999, 2003, 2006, or 2005 - not even like it’s 2008. The nonchalant approach to debt is over! Reality hit us hard, and it taught us hard lessons.

However, our Local Government and City Council didn’t get the same message.
They’ve learned no lessons from the economic crisis and continue about their poor fiscal governance like it is business as usual. Surely the mayor and council have a good reason for ignoring reality. Right? After all, it’s their unique inhuman like ability to see into the future that they were elected into office....
Maybe they see growth occurring in Corinth where other parts of North Texas have seen sharp decline and contraction. According to Corinth’s Capital Improvement Plan published in 2005 and prepared by an engineering firm that subsequently receives a large number of our capital improvement projects, the Corinth population is expected to grow by 10,000 residents in the next year to 28,000 residents!

Folks, that is a ridiculous projection touted by our City Hall to justify the unnecessary scope of their improvement projects and an overstaffed city hall. Corinth lost 1,500 residents since 2008, issuing only 3 housing permits in 2009 and likely will issue zero permits in 2010 after the new home buyer’s tax credit expires and mortgage interest rates increase after July of this year.

City Hall tells us things will go back to normal, that we’ve only hit a little snag. Reality tells us they are wrong, and the basis for their claims tells us they are, at best, delusional. Only one thing for certain has returned to normal for our city – the mayor, city council, and city manager continue to tax and spend. City of Corinth has approximately 13,000 registered voters. Unfortunately, in the last ten years, only between 400 and 750 voters turned out at the polls. The fact that we have an apathetic community should not empower the bureaucrats at city hall and slick council members to take advantage of the tax payers.
Meanwhile, they whistle past the graveyard and hope nothing bites them.

Friends, I urge you to bite! We will bite. It is a promise!