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public pension crisis” is the kind of subject that’s easy to over-analyze, in part because there are so many different examples of bad behavior out there and in part because the aggregate damage these entities will do when they start blowing up is immense. But most people see pensions as essentially an accounting issue – and therefore boring – so it doesn’t pay to go back to this particular well too often. Still, New York City’s missing $100 billion can’t be ignored: New York City Owes Over $100 Billion for Retiree Health Care (Bloomberg) – New York City faces future...

I keep up with the events and politics. I am reading the book Kids These Days - Human Capital and the Making of Millennials by Malcolm Harris and it gave me a very different perspective on student Debt. Chapter Two called Go to College, discusses student debt, its design not to be discharged via bankruptcy, and the use of future earnings of millennials to fund current healthcare debt IE Obamacare and education capitol construction projects for the foreseeable future. This puts a different spin on what happened to these kids who have been encouraged to voluntarily take on debt that...

According to a recent estimate, the combined pension hole of all U.S. states and cities is now equal to the world’s fourth-largest economy, Germany. Also, Medicare has no money in eight years. By Lewis M. Andrews The problem of a government overcommitted to entitlement spending is one of the most predictable crises in American history. Neither of the two largest federal entitlement programs are on sound footing, according to their own trustees. The most recent report on Social Security predicts insolvency in just 16 years. For Medicare, researchers are predicting just eight more years of runway––three years earlier than previously...

Tens of thousands workers laid off when Toys R Us went bust last year have a politically powerful new ally in their fight to win severance from the bankrupt retailer: Sen. Elizabeth Warren. The Massachusetts Democrat, who is rumored to be weighing a run for the White House in 2020, is pressing the financial firms behind the decision to liquidate Toys R Us to contribute to a fund for affected employees. "The liquidation of Toys R Us -- reportedly at the urging of your firm -- caused more than 30,000 American workers to lose their jobs without the severance they...

The long-predicted Sears bankruptcy is finally here. On Monday, Sears Holdings announced it is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in an attempt to restructure the company and save the troubled retailer from oblivion. Shoppers can expect more Sears store closures, as well as liquidation sales, in brick-and-mortar locations around the country: Sears, which owns its flagship brand and Kmart, says it will be closing an additional 142 stores by the end of the year. Which Sears Stores Are Closing?

Sears, RIP: Bowing to the inevitable, Sears' owners on Monday filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Yes, it's a sad day for the 126-year-old company. But it's not a tragic story, for it underscores the underlying vibrancy, innovation and creativity of American capitalism. Monday's filing came as Sears faced a deadline for payment of $134 million on its debt. It didn't have the money, so it filed for protection from its creditors. Eddie Lampert — the largest shareholder in the company, with nearly half its shares — stepped down as CEO. By the end of this year, Sears will be a...

Sears was once the nation's largest retailer and its largest employer. In its heyday, it was both the Walmart and Amazon of its time. Formed in 1886 by railroad station agent Richard Sears, the company started as a watch business in North Redwood, Minnesota. Sears moved to Chicago in 1887, and he hired watchmaker Alvah Roebuck as his partner. The first Sears Roebuck catalog, which sold watches and jewelry, was printed in 1896. The Sears catalog was the way many Americans first started to buy mass-produced goods. That was an enormous shift for people who lived on farms and in...

Sears Holdings filed for bankruptcy protection early Monday after years of staying afloat through financial maneuvering and relying on billions of CEO Eddie Lampert's own money. The company also announced that Lampert will be stepping down as CEO, effective immediately, although he remains its chairman. The 125-year-old retailer, once the nation's largest, said Monday it was appointing Mohsin Meghji, managing partner of M-III Partners, as its chief restructuring officer. As part of the bankruptcy, Sears will shutter 142 stores toward the end of the year. It expects to begin liquidation sales shortly. The bankruptcy filing comes more than a decade...

Sears Holdings Corp. SHLD -5.99% has hired M-III Partners LLC to prepare a bankruptcy filing that could come as soon as this week, according to people familiar with the situation, as the cash-strapped company that once dominated American retailing faces a debt payment deadline.

For a rapidly growing share of older Americans, traditional ideas about life in retirement are being upended by a dismal reality: bankruptcy. The signs of potential trouble — vanishing pensions, soaring medical expenses, inadequate savings — have been building for years. Now, new research sheds light on the scope of the problem: The rate of people 65 and older filing for bankruptcy is three times what it was in 1991, the study found, and the same group accounts for a far greater share of all filers. Driving the surge, the study suggests, is a three-decade shift of financial risk from...

Collapse: One of “Democratic” presidential contender Bernie Sanders’ biggest campaign promises in 2016 was “Medicare for all” — the unofficial name of his universal healthcare plan. Like all avowed socialists, big ideas are based not on any realistic ability to pay for them, but rather on the notion that in order to get the big ideas passed, you’ve got to bribe voters with other peoples’ money so they’ll support you. Well, Bernie got jobbed out of the Democratic Party nomination by a corrupt DNC and an equally corrupt rival, Hillary Clinton, and the rest is history. Too bad the Medicare-for-all...

Other People’s Money: The Left-wing establishment press has found a new Democratic darling — avowed socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, whose running for Congress in New York City — but to be honest, the party has been trending that way for years. The evidence can be found in the way blue states have been run — into the ground, financially speaking. Several of them are facing massive debt thanks to mostly over-promised pensions approved by Democrats that have drained state bank accounts and are set to saddle taxpayers living in them with hundreds of billions of dollars in new taxes.

Now 64 and enjoying a second career as host of “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee,” Jerry Seinfeld breathes such rarefied air that guests on his show — who have included Dave Chappelle, Tina Fey and then-President Barack Obama — invariably state some version of this sentiment: “Jerry, why are you here, talking to the likes of me, when you could just be home sitting on your pile of money?” And Seinfeld shrugs and laughs as if to say, “Yes, that is true.” So it’s sobering to read the deep and detailed civil complaint filed by producer-director-writer Christian Charles, who has...

Jerry Storch, a former CEO of bankrupt Toys R Us, is reportedly considering reviving the toy retailer and has been working with investors and bankers to stitch his plan together. Bloomberg reported Monday afternoon that Storch has been working with Credit Suisse Group as a financial advisor, based on the news outlet's conversations with people familiar with the situation. Talks have also included Fairfax Financial Holdings, the investment firm that acquired the Canadian unit of Toys R Us, those sources told Bloomberg. Storch declined CNBC's request for comment. Toys R Us, Credit Suisse and Fairfax didn't immediately respond to CNBC's...

Summary The 2018 "official" U.S. debt figure of $34 trillion is 120% of GDP and projected to double as a percent of GDP within the next 20 years. It's big.If we add "off-the-books" net obligations like Social Security and Medicare, our all-in debt, or so-called "fiscal gap", rises to $110 trillion, or 390% of GDP. It's scary.Raising taxes and reducing benefits won't restore solvency. Something is going to break, and it won't be pretty. We're broke and no one seems to care. We're all aware that this country owes a lot of money, but no one cares because we're leading...

Maryland's stepped-up efforts to collect unpaid tolls are raking in millions of dollars for the state - outpacing the growth in toll revenue itself. State lawmakers and consumer protection groups say the crackdown - which includes referring thousands of delinquent accounts to collections - is punitive and predatory and is pushing Marylanders into debt - and in some cases bankruptcy. Transportation officials say they are only enforcing tolls motorists should be paying anyway - a major shift from years past when the state allowed scofflaws to run up hefty amounts in unpaid tolls and fines without consequences. "Certainly, we want...

Some names on the list of The Weinstein Company creditors are not unexpected, given the film company’s business dealings over the years: Quentin Tarantino, Kevin Smith, Dame Judi Dench. But some of the thousands of names on the 394-page list of people owed money by the bankrupt company jump off the page, among them David Bowie, Michael Bay, Malia Obama, Boris Becker, Ryan Coogler, Daniel Radcliffe, Robert De Niro and Darlene Love. Other creditors are less boldfaced but still eye-catching, including the film and television academies, the New York Fire Department and the Los Angeles Police Department. Another mentioned is...

(Reuters) - U.S. weapons manufacturer Remington Outdoor Co Inc FREDM.UL said on Thursday it had emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy with less debt and more stable financing that may help it ride out a slowing market for firearms. **SNIP** Under the reorganization plan, inked two days before the Feb. 14 Parkland shooting, creditors including JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) and Franklin Advisors will take ownership stakes in the company in exchange for forgiving more than $775 million of debt. Remington also received a $193 million new lending package funded by seven banks, including Bank of America Corp (BAC.N).

Arizona has increased the bankruptcy exemption for firearms to two thousand dollars. Previously, only one gun was allowed as part of a basket of items that were limited to a total of one thousand dollars. From  12news.com: But people filing for bankruptcy also have a choice to make. Under current Arizona law, they can keep only one shotgun, one rifle or one pistol. The Republican-controlled Legislature wants to change that. The Senate is one step away from passing a bill allowing bankruptcy filers to keep up to $2,000 worth of weapons - any kind of weapon. The exemption expands...

Storied guitar maker Gibson Brands Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection Tuesday as the company has struggled with its debt load after a series of acquisitions. The company, which filed for chapter 11 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware, said it will continue to operate during the proceedings as it focuses on reorganizing around its core businesses. Gibson plans to wind down its Gibson’s Innovations business, which is largely outside of the U.S. The Nashville-based maker of Gibson Les Paul guitars has been struggling with debt it took on to finance acquisitions of home-entertainment and audio-equipment makers years ago. Among businesses...