L.A. Mayor Looking at Shutting City Government Down Two Days a Week

The Great Recession continues to shrink government at the state and local levels. It's another indcation that lots of  muni bonds may be in trouble.

In the latest government shrinkage news, CNN reports:

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa wants a plan to be drawn up to shut the city governent down for two days a week beginning April 12 because of their budget crisis

"There are no easy decisions or simple ways to solve this budget crisis,” Mayor Villaraigosa said in a statement. “But as the CEO of this great city, it is my responsibility to make these difficult but necessary decisions to steer the city out of this crisis and onto solid financial ground."

Villaraigosa said he hoped a plan could quickly be developed so they could calculate how much money it would save the city while they hold emergency meetings to try and figure out how to replenish the city's general fund.

"We can no longer wait. We can no longer keep saying no," Villaraigosa said. "We must act now."

LOL, so now he is CEO of the city.

In August 2008, I asked the Mayor directly about why he was increasing his bloated bureaucracy, rather than using free market principles to solve a water crisis. He totally dissed me (See: How to Irritate the Mayor of Los Angeles... )

The good folks of Los Angeles should know that when the good times roared, he was, like a typical politician, just expanding the bureaucracy not even thinking about the future, and not even willing to listen to ideas that would have slowed his growing regime.