• 1) Burris: Bankruptcy a Possibility if Sales Tax Doesn’t Pass(city of Springfield)

“A three-fourth cent sales tax will cost residents in the city of Springfield an extra seven cents every time they buy a ten-dollar meal. However, City Manager Greg Burris says if the sales tax doesn’t pass, it could cost residents much more.

“It’s not as much a question of can we afford to do this? It’s a question of can we afford not to do this? I don’t know where we’re headed if it fails, but one possibility is municipal bankruptcy.””

• 2) State pensions face $2B shortfall (Montana)

“With the value of their investment assets plunging for the year ending June 30, Montana’s two major state pension funds racked up massive increases in their unfunded liabilities, a legislative committee learned Friday.

Unfunded liabilities are potential shortfalls in pension funds. Large unfunded liabilities can signal serious future financial problems if major changes aren’t made.”

• 3) Budget Tsunami (Los Angeles)

“More than likely, the City will attempt to float a massive, “covenant lite,” long term bond offering to fund the estimated $3.5 billion unfunded pension liability for LACERS. This will alleviate the pressure on the General Fund for the short term, but future revenues will be used to fund current and past operating expenses.”

• 4) Be Prepared for the Worst (Ron Paul)

“Paying for these programs out of tax revenues is pure redistribution; it takes money out of one person’s pocket and gives it to someone else without creating any new wealth. Besides, tax revenues have fallen drastically as unemployment has risen, yet government spending continues to increase. As for Treasury debt, the Chinese and other foreign investors are more and more reluctant to buy it, denominated as it is in depreciating dollars.

The only remaining option is to have the Fed create new money out of thin air. This is inflation. Higher prices lead to a devalued dollar and a lower standard of living for Americans. The Fed has already overseen a 95% loss in the dollar’s purchasing power since 1913. If we do not stop this profligate spending soon, we risk hyperinflation and seeing a 95% devaluation every year.”

• 5) Paterson: NYS budget deficit up to $3.2 billion

“ALBANY - With the recession pinching tax collections, this year’s state budget deficit has climbed $1.1 billion since July to $3.2 billion, according to a report due out Friday.

The state Budget Division also predicts next year’s deficit will total $6.8 billion, up $2.2 billion from July’s estimate.”

….5A) Paterson says Combined Budget Deficit Now at $10b

“ALBANY, NEW YORK (WXXI) - Governor Paterson, at a meeting with legislative leaders, said the state’s budget deficit has grown even bigger, and that lawmakers now face closing a combined $10 billion dollar gap for the end of this fiscal year and the start of the next.”

• 6) Governor says state deficit could reach $5 billion (Arizona)

“Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer told the Yuma Sun during her Wednesday visit to the city that the state faces a now-estimated $2 billion deficit for the coming year.

And she said if there isn’t a solution soon, the estimated deficit could reach $5 billion.”

• 7) New Jersey Job Woes to Persist to 2019, Rutgers Says

“The nonpartisan Office of Legislative Services projects the state will confront a deficit of as much as $8 billion next year as rising unemployment and damped consumer spending depress tax receipts. The revenue gap is more than 25 percent of the $29 billion budget enacted by Governor Jon Corzine, the former co- chairman of Goldman Sachs & Co., in June.”

• New York’s Hospitals are Facing a Catastrophic Financial Collapse (Scroll down to see graph)

“Hospital administrators in virtually every community in the state are scrambling to save critical health care services and tens of thousands of jobs as repeated state budget cuts and the weak economy cause a catastrophic collapse in hospital finances.

Hospital bottom line margins fell to a staggering (negative) -6.22% in 2008, down precipitously from the 2007 level of positive 3.15%, according to the Healthcare Association of New York State’s (HANYS) review of the most recent available full-year audited financial statements.

In raw dollars, that collapse amounts to a reversal of nearly $5 billion in just one year, netting a total loss of $3.15 billion in 2008 alone. Similarly, hospital operating margins fell from 1.65% in 2007 to -0.9% in 2008, a collapse of nearly $1.3 billion over the year, resulting in a net operating loss of $480 million in 2008.”

• 9) Engineers: (SF)Bay Bridge woes show need for critical action (CNN)

“According to a 2009 American Society of Civil Engineers report, more than 26 percent of the nation’s bridges are either structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials estimated in 2008 that it would cost roughly $140 billion to repair every deficient bridge in the country.”

• 10) Tisei: State fiscal crisis demands action (Massachusetts)

“The governor’s decision to exercise his 9C budget-cutting powers follows news that first-quarter tax revenues collected between July and September came in not only $477 million lower than last year, but also $212 million short of the year-to-date benchmarks. With revenues continuing to trend downward, some economists believe the actual deficit could end up being closer to $1 billion or more.”

• 11) Turkey plans to dump dollar in trade with Iran

“ANKARA, Oct 30 (Reuters) - Turkey is seeking to switch to payments in national currencies for $10 billion worth of trade with neighbouring Iran to lessen exchange rate risks and bolster trade volumes, a Turkish government source said on Friday.”

• 12) CIT Bonds Signal Bankruptcy Inevitable as Debt Exchange Expires

“Oct. 30 (Bloomberg) — CIT Group Inc. bond and credit- default swap prices show that investors are betting the 101- year-old commercial lender will file for bankruptcy after the deadline for a debt exchange expired overnight.”

• 13) Moody’s - $180 bln or 65 pct of US CLOs downgraded

“ NEW YORK, Oct 30 (Reuters) - Moody’s Investors Service on Friday said it has downgraded $180 billion of U.S. collateralized loan obligations, or about 65 percent of deals it reviewed, as part of a broad appraisal of CLO ratings.”

“The downgrades reflect “unprecedented credit stress that the corporate sector has been experiencing,” Moody’s said.”

• 14) Soros Says ‘Bloodletting’ Yet to Come for LBOs

“In commercial real estate and leveraged buyouts, the bloodletting is yet to come,” Soros said today during a lecture organized by the Central European University in Budapest, where he was born. “These factors will continue to weigh on the American economy, and the American consumer will no longer be able to serve as the motor for the world economy.”

• 15) Colliers: U.S. industrial vacancy rate hits decade high

“The national industrial vacancy rate rose to a decade-high 10.5 percent in the third quarter as the recession prompted companies to close their doors or scale back operations, according to a report released Thursday by commercial real estate firm Colliers International Inc.”

• 16) Irondale considers bankruptcy as option
  • 17) Hard Times in the City of Sin “The financial crisis has mauled Las Vegas like no other city. What was once the land of luxury and excess is now the home of empty houses and broken dreams. While the city and its investors keep hoping for a turnaround, others see long, lean years ahead.”
• 18) Dixon: Baltimore may tap ‘rainy day’ fund

“Facing a $60 million shortfall in this budget cycle, Dixon said she already is preparing to meet further gaps with what were once considered solutions of last resort. Hiking property, energy or personal income taxes; weighing other “revenue measures” explored in a soon-to-be released study on fees; and tapping into the rainy day fund are all options, she said.”

19) Louisiana health secretary says deficit tops $250M

“Louisiana’s Medicaid program is more than $250 million over budget this year, as swine flu made costs rise and Medicaid rolls grew amid the national recession, the state health secretary said.”

20) Wilbur Ross Sees ‘Huge’ Commercial Real Estate Crash

“Oct. 30 (Bloomberg) — Billionaire investor Wilbur L. Ross Jr. said today that the U.S. is at the beginning of a “huge crash in commercial real estate.”

“All of the components of real estate value are going in the wrong direction simultaneously,” said Ross, one of nine money managers participating in a government program to remove toxic assets from bank balance sheets. “Occupancy rates are going down. Rent rates are going down and the capitalization rate — the return that investors are demanding to buy a property — are going up.””

• 21) 3 Issuers Default This Week, S&P’s 2009 Tally To 238

“Another three corporate debt issuers defaulted this week, bringing the year-to-date total to 238, triple the level at this point last year, according to Standard & Poor’s.”

• 22) Layoffs, trial delays forecast for Alabama courts

“MONTGOMERY, Ala. — More than 20 percent of Alabama’s court system employees might have to be laid off and jury trials postponed if its budget is cut as deeply as some have projected, the state’s chief justice said.”

…..From all of  the news above I guess we can see where the economy went. Is that Hank Paulson I hear laughing?

- Saxplayer001