Hard hitting global and local news
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.
Originally posted here: Germany 6% Current Account Surplus a "Threat to the Continent" Says EU Commission; Solution is Gold Coupled…
Gary Shilling: US in Recession Now or Within 3 Months, Deleveraging Will Take 5-7 More Years In a Daily Ticker Interview with Henry Blodget, economist Gary Shilling makes the case the US is already in recession. "We’ve had three consecutive months of declines in retail sales," says Shilling, president of A. Shilling & Co., an economic research and forecasting firm
Just 14% expect today’s children to be better off than their parents Just 31% believe the U.S. economy will be stronger in one year Just 27% think the country is heading in the right direction. Just 24% of American Adults believe the job market is better than a year ago 44% think the job market is worse, up 15 points from June Demographics Suggest Majority is Right I happen to agree with the majority who think those now graduating from high school will not be better off than their parents. There are too few jobs, too much student debt, and too few workers supporting too many retirees on Social Security
Der Spiegel has published an inane article about Europe’s 10 Most Dangerous Politicians . Top 10 List Markus Söder , Bavarian Finance Minister: The politician from the Christian Social Union, the conservative sister party to Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union, is known for his tub-thumping rhetoric and has stepped up a gear in the euro crisis with vitriolic comments about Greece
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
Read More: Heartaches by the Number: Just 14% Think Today’s Children Will Be Better Off Than Their Parents; Just 24%…
In an effort to rein in costs, the city of Camden NJ will fire its entire 270 member police force and instead will use Camden County officers. Mayor Dana Redd and Police Chief Scott Thomson noted that for the same price, Camden can have 400 county officers on staff. That is nearly a 50% increase in the number of officers for the same price
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