Michigan
Residents Are In Denial As State Dies A Slow Agonizing Death - (www.mfi-miami.com) The problem really boils down to the fact
that Detroit’s financial problems are only precursor of what will happen
statewide and what is already happening in some communities and school
districts across Michigan. Six other municipalities and seven school districts
are under state control and another dozen are on the Governor’s watch list. Michigan’s tax
base will continue to erode. Michigan’s best and brightest have been
departing the state in droves for decades leaving only unskilled assembly line
workers, farmhands, government workers, welfare recipients and old age
pensioners. Like the automobile industry, Michigan’s best and brightest are
leaving the state in droves and don’t plan on going back and along with it
potential tax revenue. This freeways in southeast Michigan are filled with
miles of potholes and broken concrete that make the freeways through war-torn
Sarajevo look like a model of freeway construction because there is no revenue
to fix it. The Director of the Michigan Department of Transportation last month
admitted that his department was so broke that they didn’t have enough money to
cut down the six foot high weeds growing on the service drive of I-696 in
suburban Detroit.
Lew
Presses Congress as U.S. Faces Oct. 17 Deadline - (www.bloomberg.com) The U.S. has started using final
extraordinary measures to avoid a breach of the nation’s debt limit, Treasury
Secretary Jacob J. Lew said as he pressed Congress to increase borrowing
authority “immediately.” Lew, in a letter addressed to House Speaker John Boehner dated yesterday, repeated that the
measures will be exhausted no later than Oct. 17. When that happens, “we will
be left to meet our country’s commitments at that time with only approximately
$30 billion,” he said, “far short of net expenditures on certain days, which
can be as high as $60 billion.” Lew and President Barack Obama have said they won’t
negotiate on the limit, which is
tied to obligations the U.S. has already incurred. Boehner, an Ohio Republican,
has issued a list of demands before he’ll support raising the ceiling. His
conditions include approval of TransCanada Corp.’s Keystone XL pipeline,
major revisions to the tax code and a
one-year delay of the insurance mandate in the Obama health-care law.
Michigan
Tax Board To Investigate City Of Detroit For Overcharging On Property Taxes - (www.mfi-miami.com) Adjustments Could Cost City $35-$40 Million A
Year In Ill-Gotten Property Tax Revenues. Are these homes worth $65,000? The
City of Detroit say they are even though they just sold for $500. One of things
that pissed me off when Detroit Cancer Mom, Kelly Parker and I were battling to
keep her home wasn’t the arrogance of Wayne County political
appointees like Assistant Treasurer David Szymanski and his
staff or the foul mouthed ghetto fabulous divas at the
Wayne County Register of Deeds, but the fact that Kelly’s property tax
bills are based on values that appear to have been taken from a condo
development on Fantasy Island rather than in the neighborhoods of Detroit. I
began writing about this in November of 2012 when all
the details of the deal saving Kelly’s house were finalized. As I have I
have pointed out, Kelly’s tax bills were based on the the purchase price
of the house from 2005. Like in Kelly’s case, many of these homeowners
purchased their homes at top dollar before the crash and thanks to unscrupulous
finance people these purchase prices were based on inflated appraisals.
This tax scheme has allowed the City of Detroit and Wayne County to enforce tax
bills based on numbers 500% higher than they should be. Assuming 90% of
Detroit’s property owners were paying their taxes, MFI-Miami’s calculation
indicate Detroit would be losing about $35-$40 million a year in receivables.
Oops!
BlackBerry is in worse shape than it thought - (money.cnn.com) More bad news for BlackBerry. The smartphone
company said Wednesday that its business is in even worse shape than what it
reported just a few weeks ago. BlackBerry said the 4,500 employees it is laying off by the end
of the year will cost $400 million -- four times as
much as the company had previously expected. That's particularly bad news,
since BlackBerry is racking up giant quarterly losses and rapidly burning
through its cash. The company is also quickly losing its appeal in key markets.
BlackBerry said Wednesday that customers in typically loyal international
markets are switching allegiances to Google Android devices. BlackBerry
also said consumers are looking for devices with the largest number of apps.
That's definitely not BlackBerry's forte.
Weak
Trading, Mortgage Slump, Legal Costs to Cut Results at Banks - (online.wsj.com) New troubles are piling up for U.S. banks as
they prepare to release third-quarter results amid warnings of weak trading
revenue, a sharp decline in mortgage-refinancing activity and rising legal
costs. Analysts are scrambling to ratchet down earnings estimates ahead of the
reports. J.P. Morgan Chase &
Co. and Wells Fargo &
Co. are slated to post results on Oct. 11, with Citigroup Inc., Bank of America Corp., Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. due
to weigh in the following week. Poor results could prompt additional job cuts
and worsen the already downcast mood on Wall Street, bankers and recruiters
said. "I haven't seen morale this bad since the Titanic," said
Richard Stein, a senior recruiter at Caldwell Partners who
specializes in financial services.
Exclusive:
Time for Gates to go, some top Microsoft investors tell board - (www.reuters.com)
Wall Street banks likely stung again by bad bond-trading quarter - (www.reuters.com)
Wall Street banks likely stung again by bad bond-trading quarter - (www.reuters.com)
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