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Many states, especially California and Illinois, have had severe pension underfunding problems for many years. However, new actuarial pension rules will finally force states to admit the problem. Thus, it should not be surprising that talk of "technical bankruptcy" and “service insolvency” is growing. Here are some pertinent ideas from California on the Brink: Pension Crisis About to Get Worse   Moody’s new credit standards for public pensions would nearly double the unfunded liabilities for state and local pension plans in California to $328.6 billion from $128.3 billion. California has the second lowest credit rating at Standard & Poor’s of all 50 states;...

The Social Security program faces $9.6 trillion in unfunded liabilities over the next 75 years, which is up $1 trillion from last year’s projection of $8.6 trillion, according to the latest report from Social Security’s board of trustees. The unfunded liability is the amount that has been promised in benefits to people now alive that will not be funded by the tax revenue the system is expected to take in to pay for those benefits. (The Social Security trustees calculate the unfunded liability for a period of 75 years into the future, from 2012 to 2087). …

Setting up insurance exchanges — the centerpiece of President Obama's healthcare reform law — is costing the Health and Human Services Department a whole lot more than it originally expected. According to budget documents released Wednesday, the department expects to spend $4.4 billion on exchange grants to the states by the end of this year — double its estimates a year ago. The HHS is also asking Congress for another $1.5 billion to set up a federal exchange in 26 states. The department has cobbled together money from other programs to get started, but officials said they need another $800...

Go For Broke Day When : Always Apil 5th Are you a gambler? Then, today, is your day. It's Go For Broke Day. Today is a day to put it all on the line, and take a chance. It might be money. Or, it can be a love relationship. Perhaps, it's time to initiate a risky project, or to take a new job.Many of us go about our daily lives playing it safe, not taking big chances. If you are of a conservative ilk, you may have never gone out on a limb, or taken big risks. If this...

Were California's state government a business, it would be a candidate for insolvency with a negative net worth of $127.2 billion, according to an annual financial report issued by State Auditor Elaine Howle and the Bureau of State Audits. The report, which covers the fiscal year ending June 30, 2012, says that the state's negative status -- all of its assets minus all of its liabilities -- increased that year, largely because it spent more than it received in revenue. During the 2011-12 fiscal year, the state's general fund spent $1.7 billion more than it received in revenues and wound...

Homeland prepares budget cuts, up to 1,000 furloughs at Secret Service • As many as 1,000 Secret Service agents, officers and workers could be furloughed as Homeland Security prepares for sequestration Bracing for the possibility of budget sequestration next month, the Homeland Security Department is making plans to furlough as many as 1,000 Secret Service agents, officers and others employees, officials say. Homeland Security issued its first agency-wide memorandum late last week preparing for sequestration, the sweeping automatic budget cuts set to take effect as early as March 1 under a prior deal between the White House and Congress to...

• Tendai Biti made the announcement at press conference declaring: 'Last week when we paid civil servants there was $217 in government coffers' • However he today contradicted his claims by saying the following day $30m was paid into government accounts • Result is culmination of years of ruinous economic policy by Zimbabwe's despotic President Robert Mugabe Zimbabwe's finance minister has taken a hard look at the cash strapped country's bank accounts - and discovered it only has £138 and 34 pence left. Tendai Biti made the announcement at press conference yesterday declaring: 'Last week when we paid civil servants...

An Argentine navy ship was given a triumphant homecoming on Wednesday three months after it was seized in Ghana on behalf of a hedge fund suing over defaulted government bonds. The ARA Libertad, a tall sailing ship used as a training vessel, was detained in the West African nation on October 2 due to a court order obtained by NML Capital Ltd as it fights to get full repayment for the bonds in the courts. Argentina's government, which calls funds like NML "vultures," asked a U.N. maritime court to intervene and the Hamburg-based tribunal ordered the ship's release last month....

Democratic Illinois Rep. Danny K. Davis told The Daily Caller that President Obama should have the power to raise the nation’s debt ceiling without congressional approval, citing the example of President Abraham Lincoln issuing the Emancipation Proclamation as a good use of presidential authority. “Sometimes when we’ve gotten great answers is when presidents have had enough authority to take some actions,” Davis told TheDC on Capitol Hill Friday. “I mean, remember that we just celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, and if Abraham Lincoln had not had the power, authority and the will to make that decision, we...

US taxpayers spent a staggering $1.4 Billion (yes, with a B) on the Obamas according to author Robert Keith Gray in his new book PRESIDENTIAL PERKS GONE ROYAL! (1) Compare that to only $57.8 million the Brits shelled out for their royals and you have to ask what is going on with President Obama. Now word comes that he and first lady Michelle, their two daughters and Dog Bo will be spending an extended holiday vacation in Hawaii that will cost we taxpayers...

Anyone who believes that the president’s proposed tax hikes on “the rich� will save our country from insolvency is grossly mistaken, and should begin to educate themselves by examining the graph below. Whoa: This isn’t the least bit surprising, of course. We’ve seen this coming for a very long time. Barring major cuts to entitlement spending the country will go bankrupt. It’s not a possibility -- it’s an absolute certainty. Which is why I find all the “negotiations� surrounding raising taxes on “the rich� so reprehensible. The revenue generated from such a proposal -- as the graph above demonstrates --...

When George W. Bush was sworn in as president, it cost US taxpayers $115.5 million. In January of 2009, it cost us $125 million for Barack Obama’s swearing in. All indications are pointing to a cost of over $100 million for Obama’s second swearing in. Seeing this kind of waste of taxpayer dollars makes we want to swear in here and there. The money will be spent on the preparations and decorations along with the gala ball that follows and the multiple DC parties. In the meantime, our country is facing a financial crisis and millions of Americans are losing...

The Poway Unified School District in California is facing a whopping $1 billion repayment on a loan of just $105 million. It borrowed the money using bonds that the state treasurer has compared to payday loans -- and more than 200 other California districts are in the same boat. More than 200 school districts across California are taking a second look at the high price of the debt they've taken on using risky financial arrangements. Collectively, the districts have borrowed billions in loans that defer payments for years — leaving many districts owing far more than they borrowed. In 2010,...

Many Americans didn't bother to vote in the past presidential election, some out of apathy or a belief that the election would hardly affect them. They are in for a rude awakening now that Obama has won re-election. His Santa Claus false promises are unsustainable, so there are going to be few winners and a lot of losers as he redistributes wealth. Obama ran on a platform of making the rich “pay their fair share of taxes,” but raising taxes on the wealthy will only fund the federal government for eight days a year. In order to even partially keep...

A decade and a half ago, both of us served on President Clinton's Bipartisan Commission on Entitlement and Tax Reform, the forerunner to President Obama's recent National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. In 1994 we predicted that, unless something was done to control runaway entitlement spending, Medicare and Social Security would eventually go bankrupt or confront severe benefit cuts. Eighteen years later, nothing has been done. Why? The usual reason is that entitlement reform is the third rail of American politics. That explanation presupposes voter demand for entitlements at any cost, even if it means bankrupting the nation. A...

We, the people of the US, are heading for a disaster of epic proportions. And when it hits, due to the US influence abroad, the world will feel the hurt at the same magnitude. Why? Fiat currency, that’s why. Combined with rapidly increasing national debt, and interest rates kept artificially low, with massive infusions of "cash" into the market place, the foundation holding up the confidence in the US dollar is starting to crumble. Given more credit ratings downgrades by the various international credit foundations and agencies, the point of irreversible damage is quickly approaching. When that happens, hyper-inflation will...

The GOP's Presidential election defeat is opening up a debate in the party, with more than a few voices saying they are willing to rethink their views on immigration. This is good news, which means it's also a good moment to address some of the frequent claims from the anti-immigration right that simply aren't true, especially about Hispanics. One myth is that Latino voters simply aren't worth pursuing because they're automatic Democrats. Yet Ronald Reagan was so eager to welcome Latinos to the GOP that he described them as "Republicans who don't know it yet." Recall that between 1996 and...

The U.S. Treasury quietly warned at the end of a statement issued last Wednesday that it expects the federal government to hit its legal debt limit before the end of this year--which means before the new Congress is seated--and that "extraordinary measures" will be needed before then to keep the government fully funded into the early part of 2013. On Aug. 2, 2011, President Obama signed a deal he had negotiated with congressional leaders to increase the debt limit of the federal government by $2.4 trillion. But, now, after only 15 months, almost all of that additional borrowing authority has...

On Aug. 2, 2011, President Obama signed a deal he had negotiated with congressional leaders to increase the debt limit of the federal government by $2.4 trillion. But, now, after only 15 months, almost all of that additional borrowing authority has been exhausted. Although Treasury revealed in its statement on Wednesday that it was likely to hit the debt limit by the end of the year, Treasury Secretary Geithner failed to respond to a letter that Senate Finance Ranking Member Orrin Hatch and Senate Budget Ranking Member Jeff Sessions sent to him on Oct. 15 demanding that he notify them...

The Obama administration is committing federal resources to Hurricane Sandy clean-up at a rate that is either impressive or alarming, depending on which disaster matters more -- the storm, or the budget deficit. For the time being, the Federal Emergency Management Agency is in better shape than in past storms. Administrator Craig Fugate said this week the agency has $3.6 billion to pay for the federal response. But Fugate said Thursday he's not giving any predictions for what the total bill will be, and the heavy demand could certainly require Congress to consider additional funding during the lame-duck session. With...

President Obama has spent far more lavishly on White House state dinners than previous chief executives, including nearly $1 million on a 2010 dinner for Mexico's president, according to documents obtained by The Washington Examiner. Presidents have long used formal dinners to court foreign heads of state and to dish out fine food and wine to reward political, financial and show business celebrities and supporters. But current and former government officials said the documents obtained by The Examiner point to an unprecedented upsurge in White House spending on such events. The Obama extravaganza two years ago for Mexican President Felipe...

The opening line of the Beatles’ iconic “Sergeant Pepper’s” album is echoing in my thought: “It was 20 years ago today…” Well, not quite to the day, but 20 years ago I published an article titled, “$4 Trillion and Counting.” In it, I despaired at the rapid increase in the national debt from its first-ever crossing of the $1 trillion mark during the Reagan presidency to four times that gargantuan amount in only a decade. Today, a mere two decades later, we have quadrupled the national debt again, to $16 trillion. (That figure represents the official national debt, but if...

For a country still gasping to recover from the Great Recession, disability payments from Social Security have evolved into a lifeline and an economic trap for millions of unemployed Americans threatening the program with insolvency in just four short years. Created decades ago to help those unable to work because of severe health problems, the $128 billion program stops many from sliding into total poverty and inflicting further damage on the economy. More Americans qualified for disability than found jobs over the past three months, and since 2000, the number of beneficiaries rose by 73 percent, even though the workforce...

It was close. A lot of us didn't think he could do it. But we should have realized by now that when it comes to spending money we don't have, Barrack H. Obama is the champion. CNS News: According to the U.S. Treasury, the debt of the U.S. government climbed by a total of $1,275,901,078,828.74 in fiscal 2012, which ended yesterday. That means the federal government borrowed approximately an additional $10,855 for each household in the United States just over the past twelve months. The total debt of the United States now equals approximately $136,690 per household. In fiscal 2011,...

What takes 200 hotel rooms, four jets, five helicopters and 35 motorcade vehicles? A typical presidential trip, according to The Travel Channel, which goes behind the scenes in its special "Travel Like a President," set to air Tuesday. Andy Singer, the network's general manager, says the show is "designed to give viewers an all-access, unprecedented look at the enormous level of detail and thought that comes with the territory when you are the leader of the free world.” It looks at famed presidential accommodations, such as the Waldorf in New York, and follows President Obama during a vacation to Hawaii.

The latest California community to face bankruptcy is Atwater, just down the Golden State Highway from Modesto and next to Merced. Atwater, like its neighbors Modesto and Merced, are still reeling from the crash of the housing market where prices have fallen about 70% from their peak. And unemployment rates are roughly twice the national average. Since I don’t have the house price indices for Modesto, Merced and Atwater, I will use the Case-Shiller Las Vegas house price index as a proxy. Like many communities during the housing bubble, expenditures were made based on increased property tax revenue. When the...

Taxpayers spent $1.4 billion dollars on everything from staffing, housing, flying and entertaining President Obama and his family last year, according to the author of a new book on taxpayer-funded presidential perks. In comparison, British taxpayers spent just $57.8 million on the royal family. Author Robert Keith Gray writes in “Presidential Perks Gone Royal” that Obama isn’t the only president to have taken advantage of the expensive trappings of his office. But the amount of money spent on the first family, he argues, has risen tremendously under the Obama administration and needs to be reined in. Gray told The Daily...

OMAHA, Neb.—State Sen. Brenda Council has apologized for misusing more than $60,000 in campaign donations at casinos and filing false reports to conceal it. Attorney General Jon Bruning says Council agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor charges of filing false campaign reports that omit the casino withdrawals and cash deposits. In a statement, Council says she "made an error in judgment," and that she takes "full responsibility." She says she's receiving professional treatment for a gambling addiction and will not "give up or quit fighting for the issues."

Vice President Biden rolled into Milford, Ohio, Sunday,September 9, to speak at public Milford High School to a crowd of about 200 Democrats in the school cafeteria. The TEA PARTY was there to meet him, and his followers.

Should the Golden State now set up a new retirement system for private workers? Despite its, you know, perhaps-less-than-stellar stewardship of said public pension plans? There are many sober arguments made by opponents — including the Fullerton, Garden Grove and Orange chambers of commerce — along the lines of ”California already faces hundreds of billions of dollars in unfunded pension liability for its public sector workers, and now is not the time to create and assume liability for a new plan for private sector employees,”

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney on Monday said Chicago teachers are turning their backs on thousands of students and that President Barack Obama is rooting for the striking educators. Obama's top spokesman said the president has not taken sides but is urging both the teachers and the city to settle quickly. Chicago's mayor, Obama ally Rahm Emanuel, called Romney's statement "lip service"... .....Romney released a statement that promised to "side with the parents and students depending on public schools to give them the skills to succeed." He said he was "disappointed" with Chicago teachers, who walked off the job in...

* GM losing as much as $49,000 per Volt sold * Cheap leases likely only exacerbate the losses * GM still years away from break even on the car * New plug-in competitors soon from Ford, Honda Sept 10 (Reuters) - General Motors Co sold a record number of Chevrolet Volt sedans in August - but that probably isn't a good thing for the automaker's bottom line. Nearly two years after the introduction of the path-breaking plug-in hybrid, GM is still losing as much as $49,000 on each Volt it builds, according to estimates provided to Reuters by industry analysts...

Taxpayers in Europe (and the United States) who have been terrorized since 2008 by government officials warning about economic armageddon, catastrophe, and pestilence should look to tiny Iceland for a taste of how little there is to fear when the experts can't save the people. Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, recently branded Iceland’s economic performance "impressive." In the last few years the small island in the north Atlantic has managed to shrink its deficit, reduce unemployment, and allow its economy to grow. [...]

"This weld is our own version of the golden spike for the transcontinental railroad as it connects the Twin Cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis," Fuhrmann said. "By connecting Central Corridor Green Line with the Hiawatha Blue Line, we will expand environmentally friendly, affordable transit options for residents of St. Paul, Minneapolis and the region."

The solar energy systems manufacturer has missed the first two payments of a $1.5 million state loan to build a factory on the Iron Range last year, but state and company officials say they're optimistic the business can still thrive if a state rebate program are extended. Silicon Energy failed to make $80,000 in schedule quarterly payments earlier this year, and it has reduced its workforce at its Mountain Iron, Minn., assembly plant from 15 employees to 11, Tony Sertich, commissioner of the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board, said Wednesday, Sept. 5. Silicon Energy, based in Washington State, has...

Link only - Los Angeles City Officials Were Warned of "Lost" Millions Years Ago And Did Nothing

In recent years a wave of new reform Governors has washed over the Midwest, but it did skip a few states. Among them is Illinois, which now has the worst credit rating of any state besides California. Voters may want to pay attention. On Tuesday, Standard & ...

U.S. On The Highway To Hell Politics / US Politics Aug 28, 2012 - 02:19 AM By: Chris Kitze (Monty Perlerin / EconomicNoise.com)The Role of The Government in The Economic Crisis At this point, everything the government is doing – and not just the US government but governments everywhere − is not only the wrong thing but exactly the opposite of the right thing. They’re passing more laws, raising taxes, creating more currency and incurring more debt. They should be doing the opposite. We’re currently still in the eye of the storm. Their actions guarantee that when we go back...

Spending: Remember when President Obama promised he'd cut the deficit in half in his first term? Well, the results are in, and red ink will once again top $1 trillion. Calling this an epic failure isn't enough. In his first budget message to the country, Obama promised to make the "tough choices necessary to restore fiscal discipline, cut the deficit in half by the end of my first term in office, and put our nation on sound fiscal footing." His plan projected a deficit of $557 billion this year, and $512 billion next year. On Wednesday, the Congressional Budget Office...

WASHINGTON – Congress’ nonpartisan budget analysts are projecting a $1.1 trillion federal deficit for 2012, the fourth straight year the government’s shortfall will exceed $1 trillion. The Congressional Budget Office also says it expects the economy to continue recovering at only a modest rate the rest of this year, growing at a modest annual rate of 2.25 percent.

WASHINGTON—Now that Social Security is paying more in benefits than it collects in taxes, there is a fierce debate among politicians, academics and advocates about whether those shortfalls are adding to the federal budget deficit. The issue is important because the federal government's annual deficit already exceeds $1 trillion, making any more borrowing tough to swallow. If Social Security is adding to the government's financial problems, it becomes even more urgent to fix it. "Over 77 years and now through 13 recessions, Social Security has not added one penny to our deficit or our debt," Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-Calif., said...

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. Of course the unions are howling. In these cases, the county typically hires most or all of the officers at lower wage and benefit levels, but the article only notes a very vague "some current Camden...

Obama's Trojan Horse is stuck. Only 13 states have said they're going to build the Obamacare insurance "Exchange" --the federal takeover center. So the federal government despite, according to The Times, not wanting to "feed fears of a federal takeover" is....taking over. As The New YorkTimes reports, "Obama administration officials are getting ready to set up and operate new health insurance markets in about half the states, where local officials appear unwilling or unable to do so. The markets, known as exchanges, are a centerpiece of President Obama's health care law, and running them will be a herculean task that...

WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama has signed a law requiring him to report to Congress on where his administration would make some $110 billion in cuts to defense and domestic programs required by a deficit-cutting plan. The law, signed Tuesday, requires Obama to report on the proposed cuts by Sept. 6, the last day of the Democratic National Convention. Obama and congressional Republicans have been sparring over who is to blame for automatic, across-the-board spending reductions set to occur Jan. 2 unless Congress figures out a way to avoid them. The cuts were set in motion by the failure of the bipartisan...

WASHINGTON -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke says students need to be careful when investing in their education. Bernanke says taking on debt to pay for college can be an important way of increasing one's earning potential. But higher education can also become a financial burden if it doesn't lead to a good job, he warns.

There has been plenty to criticize about President Obama’s handling of the economy. Yet the overriding story of the past few years is not Mr. Obama’s mistakes but the scorched-earth opposition of Republicans, who have done everything they can to get in his way — and who now, having blocked the president’s policies, hope to win the White House by claiming that his policies have failed. Many economists believe that the overhang of excess household debt, a legacy of the bubble years, is the biggest factor holding back economic recovery. Loosely speaking, excess debt has created a situation in which...

......The Romney campaign paid its bill last week, about a month after the city sent its invoice. The Obama bill, on the other hand, was sent in May and has not been paid. City spokeswoman Tara Finnigan said the city's billing system would be sending past-due notices. About three weeks ago, the Democratic National Committee contacted the city and told officials to deal with the Secret Service. The DNC and the Republican National Committee split their Newport Beach event proceeds with the respective campaigns. ...... Councilwoman Leslie Daigle, a Republican, said, "It's the city's intention to apply its usual policies...

The city of Newport Beach, California says it may seek out the assistance of a collection agency to retrieve $35,000 the Obama campaign owes the city for providing police protection during a February, 2012 fund-raising event. The bill was sent in May and was due in June. The city recently emailed the campaign a reminder. The DNC told the city about three weeks ago to deal with the Secret Service. However, [Secret Service] agency spokesman Max Milien [said] that it won't pay. Councilwoman Leslie Daigle says the city intends to apply its usual policies and send the bill to collections....

San Bernardino, California – On the front door of the San Bernardino city hall is a sign that reads: “Out of Order.” Broke city, broken door: There’s a certain pleasing symmetry in the fact that the San Bernardino city council meets behind a door that, like the city government itself, does not work and is in need of replacement. On this particular evening in late July, the council has met to make public what everybody already knows: Intellectually bankrupt, morally bankrupt — the city is under criminal investigation for sundry financial shenanigans — San Bernardino is above all old-fashioned bankrupt...

Small U.S. futures broker PFGBest said its accounts had been effectively frozen on Monday after a suicide attempt by the firm's founder set off an investigation into possible "accounting irregulaties." In a dramatic turn that seems likely to trigger a new round of anxiety over the stability of the brokerage industry less than a year after the collapse of much larger MF Global, the Cedar Falls, Iowa-based firm told customers that they would be limited to liquidating positions until further notice. The disclosure came hours after founder and owner Russell R. Wasendorf, Sr., was found in his car near the...