Want high taxes? Cut the police by almost half to get more crime. But, protect criminals from foreign countries. Have failed schools and elect an open Marxist as Mayor, what do you get? You get Oakland about to be flushed down the economic toilet. The school district had to be taken over by the State. It is time for the Feds to take over the city (California can not take over Oakland since it has even worse problems than this dead city).
“And still, in a bewildering display of ideological loyalty, Oakland voters turned to Barbara Lee in the April 2025 special election. Lee, a 26-year veteran of the House, had been one of its most liberal members, casting the lone vote against military action following 9/11 and sponsoring bills like the Marijuana Justice Act. She infamously had kind words of praise for former Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. Her platform promises unity and an “Oakland renaissance,” but her record suggests more of the same: big-government solutions, high spending, and light on accountability. Lee’s 100-day plan, thin on detail, depends on task forces and audits and steers clear of the harsh cuts needed to stabilize finances. Her election, by a slim 52% in ranked-choice voting, suggests a city doubling down on progressivism despite its failures. Crime and homelessness also expose Oakland’s government rot. The city is the Bay Area’s most crime-ridden, with public safety being a top voter’s issue.”
I bet Barbara Lee will be as good a Mayor as Castro was President of Cuba—a dead nation.
Oakland’s Collapse: The High Cost of Liberal Rule
Proposed Property Tax Hike Adds Insult to Oakland’s Injury
Jon Fleischman, Flashreport/subtrack, 5/8/25 https://theflashreport.substack.com/p/oaklands-collapse-the-high-cost-of?r=295f8&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&triedRedirect=true
Oakland, California, is a city in free fall, a stark warning of what happens when unchecked progressive policies are allowed to rule. From out-of-control finances to political dysfunction, the city’s afflictions are the direct result of decades of liberal orthodoxy, which hit its zenith with the recent election of Barbara Lee as mayor—a politician whose Congressional career was highlighted by far-left activism. Oakland is your textbook example of where runaway spending and tax-hungry policies lead.
Start with the city’s calamitous finances. Oakland faces a $140 million structural budget deficit over the next two years, with long-term imbalances on the horizon and even larger cuts. Interim Mayor Kevin Jenkins has proposed a property tax hike to close a $29 million deficit in the current fiscal year. This would burden homeowners already struggling with California’s stratospheric costs. This comes after years of mismanagement, in which ballooning pension costs, inflated city contracts, and runaway spending have drained reserves. Jenkins’ 2025-2027 budget of around $2 billion promises layoffs and cutbacks to social services—yet the city council’s response is to demand more revenue, not less waste. Mayor-elect Lee has proposed a forensic – which undoubtedly reveals the startling news that the city’s leadership… wait for it… spends well more than its revenue. Oakland’s budget crisis is nothing new; it is the natural consequence of a city council allergic to fiscal responsibility, investing in progressive pet projects rather than core governance. The political dysfunction is also damning.
In November, voters recalled Mayor Sheng Thao, the first Oakland mayor to be remembered in that fashion, amid outrage over crime, homelessness, and a corruption scandal. Under indictment for federal bribery, Thao left City Hall in shambles, with interim mayors coming and going like musical chairs. And still, in a bewildering display of ideological loyalty, Oakland voters turned to Barbara Lee in the April 2025 special election. Lee, a 26-year veteran of the House, had been one of its most liberal members, casting the lone vote against military action following 9/11 and sponsoring bills like the Marijuana Justice Act. She infamously had kind words of praise for former Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. Her platform promises unity and an “Oakland renaissance,” but her record suggests more of the same: big-government solutions, high spending, and light on accountability. Lee’s 100-day plan, thin on detail, depends on task forces and audits and steers clear of the harsh cuts needed to stabilize finances. Her election, by a slim 52% in ranked-choice voting, suggests a city doubling down on progressivism despite its failures. Crime and homelessness also expose Oakland’s government rot. The city is the Bay Area’s most crime-ridden, with public safety being a top voter’s issue.
Lee and her opponent, Loren Taylor, pledged to bring police staffing levels up to 800 officers, but the city budget can’t sustain it without a cut somewhere else. Homelessness, which affects over 5,400 residents, festers under policies that prioritize shelters over systemic solutions. The businesses in the downtown area are shutting down, and the departure of sports teams like the A’s and Raiders has sapped civic pride. And yet the all-liberal city council is fixated on raising taxes—sales, property, you name it—rather than altering their free-spending ways. This is the liberal playbook: tax and spend lavishly, then tax some more. Oakland’s one-party government, without any conservative voice to demand fiscal restraint, promises more of the same. Elections have consequences, and if you elect progressives like Lee and her council majority, you get a city on the verge of collapse, where taxpayers are the bottomless ATM for bad policy. If you want otherwise, vote for balance—because Oakland shows what happens when you don’t.
