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STORIES:
Spain’s Graft Scandals Reach Palace as King’s Adviser Testifies
- (www.bloomberg.com) The graft allegations roiling
the Spanish elite may edge closer to the head of state, King Juan Carlos, when
his son-in-law and a senior palace official testify in court on corruption
charges. Inaki Urdangarin, a former Olympic handball player married to Princess
Cristina, is due to answer questions in Mallorca tomorrow as part of a private
prosecution where he has been named as an official suspect on six counts
including fraud, embezzlement and money laundering, a court spokeswoman said.
Magistrates on the tourist island will also question Carlos Garcia Revenga, the
princess’s personal secretary, who is also a suspect, she said.
Take
That East St. Louis! Detroit Is Ranked Most Miserable City In America - (www.mfi-miami.com) Forbes Magazine released their annual list of the top 20 most miserable cities in
America and the City of Detroit was ranked the number one most miserable city
in America beating out it’s rust belt sister Flint that ranked number two. Detroit’s
ranking really is no surprise considering the city is weeks away from going
bankrupt and hasn’t been able to adequately supply it’s residents with vital
city services for at least a year. Residents wait for hours for police to
respond to calls and street lights don’t work. Veteran reporters like
Steve Neavling at the Motor City Muckraker point out on
almost a daily basis, the city doesn’t even have enough functioning fire trucks
and fire fighters to handle the out of control suspicious fires that are
ravaging the city’s neighborhoods. Detroit’s problems are hardly new. The City
has been in a five-decade decline, paralleling the slide of the U.S. auto
industry and the city’s debt rating was cut to junk by Moody’s in 1992 and
today, the Detroit News posted a story about how
over half of the property owners in Detroit refuse to pay their tax bills.
Spain’s Deficit Widened to 10.2% on Bank-Rescue Cost: EU -
(www.bloomberg.com) Economic and Monetary
CommissionerOlli Rehn said Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy must convince
European Union officials he can stabilize public finances before gaining extra
time to cut the budget deficit. Spain’s budget gap widened to 10.2 percent of
gross domestic product in 2012, the most in three years, and will still be 7.2
percent in 2014 -- more than twice its 2.8 percent target -- as temporary
austerity measures expire, the EU forecast today. Rajoy’s bank rescue program
added 3.2 percentage points to the shortfall last year.
S&P
Probe by Massachusetts Said to Extend to Post-Crisis Ratings - (www.bloomberg.com) Standard & Poor’s practices for
grading commercial property bonds since the 2008 credit crisis are drawing
scrutiny from Massachusetts authorities, according to three people with
knowledge of the matter. The scope of the probe by state Attorney General Martha
Coakley extends beyond the securities and period that are the
subject of a lawsuit brought by the U.S. Justice Department against New
York-based McGraw-Hill Cos. and its S&P unit. Coakley is looking into
whether the world’s biggest credit- rating company lowered its standards to win
business ranking commercial property bonds as the market recovered from the
worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, said the people, who asked
not to be identified because they’re not authorized to speak publicly about the
case. Her office acknowledged conducting a probe of S&P earlier this month.
Mammoth debt hangs over next Italian government - (www.reuters.com) Whoever wins Italy's
elections this weekend will inherit a 2 trillion euro ($2.7 trillion) public
debt that is draining badly needed funds which would be better used to spur
growth. At 126 percent of gross domestic product, Italy's debt is at its
highest since World War One. Tough austerity measures since November 2011 by
the outgoing technocrat government of Mario Monti pulled Italy from the brink of a Greek-style
financial collapse, but did not stop the debt mountain rising. In the run-up to
February 24-25 parliamentary elections, all the main parties have put forward
their own debt-cutting recipes.
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