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Stockton Retirees Worry Pension Cuts Follow Health Losses -
(www.bloomberg.com) Retired public employees in bankrupt Stockton, California, who saw health-care coverage
shrink last year may see their pensions decrease next as the city wrangles with
creditors. The biggest U.S. city in bankruptcy, Stockton is preparing a plan for
paying debt that may propose compensating some creditors less than the
principal owed, setting up a likely court challenge from the creditors that the
city’s pension contributions be subject to cuts as well. “As retirees, we are hoping the city is not
forced, required, induced to affect pensions,” said Dwane Milnes, a former
Stockton city manager and president of the Association of Retired Employees of
the City of Stockton, which represents more than 800 retirees. The city of
296,000, an agricultural center about 80 miles (130 kilometers) east of San
Francisco, adopted a budget for operating under bankruptcy that included
reducing health-care premium payments for its retirees last July and
eliminating them entirely a year later to deal with a $540 million unfunded
liability. About 1,100 of the city’s 2,400 retirees received medical benefits
last year.
France misses 2012 deficit target and Spain's shortfall widens
- (www.reuters.com) France and
Spain fell short of their budget deficit goals last year, data showed on
Monday, although the overall fiscal picture for the euro zone improved. France's
2012 budget deficit was 4.8 percent of economic output, statistics office
Eurostat said in the final reading of all 27 countries' public accounts. It
compared with a target of 4.5 percent. Spain's budget shortfall was 7.1
percent, excluding bank recapitalization, higher than the government's 6.98
percent official year-end reading and well above Madrid's original target of
6.3 percent.
Slovenia insists it's not the next Cyprus - (finance.yahoo.com) Slovenian officials have a message for the world: Don't panic — we won't
be the next to fall. The tiny European Union member is trying to convince its
people and foreign investors that it won't be the next in line for a banking
system collapse and a messy international bailout. "We are absolutely no
Cyprus," says new Slovenian Prime Minister Alenka Bratusek. "We don't
need help. All we need is time." But time is running out for the Balkan
state, once considered an East European success story and a model for the rest
of the region on how to build a post-communist economy. With few specifics from
leaders on a rescue plan, some economists are skeptical they can live up to
their promises.
Apple's dimming luster roils suppliers, investors - (www.reuters.com) Apple Inc marketing chief Phil
Schiller let slip during last August's courtroom battle with Samsung that when
setting forecasts for new iPhones, the inside joke was that people should
assume sales would equal all previous versions combined. That quip, uttered in
front of Samsung Electronics Co Ltd's
trial lawyers and the media, no longer rings true as Apple appears to be losing
a once vice-like grip on its supply chain and Wall Street. Suppliers and
investors are struggling to gauge demand for the iconic smartphone as Samsung
and up-and-coming rivals grab market share. Indications of reduced shipments
now send shares in Apple and its component-makers into a tailspin. And
criticism that innovation has stalled after the death of its legendary
co-founder Steve Jobs 18 months ago is hurting sentiment in a stock that closed
the week below $400 for the first time since December 2011.
More
bad news for student loan borrowers - (money.cnn.com)
Graduation season is upon us. It used to be that in the years after
hopeful 20-somethings bid farewell to campus life, they'd start borrowing to
buy many things typically associated with adulthood – namely, a car and a home.
Many had college loans to repay, but that's partly what made brainy go-getters
so attractive to banks and lenders. They typically earn more over a lifetime,
so they seemed like a safe bet. They may still be, but times have changed.
College debt may have once been the good kind ofdebt, but the scale has
grown so big that in many cases it has become more burdensome than helpful. For
the first time in at least a decade, 30-year-olds – the median age of
first-time home buyers – with no history of student loans are more likely to
have a mortgage than those with debts from school, according to a new report by
the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Studies have shown young people aren't borrowing as
much as they used to, and the Fed says the burden of student debt may be the
culprit.
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