Harrisburg, Bankruptsburg

So, it's official. Our state capital is bankrupt. It has filed for Chapter 9 protection from its creditors. The mayor of the city disagrees with the move and so does governor's office which calls the filing "illegal."

Harrisburg, which has a population of around 47,000, is the largest municipality to file for bankruptcy since Vallejo, Calif. in 2008,according to Mr. Spiotto. Vallejo has a population of approximately 117,000

"To the extent there was a stigma associated with municipal bankruptcy, that is rapidly declining," said David Skeel, a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania.

Recent history shows Chapter 9 is no panacea; Vallejo spent three costly years resolving its 2008 bankruptcy filing. Mr. Spiotto adds that about one in every three municipal bankruptcy cases has been dismissed since 1980.

Why should there be any stigma? Harrisburg is just another America city that has failed politically and financially to live within it means. It offered good salaries and terrific pensions to city workers that were wholly unsustainable. It's publicly-funded trash to steam plant is a financial disaster.

It's intention now is to screw its bondholders. Fine. But it will no longer be able to borrow money at typically low rates cities enjoy. That's a killer. The city should have taken the governor's deal for an appointed receiver to handle things until it could climb back to solvency. Instead, the process is being dragged out. First a judge will have to decide whether the city even qualifies to file for bankruptcy (it may well not) and that just puts off solving the city's financial problems months or maybe years.

Stigmas, in the past, have been valuable in the promotion of good and responsible behavior. We seem to have gotten rid of a lot of them over the course of the last 30 years.

Old stigmas are being replaced by new ones. Leftists have successfully stigmatized "intolerance" and are working on stigmatizing "wealth." Ironically, in so doing, the left, itself, has become less tolerant, and the country is becoming less wealthy.

As the Occupy Wall Streeters rail against corporate greed and millionaires in New York, the fact is the economy has led to there being fewer of them to tax. The city is losing tens of millions in revenue to pay for their workers and provide services to its citizens.

It's time to Occupy Harrisburg. Or close it.