Another city mentions the B word: Stockton, California will “skip some bond payments in an effort to restructure its precarious finances.” Along with defaulting on about $2 million of debt payments through the end of its current fiscal year, the city located about 85 miles east of San Francisco will seek mediation with its major bond…
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Women Bearing the Brunt of Austerity in Britain – NYTimes.com
The Times seems to have a reporter on the European austerity beat. The article is a story out of a Mike Leigh film: As Britain shaves public services and benefits, advocates contend that women bear more than their fair share of the pain. “The idea that what we should be doing is rolling back the…
Spanish Village, in Debt, Relies on Volunteers – NYTimes.com
There’s a great post waiting to be written about Britain’s “Big Society” effort, the Conservative (and now Liberal) government’s attempt to patch over drastic government cuts with an optimistic program of social entrepreneurship. While waiting to write that, I found this article in the NYT about a village in Spain that has run out of money…
Austerity, the word
Thomas de Monchaux on “austerity,” the word and concept, in the New York Times, hinting at the multiple implications of austerity (including a sort of implicit luxury): Economically, austerity — which the Germans, among others, are intent on forcing upon their southern brethren — can sound like a good idea, but might actually exacerbate the…
Detroit Must Cut Income Taxes, Worsening Crumbling Tax Base
In a twist of irony, the city of Detroit is required to reduce its income tax rate because it no longer meets state-set criteria for financial distress (it met those criteria from 2003-2007 and 2009-11, they were waived by the state legislature for 2008 and 2009). Although the loss in revenue represents a small part…