Dino Rossi

[j_b]

Surely, if the WPC and their minions on this board are going to accuse bus drivers and other public employees of sucking up resources for making $57k/year and say they want to cut their pay and benefits, can we expect them to take to the street to demand that banksters lay off our communities. JayB, PP, KKK, FW are you at least going to pay lip service to the notion of austerity across the board?

 

States and Cities Pay Wall Street $4 Billion To Exit Bad Deals

 

Cities and states have had to pay Wall Street firms $4 billion since 2008 to get out of complicated interest rate deals that went sour, Bloomberg reports.

 

After more than a decade of selling deals that were supposed to help local governments fund public projects, banks and insurance companies are now raking in payments as already-strapped cities and states try to exit the agreements. According to Bloomberg's investigation, the payments, to exit a total of more than $500 billion worth of deals, have soared to over $4 billion. They come at a time when states face budget shortfalls of about $72 billion, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

 

The deals, called interest rate swaps, are designed to allow a borrower (in this case, the local government) to pay a low and consistent rate of interest on their debt. What once seemed attractive, though, is now corrosive: In the wake of the financial crisis, Wall Street firms failed to uphold their end of the bargain and weren't able to cover the governments' interest payments, Bloomberg reports. The governments want out, and it's costing them dearly. In New York, for instance, the state initially saved about $203 million from the swaps, but it has now paid about $247 million to exit, Bloomberg says.

 

The termination payments come on top of fees that banks have already collected for selling the deals. Government officials, not surprisingly, are incensed.

 

The interest rate swap mess compounds an already growing risk: municipal debt default. As the Wall Street Journal reports Wednesday, some cities and towns are choosing to stop paying certain debts.

 

The next major financial crisis, analyst Meredith Whitney argued in September, could come from local government defaults. Spending has outpaced revenue in cities and towns over the past decade, and this unsustainable situation was worsened by the financial crisis, Whitney said in an interview after the release of an extensive report. She noted that municipal debt has doubled since 2000. Ballooning pension obligations make the problem even worse than it appears.

 

And now, the WSJ reports, some municipalities are behaving like homeowners who walk away from their mortgages. While investors sue, the cities and towns say they don't have to pay.

 

Menasha, Wis., for example, still hasn't paid $23 million for debt that helped finance a failed steam plant, even though the payment was due in September 2009, the WSJ says. The city spends an average of $80,000 every month to battle investor lawsuits, according to the WSJ.

 

Vallejo, Calif., has been mired in bankruptcy proceedings for more than two years. Harrisburg, Penn., has been considering filing for bankruptcy, as a failed incinerator project has clobbered its budget.

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/10/government-debt-crisis_n_781417.html#

[Peter_Puget]

When I was in Australia you would get your way paid through college if you agreed to teach for two years when you graduated. When you taught you were paid normal wages for a beginning teacher. It seems we could use a similar system here for many professions. You were also free to pay tuition if you did not want the obligation. Doctors there were not paid that much more than teachers.

 

I suspect actual earnings is dependent upon the type of physician. (Anesthesiologists make over $200k) I am sure you are also aware of the chronic shortage of Drs. in Australia. Don’t have time to find a more current article but check this out. https://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/179_04_180803/letters_180803_fm-3.html

 

There is also a shortage of physicians in Canada and amazingly enough I bet if you check out Mass, problems are starting to develop there as well.

 

[prole]

I am sure you are also aware of the chronic shortage of Drs. in Australia...

There is also a shortage of physicians in Canada and amazingly enough I bet if you check out Mass, problems are starting to develop there as well.

 

American healthcare's deathbed accusation.

 

[Hugh Conway]

I am sure you are also aware of the chronic shortage of Drs. in Australia.

 

there's a chronic shortage of people in Australia petey poo - they'll take most any immigrant as long as they are willing to live somewhere other than the Sydney, Melbourne, Perth or Brisbane metros.

 

Of course I'm sure if we cut our Dr salaries the Drs would flee to... oh, nowhere, that's right because we're the distortionary member of the world medical community.

[tvashtarkatena]

When I was in Australia you would get your way paid through college if you agreed to teach for two years when you graduated. When you taught you were paid normal wages for a beginning teacher. It seems we could use a similar system here for many professions. You were also free to pay tuition if you did not want the obligation. Doctors there were not paid that much more than teachers.

 

I suspect actual earnings is dependent upon the type of physician. (Anesthesiologists make over $200k) I am sure you are also aware of the chronic shortage of Drs. in Australia. Don’t have time to find a more current article but check this out. https://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/179_04_180803/letters_180803_fm-3.html

 

There is also a shortage of physicians in Canada and amazingly enough I bet if you check out Mass, problems are starting to develop there as well.

 

Better to have a shortage of doctors you can afford than an over abundance of doctors you can't.

[j_b]

Surely, if the WPC and their minions on this board are going to accuse bus drivers and other public employees of sucking up resources for making $57k/year and say they want to cut their pay and benefits, can we expect them to take to the street to demand that banksters lay off our communities. JayB, PP, KKK, FW are you at least going to pay lip service to the notion of austerity across the board?

 

States and Cities Pay Wall Street $4 Billion To Exit Bad Deals

 

Cities and states have had to pay Wall Street firms $4 billion since 2008 to get out of complicated interest rate deals that went sour, Bloomberg reports.

 

After more than a decade of selling deals that were supposed to help local governments fund public projects, banks and insurance companies are now raking in payments as already-strapped cities and states try to exit the agreements.

 

I guess not! Our warriors are just too busy hunting down public employees making $57k/yr to go after the banksters looting our communities.

[ivan]

this "public employees should share the exact same pay/benefits as private equivalents" is amusing when you consider the differences between pay for us army soldiers and private mercenaries, no?

[prole]

What's really amusing is listening to working people demand that other working people's pay and benefits should be as shitty as their own.

[j_b]

There's some restructuring that needs to be done in SOME branches of government, more so regarding benefits than pay; such as upping the employee contribution to medical benefits.

 

And I think there is reason to look at automatic annual pay increases that are on top of COLA annual adjustments. Why should you get a pay raise just for occupying that space.

 

I also think JayB has a general point - that governments need to look at delays in pay raises and more employee contributions for benefits considering the economic circumstances. The voters obviously are not going for more taxes (I disagree) so the only other choice is either these structrual changes or cutting services.

 

Polls indicate there is a large majority of Americans that are for taxing the wealthy. Revenue shortfall is directly linked to the economic collapse. Unchecked health care costs and wars of aggression are the main cause of long term deficit. There is absolutely no reason to make American workers pay when they are already paying more than their fair share.

[prole]

Because driving a bus and being able to send your kid to college IS OUT OF THE QUESTION!!!

[Choada_Boy]

Bus drivers should have to pay to work.

[Choada_Boy]

There's some restructuring that needs to be done in SOME branches of government, more so regarding benefits than pay; such as upping the employee contribution to medical benefits.

 

And I think there is reason to look at automatic annual pay increases that are on top of COLA annual adjustments. Why should you get a pay raise just for occupying that space.

 

I also think JayB has a general point - that governments need to look at delays in pay raises and more employee contributions for benefits considering the economic circumstances. The voters obviously are not going for more taxes (I disagree) so the only other choice is either these structrual changes or cutting services.

 

Polls indicate there is a large majority of Americans that are for taxing the wealthy. Revenue shortfall is directly linked to the economic collapse. Unchecked health care costs and wars of aggression are the main cause of long term deficit. There is absolutely no reason to make American workers pay when they are already paying more than their fair share.

 

[Jim]

Polls indicate there is a large majority of Americans that are for taxing the wealthy.

 

That didn't seem to work out for the WA income tax proposal, eh? I'd also say that polls show an extreme lack of confidence in government efficiency.

[j_b]

Demagoguery is very effective, as we have seen with the anti-tax/small gov propaganda over the last 30+ years. The major error of 1098 was to not include a decrease in sales tax to show that the intent was to make the system more progressive, not to tax people more.

[j_b]

 

Interestingly even Bush voters overwhelmingly chose a partition of wealth similar to that of Sweden. It just shows how effective is propaganda.

[Jim]

Well then what do you do? The people spoke clearly and in a vast majority to 1) repeal the candy and soda tax, and 2) eliminate the possibility of an income tax for the rich. Now what?

 

Yea, the economy tanking is the cause of revenue reduction. It's either belt tightening such as delayed COLA and other annual increases, having employees pay more of the medical benefits, OR a cut in public services. Or both I suppose.

 

Dispensing of the hyperbole - what would you suggest for balancing the budgets?

[j_b]

Prepare an initiative for 2012 creating a tax on the wealthy but that also decreases sales tax.

 

In the meantime, freeze wages and whatever else is necessary but let's be pedagogical and also explore ways of cutting services in proportion to how people voted on 1098 and 1053. 70% voted against 1098 in Pierce county? well, lets cut 70% of some state subsidies going to that county or something like that.

[Jim]

That's reasonable. But I'd go for creating a fair income tax for everyone and significantly reducing the sales tax.

 

But - I don't see WA instituting an income tax. Ever. Because most folks will not vote for it.

[j_b]

I am for an income tax for everyone if the sales tax is mostly phased out. People have voted for sales taxes before so there isn't a hurdle to voting in taxes. The state and politicians, especially Democrats, have to take responsibility for 1) not confronting the anti-tax demagogues and driving them under the rock where they belong, and 2) not educating citizens about the role of government and taxes. The situation is absurd: rural counties that get subsidy for infrastructure and services they can't afford now prevent us from generating revenue, even though we all shoulder an unfair share under the current system of sales and property taxes. Bezos and co are laughing all the way to the bank.

[Jim]

I agree. But I also beleive that most of the populace is a dumb as a stump when it comes to a logical thought process regarding a reasonable tax plan.

[tvashtarkatena]

Prepare an initiative for 2012 creating a tax on the wealthy but that also decreases sales tax.

 

In the meantime, freeze wages and whatever else is necessary but let's be pedagogical and also explore ways of cutting services in proportion to how people voted on 1098 and 1053. 70% voted against 1098 in Pierce county? well, lets cut 70% of some state subsidies going to that county or something like that.

 

Probably the only way voters will be able to successfully gang up on the rich, which is what we absolutely what needs to happen.

[Hugh Conway]

typical libtard who thinks they can't have their cake and eat it too.

[tvashtarkatena]

Of course, i like the current tax regimen cuz I never buy anything.

[ivan]

Of course, i like the current tax regimen cuz I never buy anything.

despite yer taste for trendy, yuppie'marts n' the amble milf-ites that infest them?

[j_b]

this "public employees should share the exact same pay/benefits as private equivalents" is amusing when you consider the differences between pay for us army soldiers and private mercenaries, no?

 

yes, also true for many other highly qualified professions where a public employee earns less than his private sector counterpart.