Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter is threatening to shut down the city's court system if the state doesn't give him permission to reform the city's pension system and  raise the sales tax from 7 percent to 8 percent.

It's like a strategy from the film Blazing Saddles. Nutter is trying to win over the unfriendly townsfolk by holding a gun to his head and saying "give me a tax hike or I'll shoot the mayor."

A sales tax hike is not going to help him considering that the rate is 6 percent in the rest of the state (and zero in not-to-far-away Delaware)  and it is not that inconvenient for Philadelphians  to get to the malls, car dealers and appliance stores in those places.

If he's  counting on the restaurant/bar crowd, he ought to remember that eating out is a seriously discretionary expense.

Tough love is what's required. Granted this would require the Mayor cutting into the union/Democratic Party patronage base, but what must be done must be done.