Important News - Oct. 15 update 2

• 1) Pension funds stand to lose $600M in Manhattan venture

“California’s two largest pension funds face total loss of their investments in a Manhattan real estate deal that is collapsing under its own debt.”

• 2) (Mish) Time for Baltimore to “Pull a Vallejo” and Declare Bankruptcy

• 3) Foreclosures in 3rd quarter up nearly 23% from 2008

“A large number of adjustable-rate loans are slated to reset, which means they can bring higher monthly payments for homeowners. Higher payments, coupled with a 9.8% unemployment rate that is expected to rise above 10%, could also cause a growing number of borrowers to lose their homes.

This could amount to a sizable second wave of foreclosures.

There are presently 2.8 million active interest-only home loans with an outstanding principal balance of $908 billion, according to First American CoreLogic.”

• 4) Dow’s surge doesn’t eliminate MN’s pension problems
• 5) CalPers offered incentives to inflate pension funds’ value

“A labor-friendly CalPERS board offered local governments an incentive eight years ago to boost public employee pension benefits, now called “unsustainable” by some.

CalPERS said it would reward higher benefits by inflating the value of the local government’s pension investment fund, making it easier to pay for more generous pensions.”

• 6) More Pain for State’s Taxpayers, Cities

“The cost of shoring up Calpers, the troubled $200 billion pension fund for California public employees, will ultimately fall on the state’s 38 million residents, who are already dealing with tax increases and reduced public services.

The state and local governments are contractually bound to increase their payments to Calpers to help it make up for its investment losses of more than $50 billion in the fiscal year ended June 30.”

• 7) Dow 10K: Celebrating 10 Years of 0% Return
• (Video) Hyperinflation & LaRouche’s Triple Curve

(Posting despite a few disagreements with this)

• 9) Obama Seeking $250 Payments for Seniors

“The White House put the cost at $13 billion.”

• 10) Ruling may allow homeowners to challenge foreclosures (Video)

11) New York’s deficit up another $1.1 billion

12) Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn’s adds another $900 million to deficit

13) New Orleans bond sale expected to be pushed back

(Lower than expected sales taxes. Pension fund payments)

14) State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo (New York)

“Cuomo said there was a history of problems with the state pension fund system.

“This has been going on for decades,” Cuomo said. “Why? Because this is where the money is.”

The amount of money is staggering, currently around $116 billion - equal to the overall state budget, he said.”

• 15) Fifth Straight Month Of Pension Funding Declines

16) Greenspan Says He’s Not Concerned About Dollar’s Drop (Then he says this):

“the increase in federal debt is the “most worrisome aspect of the economic agenda in the United States.”

“There are equations in which certain relationships become progressively explosive,” as increasing interest payments expand the deficit and debt, which increases interest payments in a continuing cycle, Greenspan said.

Throughout U.S. history, the capacity of the government to finance the debt has provided a “cushion” that made the dollar “such an important currency in the world,” he said.

“There is no question that the cushion is going down,” and when long-term interest rates start rising and inflation pressures build, “that’s very late in the game to turn it around,” Greenspan said.”

• 17) Libyan Ctrl Bker

” There is no alternative to the dollar as an international reserve currency at present, but it would be desirable if an alternative could be created, Libya’s central bank governor said Thursday.”

• 18) Peru

“Peru’s currency, the sol, is expected to remain on its appreciating trend, propelling the country’s central bank to continue to intervene in the foreign-exchange market by purchasing U.S. dollars.

The sol has gained 8.9% against the greenback so far this year, ending Wednesday at PEN2.858 per U.S. dollar.

Strong demand for the sol forced the Central Reserve Bank of Peru to sharply pick up the pace of its dollar purchases this week as it aims to ease the appreciation pressures on the free-floating sol.”

• 19) Peter Schiff talks about Dow 10,000, inflation, price of crude oil, the U.S. Dollar.

…..For those watching the U.S. dollar it’s finally slightly higher. With all  the currency interventions the dollar is probably just  being propped up.