Harrisburg, Pennsylvania files for bankruptcy

I've written about this issue before. Speaking of "big projects," Harrisburg was an early adopter of a "waste-to-energy" trash reduction program, where the incinerator plant is designed to produce steam, which runs turbines, which generates electricity. (Fairfax County Virginia has one--but they didn't have enough trash, so they buy DC's trash, which in turn is a dis-incentive for DC to develop more robust waste reduction strategies.)

Their plant never worked well.

Plus a previous mayor did stupid stuff like buy millions of dollars of artifacts for a "Wild West Museum." Why he thought Harrisburg was a good place for that is beyond me.

See "Harrisburg, Pa., Votes to File for Bankruptcy" from the National Journal.

Central Falls, RI and Vallejo, CA are in bankruptcy. So is the Detroit Public School System.

Jefferson County, AL was on the brink of bankruptcy (I wrote about this before) as a result of financial engineering and corruption associated with water and sewer infrastructure replacement.

Still, this is likely to happen more, rather than less, going forward.