From The Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations
Contact Susan Kniep
Website: http://ctact.org/
Email: fctopresident@aol.com
Telephone: 860-841-8032
February 3, 2011
FEDERATION’S
FEB 5 MEETING WILL BE
RESCHEDULED
DUE TO WEATHER
Wall Street taking a closer look at state's ailing pension
fund
By Keith M. Phaneuf CTmirror.org One of the leading
Wall Street credit rating agencies recently increased its focus the fiscal
health of state pension systems when rating overall creditworthiness--at the
worst possible time for Connecticut.
http://ctmirror.org/story/11341/wall-street-taking-closer-look-connecticuts-ailing-pension-fund
Municipal Bond Outflow Heaviest In At
Least 20 Years By Paul Katzeff and Ed Carson Jan 27, 2011
Investors pulled $13.36 billion from municipal bond funds in December, the
biggest outflow in at least 20 years, surpassing some years’ total flow,
according to new figures from the Investment Company Institute. Preliminary
data suggest the big exodus from muni bond funds has
continued in January, ICI said. The huge shareholder redemptions came as states
and cities grappled with budget woes and federal lawmakers broached the idea of
allowing states to declare bankruptcy to make it easier for them to adjust
pensions and renegotiate union contracts, but which investors worried could
lead to defaults on the debt they hold. http://blogs.investors.com/capitalhill/index.php/home/35-politicsinvesting/2375-municipal-bond-outflow-heaviest-in-at-least-20-years
Could Public
Sector Unions be in Jeopardy?
Path Is Sought States to Escape Debt Burdens
By MARY WILLIAMS WALSH January 20, 2011 NYTimes
Policy makers are working behind the scenes to come up with a way to let states
declare bankruptcy and get out from under crushing debts, including the
pensions they have promised to retired public workers. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/21/business/economy/21bankruptcy.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=all
F.A.Q. on U.S. Aid to Egypt: Where Does the Money Go—And
Who Decides How It’s Spent? by Marian Wang ProPublica, Jan. 31,
2011, 4:53 p.m. The protests in Egypt
have prompted renewed questions about the U.S.’s
aid to the country—an issue that the U.S. government has also pledged to reconsider [1]. We’ve taken a step
back and tried to answer some basic questions, such as how as much the U.S. has
given, who has benefitted, and who gets to decide how
its all spent. How much does the U.S. spend on Egypt? Egypt
gets the most U.S. eign aid of any country except Israel. (This doesn't include [2] the money spent on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.) The amount
varies each year and there are many different funding streams, but U.S. eign assistance
to Egypt has averaged just
over $2 billion every year since 1979, when Egypt
struck a peace treaty with Israel [3] following the Camp David Peace Accords, according to a Congressional
Research Service report from 2009. Article continues at http://www.propublica.org/blog/item/f.a.q.-on-u.s.-aid-to-egypt-where-does-the-money-go-who-decides-how-spent
U.S. briefs Wall Street about al Qaeda threat On Tuesday February 1, 2011, 3:53 pm EST By Daniel Trotta NEW YORK
(Reuters) - Security officials warned major Wall Street institutions of a
potential threat after an al Qaeda-linked magazine suggested financial markets
could be a target of attack, the FBI said on Tuesday. The meetings with
financial institutions took place over a couple of days in January after
authorities circulated a bulletin to law enforcement agencies warning about
"Inspire" magazine, which bills itself as the periodical of
Yemeni-based Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). http://finance.yahoo.com/news/US-briefs-Wall-Street-about-rb-4100103569.html?x=0
The
Real CSI: How America’s Patchwork System of Death Investigations Puts the
Living At Risk - ProPu In a joint reporting eft, ProPublica, PBS "Frontline" and NPR spent a year
looking at the nation's 2,300 coroner and medical examiner offices and found a
deeply dysfunctional system that quite literally buries its mistakes. Blunders
by doctors in America's
morgues have put innocent people in prison cells, allowed the guilty to go
free, and left some cases so muddled that prosecutors could do nothing.
http://www.propublica.org/article/the-real-csi-americas-patchwork-system-of-death-investigation
Connecticut, Illinois
and Hawaii are among the states with the highest combined debt and pension
liabilities, according to a study to be released by Moody’s Investors Service.
Connecticut has the highest funding needs relative to its economy, taxing
power, revenues and population. Combined pension and long-term debt liabilities
amount to $9,366 per citizen. Moody’s found
most states that showed restraint with public borrowing were conservative with
their public pensions and vice versa. Nebraska and South Dakota, for example,
ranked among the lowest for both debt and pension funding needs.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/41289836 SEE FULL
REPORT BELOW!
New York State Takes Control of Nassau's Finances By DAVID M. HALBFINGER Published: January 26, 2011 UNIONDALE,
N.Y. — A state oversight board on Wednesday seized control of Nassau County ’s
finances, saying the county, one of the nation’s wealthiest and most heavily
taxed, had nonetheless failed to balance its $2.7 billion budget. Many hard-hit local governments have flirted
with insolvency because of revenue shortfalls caused by the recession, but the
financial problems of Nassau, on Long Island, owed more to a failure by county
officials to face up to tough economic reality responsibly and quickly enough,
according to the state board. “The
county’s 2011 budget is built on a foundation of sand,” a board member, George
J. Marlin, said. The move, which came
after months of steadily more ominous threats and a downgrade of Nassau ’s debt by a
credit-rating agency in November, turns the oversight board into a control
board, with vast power to rewrite the county’s budget and veto labor contracts,
borrowings and other important financial commitments. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/27/nyregion/27nassau.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=state%20seizes%20nassau&st=cse
Moody’s to Factor Pension
Gaps in States’ Ratings By MARY WILLIAMS WALSH Published: January 27, 2011 Moody’s Investors Service has begun to
recalculate the states’ debt burdens in a way that includes unfunded pensions,
something states and others have ardently resisted until now. Under its new
method, Moody’s found that the states with the biggest total indebtedness
included Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Mississippi,
New Jersey and Rhode Island. States do not now show their pension obligations —
funded or not — on their audited financial statements. The board that issues
accounting rules does not require them to. And while it has been working on
possible changes to the pension accounting rules, investors have grown
increasingly nervous about municipal bonds. Moody’s new approach may now turn the tide in
favor of more disclosure. The ratings agency said that in the future, it will
add states’ unfunded pension obligations together with the value of their
bonds, and consider the totals when rating their credit. The new approach will
be more comparable to how the agency rates corporate debt and sovereign debt.
Moody’s did not indicate whether states’ credit ratings may rise or fall. Under
its new method, Moody’s found that the states with the biggest total
indebtedness included Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts,
Mississippi, New Jersey and Rhode Island. Puerto Rico also ranked high on the
scale because its pension fund for public workers is so depleted that it has
virtually become a pay-as-you-go plan, meaning each year’s payments to retirees
are essentially coming out of the budget each year. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/27/business/27pension.html?ref=nyregion
Malloy: $2 billion in spending cuts to balance the state's
budget By Keith M. Phaneuf ,
Jacqueline Rabe and Mark Pazniokas
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has insisted for weeks that closing the state's huge budget
deficit will require both spending cuts and tax hikes. Tuesday he made it clear
that the former should play the larger role. Jan 25, 2011 6 Comments
Related: Malloy budget will
take baby steps toward campaign goals
CT Mirror, Jan 25, 2011
Panel approves school funding
change--without union support
CT Mirror, Jan 24, 2011
State bankruptcy bill imminent,
Gingrich says
Jan 21, 2011 · WASHINGTON
(Reuters) – Legislation that would allow U.S. states to file for bankruptcy
will likely be introduced in Congress within the next month, Newt Gingrich ...
Can Drastic Measures Save the
Cash-Strapped States?
By Steven Gray Jan 20,
2011 Much of the country is recovering from the Great Recession, yet in state
capitols, the crisis persists. http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2043086,00.html
Welfare Tab for Children of
Illegal Immigrants Estimated at $600M in L.A. County January 19,
2011 FoxNews.com Los Angeles workers from 32
different unions joined local faith and community leaders at Dodger Stadium
boarding 11 buses bound for Arizona to protest Arizona immigration law SB 1070.
Welfare benefits for the children of illegal immigrants cost
America's
largest county more than $600 million last year, according to a local official
keeping tabs on the cost.
New Jersey - State approves Camden's plan to hike taxes 23 percent By JIM WALSH • Courier-Post Staff • January 29,
2011 TRENTON — A state panel on Friday supported
Camden's request to boost municipal property taxes by 23 percent.
Members of New Jersey's
Local Finance Board unanimously approved lifting the city's 3 percent cap on
property-tax increases. The proposed tax hike -- which could produce $4.2
million per year -- would bolster revenues in a city that recently laid off
almost 400 workers, including half of its police ce.
http://www.courierpostonline.com/article/20110129/NEWS01/101290335/State-approves-Camden-s-plan-to-hike-taxes-23-percent
10 Industries in Which the U.S.
Is No Longer No.1 by Douglas A. McIntyre and
Michael B. Sauter Tuesday, February 1, 2011 24/7 Wall
St - As U.S. manufacturing eroded, so did other critical parts of society.
American children are no longer the best educated in the world. America's
health care system no longer produces the healthiest population. U.S. GDP no
longer grows as quickly as it once did, particularly in the recoveries that
follow recessions. China
now has the fastest-growing large economy in the world. It has passed Japan into the No. 2 spot and economists are
forecasting how long it will take to pass the U.S. Continued at …. http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/111986/10-industries-in-which-the-us-is-no-longer-no-1
How to fix state pensions
without a federal bailout -- The November election sent a message of no more
bailouts. Yet many states could default on debts in 2012, forcing a crisis.
What can be done now?
By the Monitor's
Editorial Board / December 29, 2010
Firing
Public Union Workers Creates Jobs
Public unions in New Haven, Connecticut have not yet gotten the message that
business-as-usual no longer flies. I am quite happy with that because the city
responded by dumping public workers and privatizing services, and that is
exactly what needs to happen. Firing public union workers actually creates
jobs.
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2010/06/firing-public-union-workers-creates.html
Maryland may need 56-percent
property tax hike to cover state debt, report says By Aaron C. Davis Maryland
lawmakers will either have to raise property
taxes by 56 percent over the next five years, or take away $1.1
billion from classrooms, police, and other core state services to cover record
state borrowing, budget analysts said Friday. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/annapolis/2011/01/maryland_needs_56_percent_prop.html
OPM, OFA RELEASE CONSENSUS
REVENUE ESTIMATES
http://www.ct.gov/opm/lib/opm/budget/consensusrevenue/consensusrevenuejanuary2011.pdf
PLAY THIS..... THE GOVERNMENT
CAN - YOU WILL LIKE THIS....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO2eh6f5Go0
Crackdown on Illegal Workers
Grows Wall Street Journal Jan 20, 2011 By MIRIAM JORDAN The Obama
administration plans to intensify a crackdown on employers of illegal
immigrants with the establishment of an audit office designed to bolster
verification of company hiring records. In an
interview, John Morton, chief of U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a unit of the Department of Homeland
Security, said the Employment
Compliance Inspection
Center would
"address a need to conduct audits even of the largest employers with a
very large number of employees." The office would be announced Thursday,
he said. Mr. Morton said that the center would be staffed with specialists who
will pore over the I-9 employee files collected from companies targeted for
audits. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703951704576092381196958362.html?mod=WSJ_hp_MIDDLTopStories
School choice a remedy state
budget By Ben Boychuk Los Angeles Daily News Jan 30, 2011…. As enriching private schools, it's worth noting
the vast disparity in per-pupil spending between public and private schools.
Whereas New York or New
Jersey spends upwards of $20,000 or more per pupil per year, and Washington, D.C., spends
more than $25,000 per pupil each year, the average annual private school
tuition is just $8,500, according to the National Center Education Statistics. Empowering
parents to choose the best school their
children - whether public or private, regardless of ZIP code - isn't just the
right thing to do. With states struggling to overcome yawning budget deficits,
school choice makes good fiscal sense.
Governors and state legislatures across the nation are facing a grim
financial reality: More than $100 billion in federal education stimulus money
is gone. Another bailout isn't thcoming, and voters
have no great appetite additional tax
hikes. After years of pumping up school spending, real cuts are coming. In
fact, they're overdue. With resources tight, the smarter lawmakers and
governors are proposing some ambitious rems. These
include establishing new teacher evaluation rules and ending the practice of
"last hired, first fired" that punishes younger teachers and protects
time-servers; removing expensive class-size mandates; and renegotiating
"Cadillac" pension plans. Excellent ideas all. But states such as
Florida, Indiana, New Jersey, Ohio, and Pennsylvania are also considering
legislation to establish or expand opportunity scholarship programs currently
offering low-income parents or parents with disabled children the means to send
their children to the school of their choice instead of one determined by their
residence. Read full report at http://www.dailynews.com/opinions/ci_17229638
Lawmaker wants 3 pct cap on
ND property tax rises
Valley News Live Associated Press - February 1,
2011 12:35 PM ET
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) -
North Dakota lawmakers are taking another run
at limiting the growth of local property taxes. Fargo
Rep. Jim Kasper is asking the North Dakota
House's Finance and Taxation Committee to support 3% annual caps on the
increase of a landowner's property tax bill. Kasper says the approach will
require local governments to adjust their tax rates to keep spending under the
3% cap. http://www.valleynewslive.com/Global/story.asp?S=13947606