Thread: Cal. Munis Rated Worse than Kazakhstan; 33 States Exhaust Un

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Cal. Munis Rated Worse than Kazakhstan; Students Forced to Buy Healthcare; Rents Drop 1.5%, Record Vacancies; 33 States Exhaust Unemployment Reserves

Weekend Wrapup: Here are a few stories from the past week that are worth a quick review ....

LA mayor backs down

Google News is reporting LA mayor backs down, says shutdown a last resort http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/art ... gD9EUH8N00

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa backed down from his hardline stance over the budget crisis Wednesday, admitting he cannot shut down city services without the City Council's approval and requesting $20 million from the power utility to keep the city solvent.

The City Council's chief legislative analyst, Gerry Miller, told councilors Wednesday that the mayor cannot shut down city services without council approval. "The mayor does not have the unilateral authority to do that," Miller said.

The city also would be violating labor contracts, which stipulate no furloughs, said Bob Schoonover, president of the Service Employees International Union Local 721, which represents about 10,000 city employees.

Controller Wendy Greuel announced an audit of the utility to verify its claim that it was financially unable to give the city $73 million. "I want to take the politics out of this process and provide an independent review of the DWP's finances," she said. Meanwhile, the council passed a series of motions to wrest control of the DWP away from the mayor.

For background details please see L.A. to Shut Down City Departments in Budget Crisis; IBEW Local 18 Head: "How Taxpayers Feel Is Not Relevant"
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot. ... ts-in.html

Sheriff's friends benefit from foreclosures

The Akron Beacon Journal reports Sheriff's friends benefit from foreclosures http://www.ohio.com/news/89878102.html

Fifteen men, mostly retired police officers with little or no appraising experience, combined to earn more than $1.2 million working part time setting property values for the sheriff's office last year.

The group includes former Akron police Capt. John T. Cunningham, Alexander's campaign treasurer, whose appraisal work paid him $131,361 last year.

Since 2004, Cunningham has earned more than $570,000. Eight appraisers working part-time hours earned more than $109,000 in 2009, topping Alexander's annual salary.

In kind, the appraisers were equally generous, contributing more than 16 percent of Alexander's campaign funds since 2008, the sheriff's finance reports show.

Alexander's top-paid appraisers last year include:

Tom Robinson, a former Green councilman and Alexander campaigner, who earned the most in 2009: $137,985.
James Yocum, a retired Akron police captain, paid $128,245.
David Waddell, son of the former head of the Summit County Republican Party, $127,619.
James Buie, a retired Akron police lieutenant, $122,377.
Al Wilkinson, a retired Akron officer and Fraternal Order of Police president, $120,541.
Troutman, the former sheriff who died last year, $115,242.
William Wilcox, retired Akron officer, $109,630.

More Sacramento County programs on chopping block

The Sacramento Bee is reporting More Sacramento County programs on chopping block http://www.sacbee.com/2010/04/09/266603 ... grams.html

The county is mulling laying off nearly 630 workers and cutting 170 vacant positions to help close the projected $118 million general fund shortfall in fiscal year 2010-11, according to preliminary figures obtained by The Bee. The general fund is $2 billion.

The possible cuts include 208 layoffs from the Department of Health and Human Services, including nearly 40 public health nurses. If approved, that would mean a reduction in nurses of nearly 60 percent since January 2007, according to county figures.

Mental health programs face a big hit, possibly losing more than 30 frontline positions, including counselors and licensed mental health workers. Officials have proposed closing the county's four mental health regional support teams, which provide outpatient services.
University of North Carolina Students Forced To Buy Health Care

UNCW Student Affairs says Health insurance to be required for UNCW students ~ Fall 2010 http://www.uncw.edu/stuaff/healthservices/shc.htm

Beginning in Fall 2010, health insurance will be required for all UNCW students. This may be insurance the students bring with them (family, employer, etc), insurance they purchase through the school, or a combination of both plans.

Students who have their own insurance and do not want to purchase the insurance through the school will need to complete an on-line waiver each fall, providing details about their current insurance plan. Any student who does not waive out of the insurance plan will be charged the premium and automatically enrolled in the program.

Pearce & Pearce will be the insurance vendor and the annual premium will be $673. Plan highlights include $1,000,000 lifetime maximum coverage; a $300 deductible; coverage for immunizations, prescriptions and wellness services; and no deductibles or co-pays at the Student Health Center.

Blue Flue In Toledo

The Toledo Blade is pondering the meaning of "To protect and to serve" http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ar ... 02/4080338

About 60 police officers, most of them department veterans, took part in what the city called an outbreak of "blue flu" this week. They evidently were protesting city government's imposition of emergency benefit givebacks on municipal employees whose unions have refused to negotiate voluntary concessions. The police union has been most militant in resisting even the smallest contract changes to help the city resolve its fiscal crisis.

Now the president of the police union says some members are so intent on forcing a reversal of the city's declaration of "exigent circumstances" that they are considering a strike he concedes would be illegal.
If the police strike, the city should fire every one of them, offering their jobs back at 60% pay and/or outsourcing the whole operation to the sheriff's association. On second thought, Toledo ought to outsource the whole shebang anyway.

Fed Watching Out For Speculative Bubbles

Yahoo!Finance is reporting Fed keeps eyes out for speculative bubbles. http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Fed-keeps ... et=&ccode=

Federal Reserve officials at their March meeting stressed the need to make sure record-low interest rates don't feed new speculative bubbles in stocks or other assets.

At the same time, some officials said the Fed's pledge to keep rates low for an "extended period" doesn't mean a fixed period of time. Rather, it depends on the strength of the economy, according to minutes of the closed-door meeting released Tuesday. Many analysts have taken the pledge to mean rates would stay at record lows for roughly six months to help underpin the recovery.

It should be crystal clear the market is back in bubble land right now. Regardless, it is impossible to claim you will do something about bubbles while also pledging to keep rates low for an "extended period".

Medical Student Debt Statistics

The American Medical Association has some interesting statistics on Medical Student Debt. http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/about-a ... debt.shtml

Student debt statistics

79 percent of graduates have debt of at least $100,000.
58 precent of graduates have debt of at least $150,000.
87 percent of graduating medical students carry outstanding loans.

According to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), the average educational debt of indebted graduates of the class of 2009 is $156,456.

It will take a decade or longer to pay that debt off. And that is IF the students find a good job.

California Municipal Bonds Rated Worse Than Kazakhstan

The Financial Times is reporting California ire over Borat bonds http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f0ae5948-3e4f ... abdc0.html

Taking a page out of Greece’s playbook, the peeved treasurer of America’s largest state fired off letters this week to the chiefs of Goldman Sachs and other banks questioning their marketing of credit default swaps on California’s debt. The instruments, he complained, “wrongly brand our bonds as a greater risk than those issued by such nations as Kazakhstan.â€

The Financial Times is reporting California ire over Borat bonds

California Municipal Bonds Rated Worse Than Kazakhstan

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan