Tag Archives: california

California Dreamin’ is Meetin’ with Reality

How Much Could California’s Government Pensions Cost Taxpayers?: This week both of California’s largest government employee pension funds, CalPERS and CalSTRS, released their portfolio earnings numbers for the most recent twelve months. In a statement released on January 24th, “CalSTRS … Continue reading

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California Dreamin’ is Meetin’ with Reality

CalPERS Earned 1.1% on Investments in 2011, Plan Assumptions are 7.75%: The nation’s largest public pension fund, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, posted a 1.1% return on its investment portfolio in 2011, Chief Investment Officer Joseph Dear told his … Continue reading

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Good News for California

Moody’s now rates Illinois as having the worst credit rating in the country.

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This is your train on drugs

Advisory group recommends withholding billions for high-speed rail: Over $2.6 billion in state bond money dedicated for the California’s high-speed rail plan should be withheld until the project establishes a more financially viable business model, an advisory council recommended on … Continue reading

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California’s High Speed Rail Now Projected at $98 Billion

Washington Post – California’s high-speed rail system is going nowhere fast: THINGS JUST WENT from bad to worse for high-speed passenger rail in California. After the Golden State’s voters approved a $9 billion bullet-train bond issue in 2008, officials said … Continue reading

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California dreamin’ is meetin’ with reality

Michael Lewis in Vanity Fair – California and Bust: At that point, if not before, [San Jose] would be nothing more than a vehicle to pay the retirement costs of its former workers. The only clear solution was if former … Continue reading

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Remember California’s High Speed Rail Project?

It’s way over budget. Try to act surprised. The California High-Speed Rail Authority’s new cost estimates released Tuesday show the initial stretch of construction between Merced and Bakersfield will cost $10 billion to $13.9 billion depending on how it’s built. … Continue reading

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Schwarzenegger Decriminalizes the Dope

LA Times – Schwarzenegger approves bill downgrading marijuana possession of ounce or less to an infraction: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who opposes legalization of marijuana for recreational use, has approved legislation downgrading possession of an ounce or less from a misdemeanor … Continue reading

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In Bizarro World Bankruptcy Am Good

Zero Hedge – 32 States Now Officially Bankrupt: $37.8 Billion Borrowed From Treasury To Fund Unemployment; CA, MI, NY Worst: Courtesy of Economic Policy Journal we now know that the majority of American states are currently insolvent, and that the … Continue reading

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Chicago Going as Bankrupt as California

Mish – Illinois Doesn’t Pay Bills; Crisis Pushes Businesses to Edge of Bankruptcy: Illinois isn’t bothering with the formality of issuing IOUs, as California did last year. It simply doesn’t pay. Right now, $4.4 billion worth of bills, some dating … Continue reading

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California Uber Alles

Ride Fast – The California Way – Stealing from the wage earners: As of yesterday, California is stealing an additional 10% of wage earners pay, by pre-deducting today your future taxes of tomorrow. They say it’s all wonderful and rainbow, … Continue reading

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CalPERS actuary says pension costs “unsustainable”

Mish – CalPERS Admits California “Pension Costs Unsustainable” – So What To Do About It? The CalPERS chief actuary says pension costs are “unsustainable,” and the giant public employee pension system plans to meet with stakeholders to discuss the issue. … Continue reading

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California pensions loses 23% of assets, managers get millions in bonuses

Sacramento Bee – CalPERS, CalSTRS award big bonuses despite losses: California’s two biggest public employee pension funds handed out millions of dollars in bonuses last year to their top executives and investment managers, despite losing billions of dollars. The biggest … Continue reading

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California’s farce continues towards its final act

Courthouse News – California won’t accept its own IOUs for payment: SAN FRANCISCO (CN) – Small businesses that received $682 million in IOUs from the state say California expects them to pay taxes on the worthless scraps of paper, but … Continue reading

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Judge orders California to release 40,000 prisoners

Wall Street Journal – California Scrambles to Prepare for Inmate Release: California state and local officials, already reeling from budget cuts and public-safety layoffs, are struggling with a federal order to release about 40,000 inmates to reduce prison overcrowding and … Continue reading

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Study: refinancing, not buying at top, caused most SoCal defaults

Via Calculated Risk: Michael LaCour-Little, a finance professor at California State University at Fullerton, looked at 4,000 foreclosures in Southern California from 2006-08. He found that, at least in Southern California, borrowers who defaulted on their mortgages didn’t purchase their … Continue reading

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CALPERS plans riskier bets to recoup losses on previous risky bets

New York Times – California Pension Fund Hopes Riskier Bets Will Restore Its Health: Mr. Dear wants to embrace some potentially high-risk investments in hopes of higher returns. He aims to pour billions more into beaten-down private equity and hedge … Continue reading

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California pension funds lose $100 billion in a year

LA Times – California’s biggest government pension funds lose almost $100 billion: CalPERS’ preliminary losses were $56.2 billion in the fiscal year that ended last month, while the California State Teachers’ Retirement System lost $43.4 billion. On Tuesday, the country’s … Continue reading

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SEC: Cali. IOUs should be treated as securities

Sacramento Business Journal – SEC rules that IOUs should be treated as securities: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday issued its opinion that California’s IOUs should be treated as securities under federal securities law. Under that opinion, holders … Continue reading

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California: “Dude, where’s 58% of my budget?”

California has the worst budget shortfall of the 50 states, both in dollars and percent of budget: California: $53.7 billion shortfall or 58 percent of its budget Arizona: $4 billion shortfall or 41 percent of its budget Nevada: $1.2 billion … Continue reading

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