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The Federal Reserve and US Treasury were on Sunday night under increasing pressure to follow passage of the $700bn financial rescue plan with further measures to shock the ailing credit markets back to life. Among the options available to policymakers are additional liquidity operations and an emergency rate cut – possibly in co-ordination with other central banks. A combination of the two is also possible. The Fed is likely to further expand both the size and scope of its liquidity operations. Experts believe it could address a shortage of US Treasuries that has emerged as investors have looked increasingly to...

With little or no public input, California lawmakers are expected to vote late today on a closed-door weekend budget deal that depends largely on borrowing billions from taxpayers. A key element of the deal would increase by 10 percent the amount of income taxes withheld from working Californians, and from taxpayers who earn income from investments. The maneuver would generate about $3.8 billion to ease the budget crunch, but the plan calls for providing future refunds to affected taxpayers.

California Proposes Sales Tax Hike To Fund Transport, Government Services July 18, 2008 11:32 a.m. ESTVittorio Hernandez - AHN News WriterSacramento, CA (AHN) - To close California's $17.2 billion budget deficit, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger considered on Thursday hiking the state sales tax and using funds intended for transportation and government services.State legislators proposed the two measures, which the governor initially described as bad ideas, but he did not rule out adopting the measures to avoid a cash crisis in California.The lawmakers plan to close the budget gap by collecting $5.6 billion income tax increase on the rich and borrowing $1.1...

CBS) SHERMAN OAKS Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger urged Tuesday voters to support a $37.3 billion plan on the November ballot to improve California's roads, schools and levees. The governor appeared at the Sherman Oaks Galleria to build support for Propositions 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, and 1E, which together represent a multibillion-dollar plan to overhaul the state's infrastructure. "California has always been an economic, environmental and technological leader, and this November we have the historic opportunity to make sure we continue this trend by building the roads, schools, levees and housing of the future," Schwarzenegger said. Proposition 1A would protect Proposition 42...

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SACRAMENTO — Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides warned Monday that Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is ruining California's quality of life, while the governor blamed road problems and other woes on lawmakers and urged voters to pass his spending-limit measure. The clashing rhetoric came from sites hundreds of miles apart but reflected why voters are confused and unhappy about Schwarzenegger's Nov. 8 special election. The day also served as a preview of the 2006 contest for governor. In Sacramento, Angelides issued his annual debt report as state treasurer, saying Schwarzenegger has driven California nearly $8 billion deeper in deficit-bond debt —...

Local governments in California are borrowing money this year at a rate unmatched in the past decade to pay for growing deficits in their pension funds, according to an Associated Press analysis. So far in 2004, local governments with pensions outside the giant California Public Employees Retirement System have issued nearly $1.7 billion in bonds just to pay for existing pension shortfalls. With three months left in 2004, that's 50 percent higher than any year in the last decade, according to data from the California Debt and Investment Advisory Commission. The stock market's poor performance, shrinking tax revenues and the...