US Economy

texan

Well-Known Member
Stories and indicators of our US Economy.

1st up. New Jersey city that is home to Cambells Soup, Camden NJ.
It has been rated one of the highest murder / crime cities off and on for years.

Now:
Gritty N.J. city of Camden to scrap police department amid budget woes

Crime-ridden Camden, New Jersey - often referred to as the most dangerous city
in the United States—is getting rid of its police department.


Read more: Gritty N.J. city of Camden to scrap police department amid budget woes | Fox News
 

texan

Well-Known Member
Moody's Sees More California Cities Going Bankrupt
One of the nation's top credit rating agencies said Friday it will begin a wide-ranging review of
municipal finances in California because of what it sees is a growing threat of increased city
bankruptcies and bond defaults.

Moody's Investors Service issued a report saying that the growing fiscal distress in many cities
in the nation's most populous state was putting bondholders at risk.


Moody's Sees More California Cities Going Bankrupt - Reason 24/7 : Reason.com
 

texan

Well-Known Member
Last October, Jefferson County, AL declared Chapter 9 bankruptcy. It's home to the state's most
populous city, Birmingham. Its debt exceeded $4 billion. It was America's largest
municipal filing in history.

In August 2011, Central Falls, RI declared bankruptcy. Located north of Providence, it's the
state's poorest municipality. In 2010, it entered receivership. Major concessions were made.

In March 2011, Boise County, Idaho filed for protection. It did so to buy time to figure out
how to pay creditors.

US Cities Going Bankrupt
 

wkmac

Well-Known Member
Tex,

Research the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) and you may learn that the claims of local cities, towns, counties that they are going broke is in fact bogus.
 

texan

Well-Known Member
More payday drama in Scranton, Pennsylvania, as last-minute loan backs paychecks
City workers in Scranton, Pa., who earlier this summer saw their salaries temporarily slashed to
minimum wage, will be crossing their fingers on payday this week.

If an emergency loan to the city doesn't go through, neither will the workers' paychecks.
"We only know what the public knows, what's in the news," said a Department
of Public Works employee who asked not to be named.

City officials, including Mayor Chris Doherty, insist that the city will meet payroll and all other city
obligations now that New York-based Amalgamated Bank made the city a short-term tax anticipation
loan of $6.25 million.

But the city workforce already dealt with payday drama in July, when Doherty unilaterally cut
everyone's salary -- including his own -- to the state minimum wage of $7.25 per hour.

Read more: More payday drama in Scranton, Pennsylvania, as last-minute loan backs paychecks | Fox News
 

texan

Well-Known Member
US economy "far from satisfactory", says Bernanke

WASHINGTON: US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke expressed deep worry over the
US economy on Friday, calling the situation unsatisfactory and saying labour market
stagnation was "a grave concern".

In a much-anticipated speech to central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, the chief of the
US central bank offered no new promises of intervention to boost growth, but strongly
signalled that he was leaning that way.

"The economic situation is obviously far from satisfactory," he said in the keynote speech
of the Fed's annual conference of central bankers.

"Growth in recent quarters has been tepid, and so, not surprisingly, we have seen no net
improvement in the unemployment rate since January," he said.

Unless the economy begins to grow more quickly than it has recently, the
unemployment rate is likely to remain far above levels consistent with maximum
employment for some time."

Bernanke made clear that the jobless rate, at 8.3 percent, is one of his biggest worries
as head of the central bank, which has reducing unemployment as a key goal.

US economy "far from satisfactory", says Bernanke - Channel NewsAsia
 

moreluck

golden ticket member
BrancA20120901_low.jpg
 

Babagounj

Strength through joy
China's Manufacturing Slump Deepens
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- More bad news about China's factories: The country's manufacturing sector has contracted for the first time in nine months.
The National Bureau of Statistics in Beijing said on Saturday that the China Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index for August fell to 49.2 from 50.1 in July. Any reading below 50 indicates that factory activity is shrinking rather than growing.

The fate of manufacturing in China is considered a barometer of the global economy because of the country's role as a powerhouse exporter.
China, the world's second-largest economy behind the United States, has been hit particularly hard by the recession in much of Europe. The country has lowered its growth outlook -- and weak manufacturing numbers suggest a return to rapid pre-recession growth rates will take time.
 

Lue C Fur

Evil member
Normally George will carry the Obama water...but he actually asked a real question to one of Obamas zombies...and he avoided the question...three times!!! I wonder why he would do that? Any of the Obama leg humpers want to tell us why he would not answer that question?

Not once. Not twice. But thrice was the number of times that President Obama's senior adviser refused to answer the question as to whether this country is now better off than four years ago.

Read more: David Plouffe Dodges Stephanopoulos 'Better Off Four Years Ago' Question Three Times | NewsBusters.org
 

texan

Well-Known Member
Illinois Bonds Downgraded over Pension Crisis
Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services said it lowered Illinois’ rating a notch because of “weak pension
funding levels and lack of action on reform measures.” The firm also said the financial outlook for
Illinois is negative, in part because the state’s temporary income tax is scheduled to expire in 2015.

Illinois politicians agreed the state’s massive pension shortfall must be corrected quickly, but they
blamed others for the delay. Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn said legislators didn’t do their job. Republican
legislative leaders said Democrats were the ones who quit.

 

texan

Well-Known Member
Harrisburg to Run Out of Money in October

Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania, has the highest per capita debt of any city in the country.

The town's 50,000 citizens are on the hook for $1.5 billion according to the
NPR article Inside America's Most Indebted City.

$1.5 Billion Does Not Include Schools, Pensions, Unfunded Liabilities

 

BrownArmy

Well-Known Member
It's comedy, but oh so true...

RNC 2012 - The Road to Jeb Bush 2016 - The Best friend#@king News Team Ever Audits America - The Daily Show with Jon Stewart - 08/31/12 - Video Clip | Comedy Central
 

texan

Well-Known Member
So dumb. Why would managers speculate with people's retirement?

Public pension funds stung by Facebook's falling stock

NEW YORK — Wall Street investors aren't the only ones feeling the sting of Facebook
Inc.'s falling stock: So are some of the country's troubled government pension funds.

Public employee retirement funds from around the country took part in the Menlo Park, Calif., social
networking juggernaut's May 18 initial public offering and plowed millions of dollars into
Facebook stock before its value plunged.

The Arkansas teacher pension fund is part of a group of institutional investors that includes
the Fresno County Employees' Retirement Assn. (estimated Facebook losses: $1 million) and
the North Carolina Retirement Systems (estimated losses: $12.4 million).

The group has filed papers seeking to become lead plaintiffs in the case.
Two major California pensions also bet big on Facebook.

The California Public Employees' Retirement System, the country's largest public pension, refused
to reveal how many shares it bought in the IPO. CalPERS had 557,140 Facebook shares on
May 23 and more than doubled its stake to 1.3 million shares as of this week, according to a spokeswoman.

The California State Teachers' Retirement System bought about 500,000 shares in the IPO — worth
about $19 million — and sold them when the price briefly popped on the first day.

CalSTRS made about $250,000 on the sale, a spokesman said.

Public pension funds stung by Facebook's falling stock - Los Angeles Times
 

texan

Well-Known Member
Egan-Jones Welcomes QE3 By Cutting U.S. Credit Rating

Stocks and risk assets might be fans of QE3, but Egan-Jones definitely isn’t.
The underdog rating agency on Friday downgraded its credit rating for the U.S.
to AA- from AA, citing the Fed’s latest round of stimulus.

[T]he FED’s QE3 will stoke the stock market and commodity prices, but in our opinion will hurt
the US economy and, by extension, credit quality.

Issuing additional currency and depressing interest rates via the purchasing of MBS does
little to raise the real GDP of the US, but does reduce the value of the dollar
(because of the increase in money supply), and in turn increase the cost of commodities
(see the recent rise in the prices of energy, gold, and other commodities).

The increased cost of commodities will pressure profitability of businesses, and increase
the costs of consumers thereby reducing consumer purchasing power.

Hence, in our opinion QE3 will be detrimental to credit quality for the US….

From 2006 to present, the US’s debt to GDP rose from 66% to 104% and will probably
rise to 110% a year from today under current circumstances; the annual budget deficit
is 8%.

In comparison, Spain has a debt to GDP of 68.5% and an annual budget deficit of 8.5%.
Egan-Jones Welcomes QE3 By Cutting U.S. Credit Rating - Income Investing - Barrons.com
 

roadrunner2012

Four hours in the mod queue for a news link
Troll
The median family income of 1989 was slightly higher than today.

It has been the summer of recovery!!!! :sad-little:
What has the Republican led Congress done to alleviate that? The disconnect in your mind is incredible. What would you have President Obama do? Seize dictatorial powers to implement his ideas?

You people (yes, I know how that sounds) blame President Obama for everything, yet hinder the smallest changes he tries to make.

The 'job creators' have done quite well, yet the only jobs are low paying and mostly overseas. What exactly do you expect?
 
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