Cries from Woonsocket

            I was born in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, an old mill town astride the Blackstone River in the northeast corner of the state. The city once had the greatest percentage of French-Canadian immigrants in the country. It had a French newspaper, a French radio station whose theme song I can still remember, and many churches where only French was heard from the pulpit. In 1950 Woonsocket was designated an All-American City. It had good schools, a thriving Main Street, and full employment in the many wool and cotton mills that stood like giant red cliffs along the fast-flowing river that supplied their power. But then the textile industry moved south to more favorable economic climes, and Woonsocket gradually became a shell of its former self.

            The city of my birth has never recovered. With high unemployment, an aging population, and a shrinking tax base, Woonsocket can no longer fulfill its long-term contractual obligations and is now facing bankruptcy. Downriver Pawtucket is also close to declaring bankruptcy, while nearby Central Falls already has.
            These are but three of the many troubled cities that are popping up like mushrooms all over the nation's map. Already In bankruptcy are Stockton, San Bernadino, and Mammoth Lakes in California alone. Not far behind are San Diego and San Jose, as well as Las Vegas and Reno next door in Nevada. Even Chicago, Los Angeles, Detroit, and New York are experiencing daunting fiscal crises. And, closer to home, our northern neighbor Norfolk is not in such great shape either. Can we imagine the outcry if the mayor of Norfolk reduced all public employee salaries to the minimum wage like the mayor of Scranton did?
            These cities are but a microcosm of what is happening on the national level with unbridled entitlements exploding the national debt by over $4 trillion in just the last three years. Yet all attempts at reform are met with accusations of pushing grandma off the cliff or starving the poor. Heaven forbid! And while we're at it, let's add on another trillion for Obamacare. The country can't go bankrupt. All we have to do is print more money and borrow the rest from China. Anybody else want food stamps?
            Can't our leaders smell the rot in the system they've created? Haven't they seen the disastrous consequences of Socialism in Greece, Spain, and Italy? Can they not hear the moans of despair from Woonsocket?