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Vallejo,
Calif., once bankrupt, is now a model for cities in an age of austerity - (www.washingtonpost.com) The first couple of years
were ugly. After this working-class port city became the largest in America to declare bankruptcy in 2008, crime and
prostitution surged as the police force was thinned by 40 percent. Firehouses
were shuttered, and funding for libraries and senior centers was slashed.
Foreclosures multiplied and home prices plummeted. But then this city of
116,000 began to reinvent itself. It started using technology to fill personnel
gaps, rallying residents to volunteer to provide public services and offering
local voters the chance to decide how money would be spent — in return for an
increase in the sales tax. For the first time in five years, the city expects
to have enough money to do such things as fill potholes, clear weeds, trim
trees and repair tennis courts. The nation’s cities are weak links in the U.S.
economy and, if they collapse in large numbers, it could knock the country’s
recovery off course. Cuts at the federal level are being pushed down to the
states, which in turn are passing the problems to their cities.
Rajoy Urges ECB Action To Reverse Surge In Spanish Bond Yields
- (www.bloomberg.com) Spanish Prime Minister Mariano
Rajoy called on the European Central Bank to act to bring
down rising borrowing costs after Spanish bond yields approached the levels
that pushed Greece, Ireland and Portugal into
bailouts. “If public debt isn’t sustainable, we have a problem,” he said today
after a meeting of European Union leaders in Brussels. “I insist it is up to
the ECB to take this decision that it has already taken in the past.” Rajoy’s
call for help from the Frankfurt-based ECB was his clearest yet. He has
previously urged unspecified European authorities to help him battle Spain’s
surging yields. The ECB helped ease yields in August when it began buying the
country’s bonds and then lent euro-region banks 1 trillion euros ($1.3
trillion) for three years in December and February, some of which was recycled
into public debt purchases.
HP to lay off 27,000, profit slides 31 percent - (www.reuters.com) Analysts said Hewlett Packard
Co's plan to cut jobs was a step in the right direction but the PC maker will
have to do more to regain investors' confidence. Shares of the world's No. 1
personal computer maker were up 6 percent at $22.26 in early trading on the New
York Stock Exchange on Thursday. "While we certainly don't believe HP has
resolved all their issues, we do see the company moving in the right direction,"
RBC Capital Markets LLC analyst Amit Daryanani wrote in a note to clients. The
accelerating popularity of mobile computing devices such as Apple Inc's iPad has
been eroding PC sales for years and a downturn in the European markets has just
added to the pressure. Rival Dell gave a disappointing revenue forecast Earlier
this week that spurred fears that global tech spending is weakening faster than
anticipated.
Medical
Costs Contribute to Credit Card Debt - (www.nytimes.com) Medical bills are a leading
contributor to credit card debt, a new survey finds. Nearly half of low-
and moderate-income households carry debt from out-of-pocket medical expenses
on their credit cards, the survey found. The average amount of medical debt on
credit cards was $1,678. Demos, a nonpartisan research organization, contracted
with Knowledge Networks to conduct the survey in February and March to gauge
the impact of the recession as well as of the Credit Card Accountability
Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009. The survey, conducted online among
participants selected by random sampling, included 997 adults who had carried
credit card balances for at least three months. The margin of sampling error
was four percentage points.
California
downgrades loan owners, diverts bank extortion booty to others - (www.ochousingnews.com) Many loan owners made
mortgage payments over the last few years when they would have benefited more
from strategic default. Many of those loan owners were motivated by the false
hope of a government bailout bringing principal reduction or other goodies. California
led these sheeple down the path and garnered much public attention for the
tough stance the Attorney General took in favor of loan owners. Everyone
rejoiced. Loan owners could taste the debt relief. Kamala Harris stoked her
political ambitions as a pandering lefty. The banks got relief from further
lawsuits. There was only one problem. Governor Jerry Brown and others in the
state legislature decided giving money to loan owners wasn’t the best use of
taxpayer funds — thankfully. The State is diverting the extortion booty it
garnered from the bank settlement to others leaving loan owners with nothing
but their denial and false hope. Loan owners got screwed.
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