Debt

The Shin Bone’s Connected to the Thigh Bone

December 7, 2011 Business

My friend and colleague, Tim Maniccia, who runs Policy Innovation, noted some interesting connections yesterday. What triggered Tim’s observations was the bankruptcy of American Airlines. The first thing he noted was that American’s four pension plans cover almost 130,000 participants, but they have only $8.3 billion in assets to cover $18.5 billion in benefits. Were […]

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Good – Voters Turn Down Bond Authorization for Another Arena

August 3, 2011 Debt

Nassau County, NY is already in deep, deep financial trouble. Despite the fact that it is one of if not the wealthiest county in New York, its finances are currently being overseen by a state-sponsored and enforced financial control board. Despite their weakened financial straits, Nassau proposed borrowing $400 million for a new hockey arena. […]

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I’m not the only one

July 28, 2011 Budget

Lawrence O’Donnell just said the solution would be for Boehner to get the Democrats and about 50 “not-crazy” Republicans to pass the debt ceiling increase. Same strategy as I mentioned here. But then he pointed out that Boehner has never done anything to draw Democratic votes. Oh well.

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More on what happens to states if the Federal Government does not increase the debt ceiling

July 20, 2011 Debt

Here’s another analysis of what happens to states, this one with an interactive map and two scenarios if the Federal government can’t get its act together. We might get some state and local defaults after all.

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It won’t be just a Federal default

July 12, 2011 Debt

Even without a default on debt payments, if the Federal government fails to increase the limit and constrains its outflows because they can no longer borrow and if the crisis goes long enough, there will nevertheless be governmental defaults. They’ll happen downstream in state and local governments which are dependent on Federal funds. Most obviously, […]

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