"Another credit agency drops Providence's rating closer to junk-bond status"

This is the heading appeared on the Providence Journal Website today 3/27/2012. It is just one more in a long series of stories that appear in the local press chronicling the economic decline of Rhode Island. The question is, "Has the economic conditions of a global economy made Rhode Island's political structure of cities and towns TOO SMALL TO SUCCEED?"

The Independent Man

For years, those in power first the Republican establishment mill owners and later the Democrat controlled labor unions have feed off of the fractured political structure of independently incorporated towns and villages that have made up the state and representation in the state legislature.In the process they created a system of fractured government that first gave power to the Mill Owners and later to the unions to create an inefficient public finance and service system. A sense of entitlement has created a system of waste and duplication of public services. Nepotism have been ingrained into the body politic.

The small scale of government that this structure creates has been pointed to as an asset. "Where else," I have heard it said, "can one go directly to your representative and talk to them about your concerns and problems and get results?"

Rhode Island's national image has become a laughing stock and a liability in efforts to attract industry and investment. The image is one of a mismanaged mess. At the center of the problem is the small scale of local

Public pension programs are the big problem facing tax payers, municipalities, and the very quality of life here in the Ocean State