Important News - Nov. 03
By Daniel at 3 November, 2009, 3:55 pm
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It is NOT capitalism…it’s corruption!
“BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — The state health department has pegged a midyear deficit in Louisiana’s Medicaid program at $308 million. Health and Hospitals Secretary Alan Levine gave formal notification of the problem to lawmakers Monday.”
- 2) Governor Rounds says no solution has been found for South Dakota’s budget woes
“Rounds expects the stimulus money to run out this year, leaving next year’s projected expenses about $170 million higher than anticipated revenues.”
“Nov. 2 (Bloomberg) — The U.S. Treasury Department cut its estimate for government borrowing in the current quarter by 43 percent largely because of reductions in a program for helping the Federal Reserve manage its balance sheet.
Borrowing will total a net $276 billion from October through December, compared with a previous estimate of $486 billion, and it projects borrowing of $478 billion in the three months to March 31, the department said in a statement today in Washington.”……
“Today’s estimates include $15 billion for a special program for helping the Fed finance its operations. The so- called Supplementary Financing Program for the Fed was cut back to $15 billion outstanding from $200 billion in September, in order to avoid approaching the debt limit.”
“But Missouri’s latest cuts mean some 700 state employees will lose their jobs, with 200 of them being full-time positions.”
- 5) strategic defaults (Walking away when home values are much lower than the loans on them)
“The mortgage unit of Citigroup says one in five borrowers who defaults does so willingly, even though they’re able to pay the mortgage. “It’s a very large number, and it’s a very, very significant risk to the housing recovery,” says Sanjiv Das, CEO of CitiMortgage, adding that new government programs to curb strategic defaults may be needed.”
“DES MOINES, Iowa — The State of Iowa Monday released preliminary plans to lay off 792 state employees.”
“Despite Los Angeles County’s already record high unemployment, the job outlook is likely to get worse as the number of businesses planning layoffs has more than doubled since last year, according to a new poll to be released today.
A survey by the Los Angeles County Business Federation says 33 percent of respondents said they would lay off workers in 2010, up from 14 percent who were asked last year.”
“ATLANTA, Nov. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Commercial bankruptcies among the
nation’s more than 25 million small businesses increased by 44% from the third
quarter of 2008 to the third quarter of 2009, according to Equifax Inc. (NYSE:
EFX), which analyzes its comprehensive small business database for the
on-going study.”
“The cutbacks and fare increases in the Municipal Transportation Agency’s budget may have hurt but the pain didn’t produce enough gain, as the MTA board will hear this afternoon.
The MTA is on track to produce a $45.1 million deficit with revenues lower than expected and expenses higher. So the agency is recommending a plan to eliminate 250 positions, alter drivers’ schedules, reduce overtime, and transfer some federal stimulus money from equipment and projects to operations.
But that only saves $25.5 million, leaving the MTA with the challenge of figuring out how to come up with the other $19.6 million.”
“Vallejo may be in bankruptcy, but there is no deficit when it comes to residents who are texting. That may explain one of the more unusual measures on Tuesday’s ballot, which would tax text messages.”
“Lisa Dooley, executive director of the West Virginia Municipal League, has said the total unfunded liability spread among 53 plans in Class I and II cities, and 15 others in Class III towns, stands at $650 million.”
“With the state of Maryland facing a $2 billion budget shortfall, school leaders here are already braced for cuts. Superintendent David Cox and other superintendents from across the state met with Gov. Martin O’Malley in Annapolis recently and heard a bleak economic assessment, with O’Malley urging schools to go so far as to save money by buying furniture made by state prison inmates.
The budget for Allegany County schools has already been squeezed fairly tight. Most recently, the school system took a $250,000 hit when county government, facing a $2 million budget shortfall of its own, reduced its allocation to the board.”
“The financial picture is grim. Though UC’s retirement plan is currently 95 percent funded and employee contributions will be reinstated in April 2010, funding for the pension plan is predicted to decline to 61 percent by 2013. Costs for retiree health insurance are also expected to rise. Out of its operating revenue, UC currently pays approximately $225 million each to year to provide health insurance for retired employees. Costs are projected to rise to $373 million a year by 2013, and to $610 million by 2018.”
- 14) Between J&J and Nokia layoffs look to be at least 11,500 (Google news search link)
“Nokia Siemens Networks could lay off more than 4500 of its workers as part of a cost-cutting drive”
“J&J cutting 7000 jobs; no word on Mass. impact”
Through the first 10 months of the year, 74,832 businesses filed for bankruptcy, a 16% increase from the same period last year. The total number of October bankruptcies, including both personal and commercial filings, increased 20% from the same month last year.
The health care bill headed for a vote in the House this week costs $1.2 trillion or more over a decade, far higher than the $900 billion cited by President Barack Obama as a price tag for his reform plan. When asked about the higher estimate, [Nancy] Pelosi spokesman Brendan Daly said the measure provides critical health insurance reform in a way that is fiscally sound. “It will not add one dime to the deficit.”
Eight banks that are behind on their dividend payments have at least $100 million in Treasury loans, and there are 32 other TARP recipients that missed their quarterly dividend payments due in August.
- Saxplayer001
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