Important News - Dec. 03

By Daniel at 3 December, 2009, 2:20 pm


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“”The amount of the two currencies and their impact on the world’s economy are totally different”, Chen Deming said, according to a transcript of an interview with Reuters and the International Herald Tribune posted on the Web site.

The dollar needs to be relatively stable since it’s the world’s main payment and reserve currency and the global economy remains fragile, Chen said. ”

“On the eve of President Barack Obama’s White House Summit on Jobs, labor leaders yesterday issued a dire warning: Unless Congress and Obama create a “bold jobs program,” state and local governments could shed almost a million jobs next year, further worsening our national unemployment rate.

“The budget crisis that they face is dire,” Thea Lee, chief of staff of the labor federation AFL-CIO, told a conference call with journalists.”

“Tough times are getting tougher for many laid-off workers.

Millions of people out of work lost federal subsidies Tuesday that helped them afford COBRA health insurance coverage, adding to the more than 46 million Americans who are uninsured.

The COBRA subsidies that expired Tuesday affected the first recipients of the program that began in March. The federal program came out of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and pays 65 percent of a laid off worker’s COBRA premiums for nine months.”

“BATON ROUGE — The Commission on Streamlining Government proposed steps Tuesday that could save the state millions of dollars, but it wasn’t ready to call for laying off 5,000 state workers a year for the next three years.”

……………….4A) State retirement system’s debt grows $4.8B

“BATON ROUGE — The state’s public retirement system debt has grown to nearly $17 billion, increasing $4.8 billion during the past year amid the national recession, according to information provided to the House and Senate retirement committees.”

“Experts say twice as many could end up in the red next year”

“But the news was bad in 41 districts that reported deficits — a 51% rise from last year. And the number in the red for more than $1 million is 20, more than double the highest it has ever been in state history, said officials with the Michigan Department of Education in Lansing.”

…………………5A) Time expires on avoiding cuts of $292-per-pupil

(New Orleans)

“Bunton said that he plans to conduct a case inventory over the next couple weeks. After that, he expects to stop assigning lawyers to murder and rape cases, which are the most labor intensive for his attorneys to handle.

At some point, if defense attorneys aren’t found for defendants locked up on murder and rape charges, they will have to be released from custody, Bunton said.”

“Florida’s finances have become grim and grimmer.”

“The stimulus money is going to flame out next year,” Proctor said. “Foreclosures may begin to rise again next year. There will be new increases in state expenditures. We’ve extended state unemployment benefits, but we’re borrowing $300 million a month from the federal government to do so. That can’t go on. Citizens [the state-run home insurance company] has $360 billion to $400 billion of exposure but only $6 billion in cash.”

………………..7A) Florida’s real-estate market is crumbling so badly that the taxable property value for schools statewide will tumble 9.5 percent next year, state economists said Wednesday.

“It’s too early to panic, but a second straight difficult budget year could be shaping up for Gov. Ed Rendell and the state Legislature.

For the fourth month in a row, the state Revenue Department said yesterday, revenue collections for fiscal 2009-10 have fallen below projections.

Last month, the state collected $1.6 billion in General Fund revenue, or almost $57 million less than expected. For the first four months of the current fiscal year (July-November), revenue totalled $10.4 billion, which is $217 million below estimates.”

“A growing number of states are responding to their worst-ever budget crises by enacting permanent cuts to spending on social programs and education and by laying off and furloughing workers.

For the first time ever, the collective spending by state governments has declined for two consecutive years. It fell 4 percent this year and 4.8 percent in the last fiscal year according to the National Association of State Budget Officers.

The worst is yet to come. States estimate that their most severe shortfalls will come in the 2011 fiscal year. The National Conference of State Legislatures predicts a combined deficit among the states of $110 billion for the next two years. It is generally accepted that state budgets will remain in the red until 2013 at the earliest, while “some predict state revenues will not rebound until late in the next decade,” according to Stateline.org.”

“County revenue down 10.2 percent in new budget year

* County faces multibillion dollar debt

* Revenue shortfall poses new headache for county (Adds possible sewer rate hike, paragraph 10)

By Melinda Dickinson

BIRMINGHAM, Ala., Dec 2 (Reuters) - Falling tax revenue in Alabama’s debt-ridden Jefferson County is making it harder for its troubled government to run day-to-day operations, officials said on Wednesday.”

“Should the county go bankrupt, it would be the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history.”

“Monday’s devaluation of Pyongyang’s nearly worthless currency from 100 to a single won has wiped out the savings of impoverished North Koreans and generated a scramble for dollars and Chinese yuan, say sources behind the bamboo curtain.”

………………..11A) North Korean misery as currency evaporates

“The move will leave millions of people with worthless banknotes in their possession.

The devaluation has triggered panic in the streets. Shops and markets have been ordered to close their doors and remain shut during the week-long exchange of bills, according to Good Friends, a Seoul-based welfare group.

On the black market, rice has soared in price 20-fold and the cost of a block of tofu has risen from 500 won to 10,000 won (Pounds47.50 at the official exchange rate) according to the Chosun Ilbo, a South Korean newspaper”

“The $18 billion-a-year industry barely broke even, with 23 of 54 hospitals and hospital systems showing operating losses, according to the New Jersey Hospital Association’s annual report, “Financial Status of New Jersey Hospitals,” issued Wednesday.

“Many hospitals — far too many — are barely scraping by,” said Betsy Ryan, the association’s president and chief executive officer. “New Jersey has a state full of hospitals teetering on the edge.”"

“But as president of the New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute, he noted that the hospitals’ problems “are all symptoms of a broken system.” Lack of insurance, pressure on hospital reimbursements, an aging population, chronic diseases and a poor economy all contribute to the bleak outlook for hospitals, he said.

Nine hospitals have closed in New Jersey, and six have filed for bankruptcy since 2007.

The grim financial picture turned even darker in 2008 when losses on investments, new accounting rules, and huge increases in unfunded pension liabilities were considered. The total margin ratio, which includes those non-operating losses, plunged to negative 14.1 percent, from last year’s 0.9 percent, the report said.”

“The system was 105 percent funded as of June 2008, meaning its assets were 5 percent greater than the present value of all potential benefits payable in the future. It fell to 76 percent funded as of June 30 this year.”

“A major deficit in the MODOT retirement fund means layoffs across the state.

The Kansas City Star reports that the department’s retirement account has an unfunded liability of $1.6 billion dollars.

MODOT Director Pete Rahn says the agency will cut 100 jobs at ten district offices across the state.

Because of the retirement shortfall, MODOT will have to increase its contribution by $5 million dollars a year for the next 15 years.”

“WASHINGTON, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Thursday said it was vital to get U.S. budget deficits down in order to spur private-sector growth that creates jobs and predicted it will begin happening in 2011.

But first the financial system must be stabilized.

“You cannot address those long-term deficits, you cannot put the government of the United States in a position that we can go back to living within our means, unless you repair the damage done to this economy and to its revenue base,” he said on CNBC television.

The budget deficit hit a record $1.4 trillion in fiscal 2009 that ended Sept. 30 and is forecast to be in the same range next year, fostering doubt in global markets about the dollar’s value because of huge U.S. borrowing needs.

Geithner said it was “important” for the United States to maintain a strong dollar and said he takes seriously its key position as a global reserve currency. He said the United States needs to persuade the world it will be more fiscally responsible in future.

“If we can be credible and make sure the American people understand and the world understand that we’re going to bring down these deficits once growth is established, we will have more ability now to do what we need to do to get jobs created, get investment going now,” he said.

“Sometime in 2011 we’ll begin the process of getting those deficits down,” Geithner added. He said current deficits were “unsustainably high” but said the Obama administration inherited them when it took office in January.”

- saxplayer00o1


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