[Source: Los Angeles Times] California has been approved to borrow what is expected to be billions of dollars from the federal government to pay unemployment benefits to those left jobless by the coronavirus pandemic, raising concerns about the cost of repaying the debt. The state made the request as its reserves for paying unemployment benefits Read More…
Tag: debt
Many big cities don’t have enough money to pay their bill
[Source: The Press Enterprise] An analysis of the fiscal health of the 75 most populated cities in the country found that the vast majority don’t have enough money to pay for their bills, including many in California. A new report by transparency group Truth in Accounting found that 64 of the 75 cities owed more Read More…
Pension costs are threatening public services all over California
[Source: Sacramento Bee] California is great at making pension promises, but a dismal failure at properly funding them. The most recent annual report released by the California Public Employees’ Retirement System shows that, as of June 2016, CalPERS was more than $138 billion in debt. The teachers’ retirement system (CalSTRS) is nearly as bad, with Read More…
California exports its poor to Texas, other states, while wealthier people move in
[Source: The Sacramento Bee] California exports more than commodities such as movies, new technologies and produce. It also exports truck drivers, cooks and cashiers. Every year from 2000 through 2015, more people left California than moved in from other states. This migration was not spread evenly across all income groups, a Sacramento Bee review of Read More…
Trump team prepares dramatic cuts
[Source: The Hill] Donald Trump is ready to take an ax to government spending. Staffers for the Trump transition team have been meeting with career staff at the White House ahead of Friday’s presidential inauguration to outline their plans for shrinking the federal bureaucracy, The Hill has learned. The changes they propose are dramatic. The Read More…
Brown probably won’t leave budget deficit, but future cloudy
[Source: The Sacramento Bee] California’s gubernatorial transitions have included a less-than-stellar tradition in recent decades – outgoing governors leaving budget deficits to successors. The current governor, Jerry Brown, started the syndrome in 1983 when he departed after his first gubernatorial stint and left a $1.5 billion budget hole – big money in those days – Read More…
California’s $400 billion debt worries analysts
[Source: San Francisco Chronicle] California has come a long way to dig itself out of budget deficits, but the state remains on shaky ground due to nearly $400 billion in unfunded liabilities and debt from public pensions, retiree health care and bonds, financial analysts say. “Yes, the state’s budget is balanced if you are looking Read More…