Los Angeles Officials Say Can't Afford Lakers Parade

From Reuters:

The Los Angeles Lakers need only one more win to capture a 15th National Basketball Association Championship, but some city officials are already saying they can't afford to throw the team a victory party...such a celebration could cost the city $1 million or more at a time when city leaders, faced with a deep budget deficit, were contemplating worker layoffs and cuts in services.

"We can't afford to cover the costs," City Councilwoman Jan Perry told the Los Angeles Times. "How could we make a decision about people's jobs and then sponsor the parade?"

Barbara Maynard, a spokeswoman for the city's employee unions, agreed, telling the paper: "We do not believe its appropriate in this economic climate for taxpayers to be funding a parade."

But Councilman Bernard Parks said he expected the city to throw the parade and pick up the tab.

The parade is likely to go on, but a discussion about cancellation is a further sign that things aren't like they used to be.

The governments of Los Angeles, of California and of the United States are in way over their heads financially. With Bernanke jerking the money supply around and Obama coming in with new regulations from every direction, things are only going to get worse.

Who five years ago would believe you if you said that in 2009 you would find reports of counties turning roads back to gravel, and Los Angeles officials debating whether to spend money to hold a parade for a Los Angeles Lakers' championship team?

And we aren't even talking about the biggies, the two trillion the government needs to raise this year, the money that is running out for medicare and social security. It is not going to be pretty.


UPDATE: Los Angeles Lakers won the N.B.A. Championship, Sunday night.