The pension battle in Chicago and Illinois will be fueled by Moody’s latest announcement: Moody’s Investors Service downgraded Chicago’s credit rating, citing the city’s unfunded pension liabilities. The agency announced Tuesday it was lowering the rating on $8.3 billion in debt to Baa1, from A3, putting it only three notches above junk status. Moody’s gave Chicago a negative…
Category: Austerity
To Pay for Infrastructure Repairs, Obama Seeks Tax Changes
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Caught between a gridlocked Congress and a Highway Trust Fund that will soon be broke, President Obama on Wednesday urged lawmakers to overhaul corporate and business taxes to pay for repairing and replacing the nation’s aging roads, rails, bridges and tunnels. … New legislation to pay for transportation projects is an urgent priority for both…
Woops!
The New York Times gets transcripts of conversations between the economists responsible for guiding the U.S. economy past the financial crisis, and failing. The hundreds of pages of transcripts, based on recordings made at the time, reveal the ignorance of Fed officials about economic conditions during the climactic months of the financial crisis. Officials repeatedly…
Michigan has nearly $1B more than expected for budget | Crains Detroit Business
State budgets have been rebounding much faster than most city budgets (for many reasons: spending cuts achieved through attrition are finally appearing on the balance sheet, income taxes have begun to recover faster than housing values, etc.). Accordingly, states that were experiencing “fiscal emergencies” just a few months ago are now facing surpluses as they…
Pensions for city workers can’t be cut, but pay can, judge rules in major San Jose case – San Jose Mercury News
The fate of San Jose’s pension reforms remains unclear after a recent court decision. SAN JOSE — In a landmark ruling that could help shape city budgets around the state, a judge invalidated key parts of San Jose’s voter-approved pension cuts but upheld other elements that could still save huge taxpayer costs. Santa Clara County…