Hard hitting global and local news
Read More: Unemployment Up in 44 States; New York Unemployment Highest Since 1983; No Improvement Nationally in 2012; Looking Ahead:…
Excerpt from: Labor Department $100 Million Giveaway to Stop State Layoffs
Pettis on Debt, Currency Wars, Commodity Prices and Capital Flight; China FDI Contracts 8.7% YoY, 8th Drop in 9 Months The much-denied hard landing in China is now underway with weakening data everywhere one looks.
More here: Is Italy Following the Footsteps of Greece? Does Italy or Germany Exit the Eurozone First?
Total Revenues: -$468.8 million (-10%) Income Tax: $156.2 million (5%) Sales Tax: -$390.7 million (-40%) Corporate Tax: -$26.4 million (-9.1%) What the Numbers Tell Us Typically, July is a month when California revenues go on vacation, as the month accounts for about one dollar of every $20 deposited in the General Fund.
Please consider this news headline which I openly mock: Expert says bankruptcy for Syracuse is unlikely, but mayor should explore option While the financial situation in the city of Syracuse hasn’t been described as desperate yet, Mayor Stephanie Miner has asked for some legal expertise on municipal bankruptcy. The signs of the city’s financial problems have been evident for several years as city employees accept wage freezes and fire and police departments see staff reductions. The city will use an early payment from Albany to help keep the budget from dipping into dwindling reserves.
Please consider Hermosa Beach Meter Maids Make Nearly $100K When contemplating the many reasons cities in California and elsewhere are venturing closer to bankruptcy, look no further than the relatively lucrative and often-unjustifiable salaries bestowed on municipal employees – and the lofty pension benefits attached to the high pay. One of the latest examples comes from the California coastal city of Hermosa Beach, where some community service staffers who collect money from parking meters and manage their operations – positions once widely known as “meter maidsâ€â€“ are making nearly $100,000 a year in total compensation, according to city documents. There are 10 parking enforcement employees for the 1.3-square-mile beach city southwest of downtown Los Angeles, and they pull down some disproportionate compensation, considering their job functions.
Financial Times Alphaville picked up on the story in Chinese Banks’ Weapons of Mass Ponzi We wrote last week that China’s shadow banking system was reflecting and, to an extent, contributing to a growing liquidity risk which in turn is being exacerbated by net capital outflows. Since then, there have been some interesting revelations on the domestic liquidity management, especially in shadow banking, and especially especially in wealth management products
View article: Dimwit Energy Policies, Record Corn Prices, and UN Pleas for US to Change Ethanol Policy; Obama Consistently Wrong,…
No entity is willing to stand up and say the obvious, that Greece is insolvent and cannot and will not pay back its debts. Moreover, in spite of an ECB mandate that prohibits direct financing of governments, the ECB is doing just that. Simply put, the ECB is printing euros, to give to the Greece, so that Greece can make interest payments to the ECB on maturing bonds