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I know that very few if any of us actually believe the worst is behind us. There are too many skeletons left in the closet – with massive sovereign debt being possibly the most ominous storm cloud on the horizon. In this guest article, our friend David Galland questions the logic of the mainstream financial […]
Boston University economics professor Laurence Kotlikoff penned a great guest article for Bloomberg, where he takes a hard look at the fiscal gap in the US, concluding that our country is basically bankrupt. Based on the CBO’s data, I calculate a fiscal gap of $202 trillion, which is more than 15 times the official debt. This […]
Our friend Phil at Phil’s Stock World reports… According to its Comptroller, CT will be down to a week’s worth of cash unless it issues $520M in debt by Fall. If the planned offering of general bond obligations is delayed until 2011, “This coming fall the state would likely have just over a week’s worth […]
Think your state has the most screwed up budget in the Union? Use this interactive chart to find out where your state’s budget shortfall really stacks up! Source: Wall Street Journal Related reading: Governator puts 200,000 CA state employees on minimum wage Why many states are on the brink of insolvency
Astute reader Shaun forwarded along a great email with his thoughts about the sovereign debt situation, and included a couple of fantastic charts that illustrate examples from Japan and Argentina. Both charts are courtesy of Reggie Middleton’s excellent BoomBustBlog. The first item we’ll explore is Japan, a nation that has become increasingly hooked on public […]
Municipal bond yields continue to “break out” as investors are (finally) coming to the realization that local governments, which lack their own printing presses, may have problems making good on their outstanding debt. The Financial Times reports: The sharpest swings in the muni market have been seen in the $100bn so-called “Build America bonds” – […]
There are a lot of unhappy state workers grumbling near Contrary Investing / Chrometa Headquarters right now! Arnold “Governator” Schwarzenegger just hit over 200,000 California state employees with a big pay cut – all the way down to minimum wage – until the state budget is passed. The Sacramento Bee reports: Roughly 200,000 state workers […]
The bond vigilantes continue to circle the wagons in Greece. Bloomberg reports: European stocks fell today, led by indexes in Greece, Spain and Portugal. Credit-default swaps on Greece rose 38 basis points to an all-time high of 970 basis points, according to CMA DataVision. Contracts on Portuguese government securities climbed 16 basis points to a […]
Wondering why state governments, after decades of increased spending, are just now “all broke at once?” This chart, courtesy of The Globe and Mail, says it all: The bottom line is that until tax revenue growth climbs again, the states are going to be hard pressed to stay solvent. They can’t cut expenses fast enough […]
How scary are the sovereign debt levels of the United States, Japan, and European nations? David Galland explores in this guest piece. If you’re not completely frightened by the levels of government debt, and the fact that Greece is nothing extraordinary…you should be scared out of your mind by the end of David’s piece! An […]
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