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NYT Reports States Looking For Ways To File Bankruptcy, Muni Bondholders To Be GMed
A few days ago we reported that Newt Gingrich was pushing for legislation to allow states to file for bankruptcy, "allowing Them To Renege On Pension And Benefit Obligations." As we speculated back then "obviously what this means for equity investors in assorted muni
investments is that a complete wipe out is becoming a possibility, as
Meredith Whitney's prediction, which everyone was quick to mock and
ridicule, is about to come back with a vengeance." Sure enough, this most recent development in the states' path to insolvency was quickly ignored as it was not a dipping mushroom cloud that could be bought. Until tonight: the NYT has just rehashed the post in an article that would not only validate the Whitney thesis if true, but make a Cramer-Bove out of everyone who has been caught on tape in the past two weeks kicking and screaming that there is no chance in hell the carnage predicted by the scourge of Citigroup (and yes, back in 2007 everyone said that Citi could never fail either). From the NYT: "Policy makers are working behind the scenes to come up with a way to let
states declare bankruptcy and get out from under crushing debts,
including the pensions they have promised to retired public workers." Which means that up to $3 trillion in muni debt has a high probability of being GMed, precisely as we predicted: "proponents say some states are so burdened that the only feasible way out may be bankruptcy, giving Illinois, for example, the opportunity to do what General Motors did with the federal government’s aid." Oh, and since all this constitutes an EOD, readers are strongly urged to re-read the primer on what pervasive state bankruptcies will mean for muni CDS (hint: the MCDX is cheap).
From tonight's NYT:
Beyond their short-term budget gaps, some states have deep structural problems, like insolvent pension funds, that are diverting money from essential public services like education and health care. Some members of Congress fear that it is just a matter of time before a state seeks a bailout, say bankruptcy lawyers who have been consulted by Congressional aides.
But... but... the Paul Krugmans at the CBPP just said that not only do states need more debt, but their pension funds are sure to generate 8% returns. In perpetuity and then some.
Bankruptcy could permit a state to alter its contractual promises to retirees, which are often protected by state constitutions, and it could provide an alternative to a no-strings bailout. Along with retirees, however, investors in a state’s bonds could suffer, possibly ending up at the back of the line as unsecured creditors.
So basically, GM? Thank you Steve Rattner.
House Republicans, and Senators from both parties, have taken an interest in the issue, with nudging from bankruptcy lawyers and a former House speaker, Newt Gingrich, who could be a Republican presidential candidate. It would be difficult to get a bill through Congress, not only because of the constitutional questions and the complexities of bankruptcy law, but also because of fears that even talk of such a law could make the states’ problems worse.
Lawmakers might decide to stop short of a full-blown bankruptcy proposal and establish instead some sort of oversight panel for distressed states, akin to the Municipal Assistance Corporation, which helped New York City during its fiscal crisis of 1975.
Still, discussions about something as far-reaching as bankruptcy could give governors and others more leverage in bargaining with unionized public workers.
“They are readying a massive assault on us,” said Charles M. Loveless, legislative director of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. “We’re taking this very seriously.
You can read the rest here. It is pretty self-explanatory.
Fast forward to 2013 when Goldman of American PIMCO Lynch, Jefferies Stanley Tabak, BlackRock Morgan and Citibank of Rangoon all win the mandate to IPO the government's $100 billion stake in the bankrupt state of California, preceded by a 10,000% 5 day market melt up in which every single short share in the world is recalled by State Street. And the official spin by the Palin administration: "this is a huge stamp of approval and confidence by the communist capital markets in the capability of Brian Sack's solitary Bloomberg terminal to manipulate each and every asset price to levels not even Jim Cramer ever thought possible."
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Nice.
The pun is delicious.
/stewie
9 billion bullet sales in the US in 2009 can't be wrong.
Don't fight the tape.
If you think 9 billion bullets fired in this country is the answer to anything you are beyond redemption. Use just one one yourself.
Ya why don't you go protect your precious financial system that does nothing but count to potato. What's the real problem here. Don't like being reminded that the monopoly on violence is just an illusion.
That's an impressive sales number for factory ammo, and one that I was unaware of.
Don't forget about the reloaders, though. There remains little doubt in my mind that the volume of reloaded ammunition in the USA far exceeds any and all factory ammo caches.
I live in the inland Pacific Northwest. The L.D.S. church (Mormon) has established quite the presence in this part of the country. They are organized. They are prepared. They are closing ranks.
They reload their own ammunition. Lots of it.
BTW, I'm not a Mormon.
The problem there is the fact that reloaders are on the bottom of the primer distribution list. Max annual output is roughly 12 billion, balls to the wall. The factory mfgs get first call. It may be wise to stockpile primers for stored ammo, and barter with reloaders.
Don't bother. If war comes to american citizens all your reloading suppies will be turned into IED's. Either by being talked into how wise it is or pulling on the wrong car door. People will break down useless shit like 22 rounds and .38 special for ied supplies.
I respectfully disagree on the .22 caliber being "useless shit".
.22 long is an outstanding sniper round. Flat trajectory, excellent muzzle velocity, and (at least for the time being) very cost-effective.
You just gotta go for the head shot. Aim for the forehead and/or eye-sockets.
Also, one can make an excellent improvised incendiary round with a hollow-point .22 long and one of those replacement flints for a Zippo lighter.
Just sayin'.
Ya. I wasn't fully explaining myself. It is an EXTREMELY useful round but it's so useful that it's in a massive abundance so will get retasked.
The pensioners are not going quietly. I suspect strongly they, and the unions, have enough political clout to get the whole thing obstructed. Their point will be :
The States have no need for this. They have all the tools they need to fulfill their contractual obligations.
And that will be a powerful point. They can point at tax increases. How can a court deny this?
Beyond that, politically, I see no way in hell this happens this year. The Debt Ceiling battle should consume a couple of months, then there are another couple of months of recess, and then the 2012 primary maneuvering will be underway.
There is just too much pending for something of this magnitude to get through a divided govt this year, and next year in an election year? Hard to see it.
You are right about the timing, but these bastards in DC may try to pull this off via executive orders, foreign "investors", and court rulings. Whatever happens, the public sector unions will be smiling.
Obama has already exhibited a propensity to pee on the constitution. (No birth cert, Tarp rickrolled into GM bondholder wipeout, Uncontrolled spending, ObamaSocialistCare legislated thru gimickry, Fed lawsuit vs Arizona, &c, &c, &c) Why stop now? Who's in his way?
surely this report must be in error as the robust economic recovery with green shoots cum rain forrest will generate excessive tax revenues as far as the eye can see.....
but what's good for the states is good for the federal government....
and fuck newt gingrich...
If there was a widespread muni default, how if at all would this affect insurance companies?
Bingo.
How broadly are these things swapped . . . ANDDDD . . . do the swaps extend overseas?
If they do, Illinois could be TBTF and Germany may have to ante up.
premiums quintuple overnight, all claims denied until insurance bailout fund recapitalizes their balance sheet. count on that.
Insurance companies would be made whole by taxpayers, especially if GS and Buffett are invested in them. AIG deju vu all over again.
Annuities would be obliterated. The one single investment vehicle that skated thru 2008-9 and no one knows how ooooo soooo close that was. I mean Whoa!!
Traveler's insurance is supposed to go bankrupt at some point in this mess.
"GM'ed" verb - to receive non-consentual sex from banksters and judges without a thanks, kiss, or reach around.
also see
"Chryslered"
and
"WaMued"
First laugh of the day. Did you ever consider doing a dictionary.
does it really matter at this point?
They'll "create" McMoney to play this game as long as they can. There is NO NEED for physical representation of money: the 'boardmasters' can just create a representation of wealth as they go along, and can keep the dice rolling. It's all simulacra. All illusionary and dependant on the foolish desires of the willing and ignorant masses.
The game only ends when they can't get anything else out of you. Too bad for you and I that we're still worth something as actual slaves.
Think about how the credit system works: they "give you" their "credit" (which is nothing but some relatively sanctioned "I sez it's good for something" standard) and in return, they get actual wealth.
They won't stop. They will not stop, even after they own everything, they'll want more.
People are fools, these docile cow masses...so pathetic--gamed, used, exploited--and they still seek to suckle from the teat of their corporate owners.
Good post.
No offence intended, but I admire your level of nihilism. (It mirrors my own.)
Perhaps "level of realism"?
Realism.
People need to face reality before they can fix reality.
Just to set the record straight:
When banks fail, we the people bail them out immediately and without question. You are not supposed to question this or get labeled a 'populist (read terrorist)'. Taxpayer money will be used to make their bondholders whole despite their lousy business judgement. And all the bankers get to keep their salaries, bonuses, golden parachutes and expense accounts intact. After all, these are gentlemen we're talking about.
When states fail, no way that you get a choice to use your money to bail out your state. That too is a form of terrorism, not to be discussed or mentioned. And Muni bondholders need to be punished for bad business judgement. And get this: taxpayers don't pay once but twice! Taxes will remain high or be higher, and all your favorite muni services will get cut back: Cops, fire houses (already happening in NYC), ambulance workers, sanitation, health inspectors, municipal ER and hospital workers including nurses and doctors, judges, health clinics and board of health, licensing offices, DMV staff, road repair crews, fire inspectors, and restaurant inspectors. And state employees also need to pay through defaults on their promised pay because, understand, unlike the bankers they are not gentlemen. You can understand that.
Don't get into an accident while in a post-bankruptcy state. Your chance of survival will be, well, measurably but acceptably less
" and all your favorite muni services will get cut back: Cops, fire houses (already happening in NYC), ambulance workers, sanitation, health inspectors, judges, health clinics and board of health, licensing offices, road repair crews, fire inspectors, and restaurant inspectors."
They may be YOUR favorite...but I'm grinning ear to ear at the thought of these parasites wallowing in filth.
Yeah we're going to wow the world with our before and after picture! Foreign journalists will go back to loving all the crime scene pics and horror stories. Enjoy! :)
RIIIIIIGGGGHHHT!
But only for those self less government thugs there'd be blood in the streets!
Got any other 4th grade civics class fairy tales you want to tell?
People can say this and that about govt union workers pensions but more and more residents will vote with their feet and will leave these areas. The tax base will further implode - see Detroit and Camden, NJ.
If the Feds try to print more money to cover for these states then it is over.
Yeah but the most likely bankruptcy states also include CA, NY, IL. Think TX wants em all??
Nobody wants those f**ks but Californicators are like locust spreading north and east. Ditto NY'ers and NJ'ers who are destroying NC, SC, TN, FL. Massholes destroying NH.
Inner city Detroit being a physical model of your theory.
Realtor.com- Homes- Detroit. $0-$1000. 59 found.
http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-search/Detroit_MI/price-na-1000?source=web#pg-6
Agree
We're talking states, not cities.
And by the way, epidemics have a way of not honoring state lines :-)
Detroit isn't operating under any bankruptcy provisions I'm aware of but the model-your model- e.g. higher taxes, less services, &c leads to emigration of productive enterprise and population creating economic and physical "dead zones". One can always speculate and buy ranch homes someplace like Riverside County like Jim Cramer. Was in Adelanto a few weeks ago. You wouldn't want to live there.
CE, maybe the double standard would throw the spotlight back on Bernanke, no?
Maybe it really would spark a true fire that would light the absolute scam that is The Federal Reserve ablaze.
Just speaking for myself, two wrongs don't make a right. There has to be some end to the farce of 'riskless' risk assets, like bonds and things, or the bailouts would never end, no matter how insanely parties, including government entities, acted.
Just speaking for myself, two wrongs don't make a right. There has to be some end to the farce of 'riskless' risk assets, like bonds and things, or the bailouts would never end, no matter how insanely parties, including government entities, acted.
Definitely. It seems like they never learn. People were 'angry' at the bailouts of 08-09 (most of which are ongoing in one form or other like QE and Fed balance sheet). banks get to enjoy 'legalized cheating'. They can alter their accounting to fit the farce. But they are part of the new US Nobility! A cast that is above most laws and beyond the questioning of the public. And in collusion with the Fed and members of the government, they are allowed to operate in secret. But on the most practical level, money from US present and future taxpayers is being disbursed to favor one group at the total expense of another. It's very much like the way decisions were made by the King of England in the 16-1700s (which we supposedly revolted against, remember?). We now have influential Lords counseling the King much like back then. And everyone else, well, if they're veterans we'll pay for the coffin.
Key point: the checks and balances system is veering out of control and has been short circuited. Yes, no matter how insane the bailout it will be done and won't be challenged. But risk having TB epidemics because of lack of board of health monitoring and reporting? No problem. It seems that the Republican high officials, far from being Tea Party oriented, are just the opposite: elitists.
By the time the sheepeople figure out they are only switching figure heads.. that the results will be exactly the same... ????
All of those Billions under the control of those hated Union / Retirement / State Entitlement Programs...
http://www.google.com/#sclient=psy&hl=en&q=state+employee+retirement+system&aq=0&aqi=g4g-o1&aql=&oq=&pbx=1&fp=f71c9d2b3ccf4dd5
or... should I say trillions? lol
now up for grabs!
Party on BITCHEZ!!!!
CE: You raise an excellent argument. First, I am not sure we should be bailing anyone out whether it be bankers or states. Second, howver, we have crossed some sort of barrier through TARP, GM, AIG, GE and other private sector bailouts. Third, we have created a huge political problem. The immediate state deficits are a lot less than the $23 T of guarantees and bailouts affored the private financial sector.
How does one now argue that we must draw the line and not bail out the municipal sector? We have created bailout nation. If we cross the line what do our foreign creditors think? Can Bernanke leverage the US balance sheet ad infinitum?
What of the citizens of states who were prudent? Does Texas pay for California's profligacy?
What a mess!
CE and you both raise legitimate points.
The problem as I see it is whether we're setting the table further to have a 'riskless' market for asset holders, including state bond holders, and whether we're going to not allow taxpayers in even the most reckless states the ability to NOT be crushed by what would amount to Weimar-like reparations (via insane taxes & fees that would crush their incomes and private sector business activity).
I'd like to think that states defaulting on their debts are going to have to pay much higher rates to obtain financing going forward, and closer to true market forces of risk/reward premiums will guide pricing of debt issuances.
A return to markets that allow failure and also reward risk, rather than a monotone 'everyone is saved' bailout culture for asset holders would do much good in stoking due diligence on the part of investors.
A return to markets that allow failure and also reward risk, rather than a monotone 'everyone is saved' bailout culture for asset holders would do much good in stoking due diligence on the part of investors.
Ahh but there's the rub. You can never revoke the contract with the Devil. Once rules are subject to exceptions, then they proliferate. Just like new tax law loopholes. Just like junkies can't just have one.
Coke and a Hooker in every Pot!
You're making an exellent point and it's one thing that cannot be repeated enough.
The BANKERS got bailed out. Not America got bailed out, the BANKERS got bailed out.
America could have done business as usual without the TARP program. It would have been a bit of an adjustment but it wouldn't have destroyed the currency. It might have had the opposite effect even.
2 years later and one muni, one city, one state after another face severe financial hardship.
Where are the BANKERS now?
Exactly. Now the story changes entirely when the public sector needs a rescue. In capitalism, it's supposed to be the opposite: private is private is private enterprise. But we learned through this dark chapter in US history, that 'Some are more private than others'. Some have the ear of the King, and others do not.
Moreover, using public funds for private bailouts was a line not to cross. But further contributing to the decline by not using public funds for public purposes seems self-defeating. At the root of it is the question: How are we as a nation supposed to prosper if we can't even afford to pave a pothole? Or put out fires, or stave off epidemics? And if we're a 'nation of laws', how can we expect due process if there aren't enough judges?
I don't think it's possible for anyone to have been more opposed to TARP/TALF/QE-POMO than me.
In fact, I called it "high crimes," and "the greatest wealth transfer by massive larceny from the taxpayers to the private sector" in the history of the U.S.
I do realize that the scale of state bailouts is monetarily far smaller than TARP/TALF/QE-POMO, but it does reinforce the 'riskless' risk asset mindset that's brewing a crisis of epic proportions, because it's playing up the same values (or lack thereof) when it comes to markets.
I would be insincere if I also didn't disclose that I believed state government is larded heavily, and that redundant, unnecessary, woefully inefficient services and compensation/benefits to state employees wasn't an absolute travesty, and a crime upon state businesses and taxpayers, also. I didn't have to add that, but it is my opinion, and maybe it affects my views here, as I'm paying $13,000 per year in taxes on my primary residence (granted, that money is going to the local unit of government, and not the state), and I'm getting NOTHING more in return than the guy who is paying $360 per year and lives in a trailer (that amount being fixed by state statute, however).
I agree with all you've said. But I believe that the policies and decisions being handed down are ultimately unhealthy for the future prosperity and well-being of the USA.
We're drifting rapidly toward state run capitalism. The government was allowed to pic winners and losers. That precludes competition and new entrants. Might as well post a sign saying: 'New ideas not welcome!' Exactly the opposite pattern from a healthy vital economy. Favoring rot and inefficiency over creativity and innovation. Yuk.
And we're also ignoring the public sector's vitality at our own peril. Nobody disputes that the Interstate Highway Act was a crucial government project that enabled the US to lead in commerce for two generations. Today we would label such a project "Pork".
I don't think that official corruption is a valid excuse for neglecting progress. There has been and always will be corruption in government as well as corporate headquarters and on the street. There are ways that all societies deal with that and it needs to be done. Should the founding fathers have not worked to make a new nation because of the fear of 'pork' and the inevitability of corruption?
A lot of what you said has me re-examining this issue, regardless as to whether I change my preconceived opinion, or by how much.
In other words, you've made some excellent points, as have some others.
As a parting thought, maybe we should make any bank/institution having access to TARP or TALF, or receiving commissions via POMO Treasury sales, bail out state pensions, with the additional kicker that they are forbidden to pass the costs on to their customers.
After all, POMO commissions (complete gravy and totally unnecessary, as ZH has so eloquently explained) on Treasury Bond sales are 60 billion a year in free money to the Primary Dealers, alone.
It is time to cut the Fat... the FED's Fat? who else... ?
That guy lives in a trailer would trade places with you, you fuck.
If he could afford my taxes, and he has the fiscal discipline to live in a trailer, he's a better man than I.
Those trailers depreciate at a rate of about 90% over 5 years. The trailer parks get those people on the rent of the 'pads,' which is about $250 to $350 per month.
Likely he is a better man than you. I doubt he takes a man in a worse situation than himself and lays his petty anxieties there.
Right, because a) you're being serious (not), and b) you like ruining good debate with hit & run troll attacks.
The guy in the trailer pays NO real property taxes, which support public schools, while I pay $13k a year into the system, even if I plan on sending my kids to private schools (I'm not saying I do or don't, but pointing out another glaring 'issue').
But I'm sure you have a ready-made, trollish response to this societal/ethical/political issue, also.
Snowball is that you? Why do liberals always have a prescription for that guy over there, never themselves, obama forbid.. Why don't you go live in the trailer or are you the designated conscience of America, bitch..
+1
Appreciate your contributions, caviar emptor.
Let me to suppose that US States and US' cities are not important to jewish financial mafia.
@CE - very nice post, too many people forget this aspect of it.
I see the idiot types are thick in here tonight. Too blinded by anger to see the obvious. Sad, everyone's ready to tear each other apart in civil war now. Where was all this rage and anger when the banks were bailed out?
Oh, it was there then. It has only grown more intense. If memory serves, the War of Northern Aggression did allow the banks to make a lot of money (see Greenbacks).
Are you joking, most of us were fit to be tied.. The calls to Congress were if memory serves 300/1... What are you looking for gnashing of teeth, pulling hair, self immolation??
+1
You forget, the bankster, FIRE economy must be fed at an exponential rate. Your austerity is required for their multi million bonuses demand it.
Poor services, expensive food, medicines and gas, broken roads, no police force are the natural sacrifice that you and I will gladly offer to the idols of the vampire squid.
BTW, Misean is an idiot.
"all your favorite muni services will get cut back"
Depends on where you live. Economically viable places will be OK. Other places are "over-serviced" and the cutbacks won't matter.
Then there is the NY - NJ area.
You had plans... and look where that got you???
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRG1tWQN6e8&feature
Meredith Witney, official Annunciator of the (Bond) Apocalypse, bless her mathematically proficient, truth speaking heart, should retire Right Now, having made the timely prediction of a lifetime, on air, in front of, as an old classmate of mine once said "god and everybody". As much as we need people like her, the smart thing for her to do is spend the rest of her life giving ambiguous hints, and resting upon her well-earned laurels.
She came, she Saw, she Told.
Sorry Jasper, Meredith Witney said lots, with a lot of meat on the bones, and deserves some praise for simply pointing out the undeniable, but she was not even close to being the first person to accurately predict this to the public.
And I knew that, I did. But she was the one who said Just Before it became Manifest, with just enough of pause to allow her nay sayers to shoot their mouths off, and consign themselves to the flames of eternal irrelevancy.
Thus she will be remembered for it. Which I have no problem with. Even BondPocalypses need heroes.
I should have realised, my bad. Sorry. I have not paid much attention to what she's been saying simply because others had said it all already, but I guess her MSM confrontation is what people will remember.
It is not your fault... and we need them... just as much as they need us... finding the commonalities, sticking to the agreeable... and forging forward, that is the best you or I can hope for.
Here's DEBT DEFAULT AND CURRENCY REFORM for DUMMIES:
Anyone holding any paper asset denominated in the currency that can no longer fullfill its "promise" will take a hair cut - plain and simple.
The holders of DOLLARS cash or cash equivalents will have to accept to only get 10% (for example) on the NEWLY created currency UNDER THE GUIDANCE of IMF (for example).
Then your $1000 savings account will only be worth AE 100 overnight.
Convert cash and cash equivalents to gold and silver BEFORE the REFORM and you'll get the original value in the new currency.
That is what happened anytime, anywhere a nation couldn't meet its financial obligations and had to default on its debt. Process to restructure takes a few months, maybe a couple of years.
So.. whatever the COMEX board shows for spot prices is FANTASY as of September 2008. In the fall of 2008, the once greatest nation on Earth was exposed to be bankrupt and corrupt. We're 2 years later into the crash and the bankers and central bankers have all colluded to keep the FANTASY going with fake wealth, fake money and fake financial markets.
Paper wealth created out of thin air can manipulate commodity contracts up or down and create a margin benefit for the players that control the game.
This cannot and will not go on forever. If it was that easy, why not put one million funny dollars into each American's bank account electronically and charge 50% income tax off the top, creating half a million funny dollars revenue per citizen. Too obvious you think? Why, the practise creating funny money to buy your own debt is pretty obvious as well.
It will end with peak oil, peak gold and peak silver. Commodities have real value, not funny value. The producers and miners will not accept to be paid in funny money when they're about to deplete their inventories.
This is exactly why former free societies end up in bondage. Government assumes control over privately owned companies and assets to ensure the production and mining to continue and to continue to accept the government printed funny money.
Whereever and whenever it's been tried, it didn't work and typically cost a few million lives and ended in blood and tears.
Get rid of your funny money and convert to something that will keep the value.
they'll try to shitcan the pensions and any munis not owned by the plutocracy or banks.
Bad news for my dad who actually paid into his pension for 35 years and didn't play overtime games with his "final 3" salary. I told him to take the lump sum payout, but what parent ever listens?
according to some people on this site, your dad is a communist traitor who deserves to be executed. my father is also living on his pension after busting his ass for 40 years. there are actually some state employees who work hard. if people want to cut benefits going forward fine, but don't blame every single peasant worker. i am aware we are moving towards a european system where people vie for lifelong public jobs with benefits over private employment, which is detrimental. at the same time, we shouldn't blame people who planned their life around a pension. regardless, i'm just pissing in the wind here, when the shit goes down, pensions don't stand up too well against hyperinflation.
See what happened to pensioners in Russia after the USSR imploded. I think the failure of the USA will be a lot like the USSR but probably worse. People voted for this.
that is exactly what i think will happen here.
Yup. In Russia - the young people fared the best and elderly the worst. Old people in the USA and baby boomers will be screwed. The older people will have it the worst.
The same criminal thugs in govt will probably survive along with the banksters even if there is a bad civil war. They will be oligarchs. Some of the tech companies will survive. Chinese and SE Asia and ME investors will come in a grab everything. We were semi serfs pre-2008. It probably gets worse sooner than later. You will also have enthic cleansing and other ethnic battles. People voted for this in 2008.
Must disagree, Fred. I know some "folks" who are really into retribution (some say justice). There is no place on the planet these MFs can hide. Hey, I just heard NASA is planning a emergency shuttle launch within 5 months. Undheard of time frame. Just sayin'.
where from? alaska? the super secret bunker with the extra shuttle parts?
I like Dimitry Orlov's take on what collapse would look like in the US vs. how it happened in Russia.
Orlov is a cool cat and I respect his perspectives and opinions (which is why I have his blog bookmarked).
http://cluborlov.blogspot.com/
The striking difference between the collapse of the former USSR and the probable collapse of the USA are realized when one examines the racial and socio-economic disparity that exists in the West.
The former Soviet Union was (and still is) racially and culturally homogenous. This fact played a huge role in the transition from bloc nation to independent state.
The individual States within the USSR were largely self-sufficient and interdependent (through trade) with one another. The Russian Ruble had collapsed several times prior to, as well as after the break-up, so a fiat form of currency was not absolutely necessary. Many communities were already trading/bartering amongst one another anyway.
Long story short, any comparisons between the former Soviet Union and what may transpire in the USA are superficial at best.
The collapse of the United States of America is going to be much more violent and horrific than anything that the Russians could have accomplished.
Totally wrong (in short). When the USSR collapsed, there was A KNOWN MODEL FOR A NEW SOCIETY, and it was called "capitalism" (contract law whenever possible).
Now You are heading straight direct into a socialism WITHOUT a new model. All you have is an old socialistic "model". Socialism is the jews' invention. Socialism is a model of jewish community in a so-called "galut", means "diaspora", without their own independent state.
Totally right.
People, dont be fools. Socialism (converted from capitalism) will be not always fun.
I am giving up to fight against the stupidity and arrogance of this people. They are swimming in numerous idolatries. I am innocent of the US people's blood.
Totally wrong (in short). When the USSR collapsed, there was A KNOWN MODEL FOR A NEW SOCIETY, and it was called "capitalism" (contract law whenever possible).
Now You are heading straight direct into a socialism WITHOUT a new model. All you have is an old socialistic "model". Socialism is the jews' invention. Socialism is a model of jewish community in a so-called "galut", means "diaspora", without their own independent state.
I appreciate your correction of my comprehension and/or recollection of events. I will certainly research these issues further before attempting additional generalization.
My understanding of recent Soviet-era collapse anecdotes stems from my associations with the people of Ukraine and an ex-pat or two. I like how Ukraine was/is referred to as "the bread-basket of Asia", due to Ukrainian agricultural production.
I still wonder why Stalin chose to commit genocide against the Ukrainian people. They were the producers of food!
It was not a "genoide", it was plain socialistic stupidity (your ukrainian friends are probably neo-nazis trying to profit from "genocide" myth). Be carefull with your wishes: US farmers will probably know that EXACTLY, when starvation and extreme food prices over the globe (due to US' policy) will force USA to TAKE food from US farmers and simply send food to other contries.
You wanted socialism? Take it!
The Ukrainians objected to collectivizing the farms. They were eliminated. It is that simple.
This view on Ukraine's history is too simplified, but it is NOT INCORRECT.
Elimination of any ethnical group was never a real target of Communist Party, but socialistic ideology allowed that.
Now You will see an analogy: socialistic financial mafia in USA in a course of collectivizing the debts, financial and legal systems of USA, talmudisation of US law,- will try to eliminate somebody.
(Me? If this will help the US people .... Okey. I want to be sued by jewish so-called Anti-Defamation League , and then be killed by Mossad/CIA).
Try.
Geez...parents these days.
don't worry america will screw itself. creative destruction and all that bs.
Could not happen to a nicer group of nazis.
I think there is some lack of imagination here. The implications of monetizing trillions of debt are far broader than a bunch of lazy state and city (and federal) workers not getting the mountain of swag they swindled the rest of the public out of. I would suggest that anyone and everyone who thinks that they are going to be living high on this dollar system past the next year or so would greatly benefit by buying some guns, gold, and groceries and if they don't this it is going to be one miserable retirement.
This story tonight may be an example of the beginning of the end.
All the more reason to buy C. XLF is a hoot! But City @ the mid 4's is payback time! I'm loading up. The biggest losers are the biggest gainers.
States gotta go bust. They'res no mo' money. Prioritize and let the lawyers pick the bones.
Declare emergency and force Majeur even when the unions start breaking things. I'ts a state emergency.
Sorry Govs Brown, Quinn. Cut the cuts, then cut some, then cut and run.
Just by having this nuclear option will make the unions will be less hard core and willing to negotiate realistically.
I live in the land of fruits and nuts! Yes Cali. These in-solvency issues are great! I'm a concervative (by the way). I have a simple idea. Reduce taxes and control the border!!!!
Oh and simplify business start ups.
Open borders (illegals), unions, Hollywood liberals and brain dead pot smokers destroyed Cali. The state was like f***ing paradise once.
So true Freddie1
I was just in CA for a few days. Stayed by santa monica pier, then on laguna beach, then to mission beach san diego. I think I'm gonna open a few legal pot shops! lol.
It's a little more complicated than that, but I agree that all illegal immigration is an issue that has to be addressed.
Don't recall the precise numbers, but the bottom line in an article I read yesterday was that if California, by a wave of a magic wand, had no illegal aliens tomorrow, then California's deficit problem would vanish as well. The illegal alien burden on the budget is enormous--from healthcare to education to fire and police services. . . --which is why, if California was honest about its predicament, it would admit that its problems are the result of its own absurd leftist policies that promote illegal immigration for the sake of buying votes to retain power. Of course, this is the same reason the Statists changed U.S. immigration laws in the 1960s--they WANTED to invite in the "anti" crowd and change America from the world's "last, best hope" into just one more Balkanized mess of Statist power.
Which leads one, of course, to the problem of illegal immigration on a national scale. The cost of keeping illegals out of the U.S. is a small fraction of the cost of allowing them to come here and "coexist." Again, the federal government were serious about dealing with the problem, it would lock down the southern border--zero tolerance--and reformulate national immigration policy to permit immigration in cases of genuine political asylum and in cases involving the most skilled/talented minds in the sciences, maths, and business. Immigration policy, in short, should be used to promote business and economic growth in the U.S., except in very rare cases of political asylum.
I guess this is why a haircut for Greece is suddenly thinkable.
About that e135 billion over 3 years back in May 2010 ... I guess they couldn't manage it in practice. Too much blowback in central Europe.
If this is going on in the US, Spain won't be far behind.
Oh jeez'
Silver is getting slap'd around tonight.
Wait until 100 day moving average and trade smalls. It's a commodity. Not a currency. I know it's tempting. Be patient.
All the commodities are going to get pissed on and then blowtorched over the next few months.
Then what? Have you thrown out what the big picture is for Smailes? If so, no need to repeat. Cheers.
Mr. s/s hedge your trade . Then the torch gets flammed out. Just a thought.
honestly what the fuck does the price in dollars mean anymore anyway?
It's a good thing we got you protecting us. Of course you offer no complete answer so let me do it. People are pissed about the inflation stealing. Need to go back to the transfer of wealth stealing. Richy Rich needs his ass back in gold and doesn't want to lift all us useless peasant boats.
Dump gold on market shake out weak hands. Raise interest rates to signal that the wealth transfer is complete and our masters of wealth and power can now "create" jobs to put us to work building the stupid shit they want built. But they don't have enough money to do it yet. They haven't crippled their runner up's enough and they are pumping too many bullshit dollars into the "chosen" leaders of industry.
We're going to find out if the Bernank has a way to avoid the double dip. He's studied it his whole life and he thinks he's not a fuckup. Let's do this pin to matte bitch.
Silver fits each definition of monie perfectly. Wiki that shit.
Fast forward to 2013 when Goldman of American PIMCO Lynch, Jefferies Stanley Tabak, BlackRock Morgan and Citibank of Rangoon all win the mandate to IPO the government's $100 billion stake in the bankrupt state of California, preceded by a 10,000% 5 day market melt up in which every single short share in the world is recalled by State Street. And the official spin by the Palin administration: "this is a huge stamp of approval and confidence by the communist capital markets in the capability of Brian Sack's solitary Bloomberg terminal to manipulate each and every asset price to levels not even Jim Cramer ever thought possible."
Oh ho ho hiyo! (ed mcmahon voice). Scary.
/sarc off
" Palin administration: "this is a huge stamp of approval and confidence by the communist capital markets in the capability of Brian Sack's solitary Bloomberg terminal to manipulate each and every asset price to levels not even Jim Cramer ever thought possible."
Tyler: You Are Soooo Unrealistic
That is just way to many big words and complicated sentence structures to be uttered (no pun intended...) out of the mouth of babes, fools, or Palin McMILFs....
one can only hope these harbingers of our broken 'system' will finally bitchslap some sense into people who think that government entities can hyper-leverage debt and investments far out of the scope of reality.
I wish everyone a prosperous trade. Risk off Friday? The current dxy chart looks ready to break 79 and 10 year yields are off 2 basis points. usd/jpy is holding above the 82.85 trendline and the parabolic looks like it will bounce up. The eur/usd trade looks heavy. My gpy/jpy is doing well. I really like cable and the pound this year. AUSTARITY and all.
Muni defaults will quickly depend on State rights vresus Security Law. Jefferson County Alabama is a simple test case. Can creditors take control of a sewer system and jack rates to get whole? NO WAY YANKEES!!! Unless you are crazy enough to shit on the Southern Political System and send in 100,000 storm troppers to disarm the locals. Pretend and Extend bitches. It's the New American Dead-End Way!
Holy Shit!
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/21/business/economy/21bankruptcy.html?_r=1&src=busln
So it sounds like the states are looking to see if they can join the ranks of the re-animated zombie corpse banks by engineering some kind of bullshit quasi bankruptcy, where the laws of accounting do not exist. The kind where they get out of paying pensions, but still get to suck on the taxpayer's brains.
OT but Julian "CIA" Assange is fear mongering right up the US of A's alley.
WikiLeaks cables: Iran has cleared major hurdle to nuclear weapons:http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/20/iran-highly-enriched-uranium...
PS but were the 'Swiss bank docs' THE "bank docs" that were lauded over our heads? I ask because if they were I am disapointed, and I was not expecting much.
It will show or pay-offs will be made.
That's about smoking out the small fish (sub-billionaires) and bringing those parties and Swiss Banking laws to heel under the emerging globalist mafia collections (read: global taxation) racket.
Assange is a patsy and a mole. The best kind because he doesn't know it.
We are in deep doo doo! But then I suspect most of us knew it. There is no way many states can come even close to making these payments.
How is Gasparino going to spin this in his anti- Merideth Whitney campaign ?
All against a backdrop:
(1) Lebanon on brink of war
(2) Jeff "commercial paper facility" Immelt named to replace volker as economic advisor (oxymoron it is not)
(3) Peter orzag ft editorial advising us investors to return their tray tables to the upright position and bury their head between their legs (with of course some stimulus thrown in for good measure) last meal?
Mr. Durdan I think with respect. I'm trolling the early Europe open. How about Cary Grant as a secondary Front Man?
I hope they renege on those silly fire fighter and cop benefits. Its insane. Free health benefits for life? If they are injured fighting fires and are permanently disabled, or disabled seriously thats ok. But why should the others get free health care?
Also those insane pensions, why the hell do these people get to make like 150k+ for life on pensions? F*** that, they need to cap these pensions at 80-90K per year max.
All crazy benefits for cops, teachers, fire fighters should be retroactively reneged upon and clawed back. Hell...no way I am paying them when my family is having a hard time with its basic bills.
Since 1948 the numberof state and local employees has grown more than three time the population increase.Is there any way that we can do with the same ratios as of 1990? Of course this is small change compared to the other parasites in FIRE that got far more than ten years worth of net profits from all of the productive economy.
Let us just step back from this for a couple of years and then get a grasp on what is affordable. IOW, let it find its' real value in what is left of real capital.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110121/ts_nm/us_economy_california_emergency
Interesting that what passes for states rights conservatives are the first ones to look to the federal government to engineer a way for the federal to abridge several sovereign state constitutions.
State sovereignty is the reason all of those nasty federal workplace laws from OSHA, DOL and equal employment don't apply to state government employees. Now I can see how certain non go munis could well take a hit (especially the CRE & infrastructure centric liens), but the go bonds may well be a different matter entirely as they are constitutionally bound in several states, just like the pensions.
Then there is the issue of several tens of millions of employees making a personal determination if continued employment in their present capacity is worthwhile. Newark shoulda waited. They could easily have gotten far more than 40% of its employees to resign by simply emptying the public pension coffers.
The simple fact is that state & local governments are in terrible fiscal shape. The horrendous condition of their pension systems has been no secret for a long time, as they were often under funded in the boom years. Pensions are simply the first to show up ... Kinda like Bernie Madoff, now that the tax revenues are drying up and with them the ability to roll the game along as policy makers have been for years.
Nations should deserve to survive.
We no longer do.
(Reuters) - Prosecutors charged a Philadelphia abortion doctor with murder on Wednesday, claiming he killed viable babies by cutting their spinal cords with scissors after removing them from mothers late in their pregnancies.
Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams charged Dr. Kermit Gosnell and nine associates with seven counts of murder involving babies, but said hundreds of others likely died in the squalid clinic that Gosnell ran from 1979 to 2010.
snip
Prosecutors said the state Health Department was informed of violations at Gosnell's clinic as early as 1996 but failed to respond and did not visit the clinic until February 2010 when it was raided during a drug investigation.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE70I71G20110119
Want a financial angle? It is a billion dollar a year industry. I expect Harry and Robo would have no qualms profiting from this industry.
If mama lacks the personal responsibility to raise it, she has the obligation to get rid of it. We have the ability to make plenty of replacements.
Such a big deal about such a stupid non-issue
Just let us all know where you would like to draw the line.
And of course there is no response. Abortion-bugs could NEVER get the people to agree with their program, so they hid behind 5 supreme court justices. And after 40 years of this policy and the associated propaganda, they still REFUSE to face the people on this issue.
.
I'd say maybe 2 years post partum would be sufficient time to decide whether to let the little bastard keep living or not.
If human life were really sacred in this place, we wouldn't taking so much of it just to prop up corporate profits.
Individual responsibility begins in the womb. What's so hard to understand? Government needs to keep its dick out of all of us.
I cannot imagine a more evil perspective on life than this. It is no better than the view the Nazis had of the Jews they incinerated, or the Communists had of the tens of millions they murdered.
The personal obligation--the personal responsibility--is in the act of sex. Do that, and the obligation is to carry the child to term and raise her as best you can (and if you cannot, then offer the baby for adoption to parents who gladly will raise the child). THAT is the point of freedom and responsibility.
If a baby is identified as "it," and if a mother who cannot raise the baby as Dr. Sandi may see fit is obligated to "get rid of it," and if "we" have the "ability to make plenty of replacements," then "we" have lost all of our humanity, decency, and moral relevance. "We" shall die, and not just in this life, but for eternity, for this world view, which Pope John Paul II called "the culture of death," is "the Anti-Christ."
Dr. Sandi, I urge you to consider, very carefully, what you wrote. I pray that you can find it in your heart to try to love your fellow man, regardless of how hard that is.
And don't, for one second, think that I am some holier-than-thou Judge. I am not. I am a miserable sinner who must work much, much harder to practice what I preach. I know that, in the end, I WILL FAIL, because sin and death is in my nature, and that it is only through faith in Jesus Christ that I can be saved. I pray that you will be lifted by Christ into a new view that sees life for what it is--a gift from God that no man has any rightor power to end.
God save us.
Fuck God and the donkey he rode in on.
But keep right on praying if it keeps you too busy to help pass more laws to put the state in charge of our lives.
We deserve our fate:
By Ed Stoddard
DALLAS | Thu Jan 20, 2011 8:40am EST
DALLAS (Reuters) - Over the past two years, as U.S. unemployment remained near double-digit levels and the economy shed jobs in the wake of the financial crisis, over a million foreign-born arrivals to America found work, many illegally.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE70J37P20110120
Off topic. usd/jpy bounced off the 83.10 area. I suspect it will pop off the 20-50 cross@ 82.45-50. I'm working an hourly chart. The point being. Stronger dollar risk off!
I would like to print some money. Does anybody here know anybody at the ECB? I want to do this right.
however eur/jpy is so over bought. that leg will move down. Hense the dip I'm predicting in usd/jpy before a correction into the mid 84's. The market in this trade is 81-85. Work the edges.
Heh.
According to Tyner's calculations, the only way that the Volt could cost less than a Prius or Cobalt overall under tiered pricing would be if the price of oil rose to no less than $254 per barrel (it is just over $90/barrel at the time of writing). Even under 'leccy-price plans friendlier to heavy users such as Volt drivers, the price of oil would still need to climb enormously to $171/barrel before it became economically sensible to buy a Volt.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/01/14/plug_in_cars_only_worthwhile_with_much_higher_oil_prices/
"People who view the Volt as green will pay $10,000 more over the lifetime of the car," says Tyner. "Most consumers will look at the numbers and won't pay that."
Thanks for listening. Yes this MUNI thing is an issue. Who posts ratings? Moodies and FITCH. I don't mean to be harsh. Can I send a get well Card to GS? Come on TYLER?
Heh. Part 2:
By Mary Beth Marklein, USA TODAY Nearly half of the nation's undergraduates show almost no gains in learning in their first two years of college, in large part because colleges don't make academics a priority, a new report shows. snipAfter two years in college, 45% of students showed no significant gains in learning; after four years, 36% showed little change.
Students also spent 50% less time studying compared with students a few decades ago, the research shows.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2011-01-18-littlelearning18_ST_N.htm?csp=hf&loc=interstitialskip
The scam goes on...
Off-topic: Mr. Tyler, since You gave the US authorities my IP address to investigate my messages critical to jewish financial mafia, and they did originate some hidden uncomfortable actions against me, I am expiriencing minor problems with the posting here on ZH. Can You fix it?
Thank You.
From one doctor to another, please just keep taking the pills Dr. Goldman gave you.
We won't let those Mossad agents working with the FBI hurt you.
C'mon. I am a banking security pro. I eat CIA with FBI on my breakfast. AND with this I have never hide my IP address while posting here on ZH. I am just a little bit nervous recently and these "measures" around me, along with the troubles with posting on ZH - make me more angry. And therefore I have to listen more vinyl LP disks with Mozart. But the resource of any LP is limited. I am trying to save my music.
OH MY GOD! It's not bad investments by short-sighted incompetents. It's the god-damned pension and benefit funds! It's not rape by corrupt officials, it's the rank and flie government workers screwing things up, those lousy fucking police and firemen. God damn, when will this country wake up to the royal screwing the over paid beauracrcy is shellacking them with. Jeez, don't you know that the Geithners and Bernankes of the world have your best interests at heart?
its not when u see " we buy gold " signs thats a bubble,
itsa when u see
" we accept gold " signs at the supermarket that you gotta worry.
As I watched Morning Joe, I couldn't help but laugh out loud when they sat around stated that this came out of nowhere.
I think TD should go all in short on MUB.
You must be a 30x retard to believe 3trillion is going to default.
YOU ARE PAID tO BE A SHILL RIGHT TD?
Pumping gold and slamming munis. Isnt that just so incredibly fucked up. CNBC said they want to hire TD to blow roubini on AIR
THere will be some defaults but will not be widespread. Most states will be ok. Fed will continue to inflate in there is serious risk of widespread muni defaults - gold for safety and muni's for income is not a bad strategy
How about a short the monolines and long munis?
so was the pension benefits negotiated in a deal like
" ok we'll give you the benefits your unions want, but you have to buy our state bonds with the money "
Cav E et al..those that say we can't screw the retired state and city workers..have you considered these poor workers made $70 to 250,000/yr - fire fighters sitting around doing nothing the majority of time? get 80% pensions full health care ..teachers work 9 months a year with holidays even less..on and on..the benefits were excessive yet they are exempt from the economic disaster hitting the tax payers??
as for less police and bureaucrats..perhaps we have been over policed and regulated and I for one think it would be a good thing for those not living the( hell holes of inner cities created and run for generations by the left)to have a smaller boot on our throats.
was at a meeting in our county execs offices where a high school teacher and union head stated over her dead body would school funding be cut..not once did she consider the union taking any salary or benefit cut to help out, this meeting was in a brand new multi million $ new school building by the way.
cut these so called essential services and see how much we miss them..
as for health care..TB is back because of current regulators allowing MDRTB into our country via legaland illegal immigration. I won't miss these incompetent regulators one bit.
The states are the in the same shape as the federal government, minus the printing press and reserve currency, which is the reason the latter is not under any pressure to find a bankruptcy "out."
States bankruptcy, and the slow cancer of fraudclosure as it eats its way through the bank balance sheets like relentless financial wood borer beetles, the stories of 2011.
Home "Mortgage" Borers
Home mortgage borers ("HMB") present the greatest control challenge to the financial pest management professional. They are large insects with a life cycle that can extend to 10 or more years. The home mortgage borer attacks only soft, improperly formed mortgages and the initial introduction typically occurs at the time of creation of the mortgage and its packaging with other similarly infected mortgages as part of a "securitization." Although often referred to as the "old house" home mortgage borer, the first emergence of these voracious pests in an MBS portfolio usually appears within three to five years after issuance.
The earliest indication of an HMB beetle infestation is usually the noise made by older larvae chewing on the most vulnerable parts of the mortgage, typically the remedies section, and often spreading to the pooling and servicing agreement before the infestation is even noticed. This can be very disconcerting to the investors holding the infected MBSs, the bank trustees, and the originating investment banks, especially in the middle of the night when larvae are most active. The appearance of stalled foreclosure actions is the next step in the process, with a fine dust appearing as mortgages are shredded by judges forced to adhere to simple and well-settled principles of common law. Most structural damage is caused by the wholesale disruption of cash flows, promoting decay, and often requiring a complete "whole house" treatment to remove the infestation. Once firmly embedded, there are no known solutions other than a complete demolition of the affected dwelling.
Here's the spin:
http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3372
Bottom line is when revenue stream cannot cover payments required, cash is burned. When cash is gone - party is over. California is issuing IOU's that it's own banks won't take / Illinois is 6 month behind paying vendors - party is over. I love the part where is says Pensions are guarantied - by what - more worthless debt borrowing (at ever increasing rates). Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation (PBGC) almost went insolvent when a couple of airlines / steel companies went bust. They can't guaranty anything huge.
Solution will be - raise taxes and crush business / growth because that is the most significant way gov't generates cash and that will also be dire. We all will share the pain.
- Look what Merideth Whitney said a few weeks ago and backed it up again last week - Pain is coming in the muni markets and many gov't employees will feel the pinch this time. Teachers / Cops / Fire fighters etc. Camdem (an already wonderful place to live) cut 50% of cops and firemen this week). That city will burn.
Not Good folks!
GO PACKERS!!
STATES FILING FOR BANKRUPTCY - PENSIONS DOWN MAYBE THE ONLY WAY! - A More Complete Excerpt on the BANKRUPTCY Issue:
It would be difficult to get a bill through Congress, not only because of the constitutional questions and the complexities of bankruptcy law, but also because of fears that even talk of such a law could make the states’ problems worse.
Lawmakers might decide to stop short of a full-blown bankruptcy proposal and establish instead some sort of OVERSIGHT PANEL FOR DISTRESSED STATES, akin to the Municipal Assistance Corporation, which helped New York City during its fiscal crisis of 1975.
Still, discussions about something as far-reaching as BANKRUPTCY could give governors and others MORE LEVERAGE in bargaining with unionized public workers.
----
Bankruptcy could permit a state to alter its contractual promises to retirees, which are often protected by state constitutions, and it could provide an alternative to a no-strings bailout.
Along with retirees, however, investors in a state’s bonds could suffer, possibly ending up at the back of the line as unsecured creditors.
----
“They are readying a massive assault on us,” said Charles M. Loveless, legislative director of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. “We’re taking this very seriously.
----
Mr. Skeel said it was possible to envision how bankruptcy for states might work by looking at the existing law for local governments. Called Chapter 9, it gives distressed municipalities a period of debt-collection relief, which they can use to restructure their obligations with the help of a bankruptcy judge.
Unfunded pensions become unsecured debts in municipal bankruptcy and may be reduced. And the law makes it easier for a bankrupt city to tear up its labor contracts than for a bankrupt company, said James E. Spiotto, head of the bankruptcy practice at Chapman & Cutler in Chicago.
The biggest surprise may await the holders of a state’s general obligation bonds. Though widely considered the strongest credit of any government, they can be treated as unsecured credits, subject to reduction, under Chapter 9.
Mr. Spiotto said he thought bankruptcy court was not a good avenue for troubled states, and he has designed an alternative called the Public Pension Funding Authority. It would have mandatory jurisdiction over states that failed to provide sufficient funding to their workers’ pensions or that were diverting money from essential public services.
“I’ve talked to some people from Congress, and I’m going to talk to some more,” he said. “This effort to talk about Chapter 9, I’m worried about it. I don’t want the states to have to pay higher borrowing costs because of a panic that they might go bankrupt. I don’t think it’s the right thing at all. But it’s the beginning of a dialog.”