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Muni Ratings Slump As Bankruptcies Rise, Surpass 2011 Total

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Credit-rating cuts were made on more than $200 billion of municipal securities in the first nine months of this year, exceeding the total for 2011, and there’s no end in sight. Bloomberg Briefs also notes that it is not just the weaker Californian cities (such as Fresno) but even Los Gatos (an affluent town about 50 miles south of San Francisco, where Apple's Steve Wozniak lives) is facing possible rating downgrades. Moody’s is concerned that cities might skip debt payments in a cash crunch to preserve services and meet payroll. The decisions to seek bankruptcy “provide some indication that willingness to pay debt obligations may be eroding in the U.S. municipal market,” according to the Moody’s report, especially since California municipalities have limited ability to boost revenue. They can’t impose higher sales taxes without going to voters. Meanwhile Chapter 9 Muni petitions are now above 2011's YTD equivalent as California’s Mendocino Coast Health Care District became the 12th Chapter 9 petition filed year to date and the fourth from that state - up from just 5 Chapter 9s in 2010. Paging Ms. Whitney...

 

 

Chart: Bloomberg Briefs

 

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Fri, 10/26/2012 - 09:29 | 2921190 Badabing
Badabing's picture

Vote Gary Johnson, Mitt Romney, or Barack Obama?

Not sure? Take the little quiz.

http://www.theadvocates.org/quiz

This message is payed  for by no one

Fri, 10/26/2012 - 09:42 | 2921220 IridiumRebel
IridiumRebel's picture

Thanks for confirming what I already know: I am a libertarian.

Fri, 10/26/2012 - 09:52 | 2921245 icanhasbailout
icanhasbailout's picture

free Meredith Whitney!!

Fri, 10/26/2012 - 10:05 | 2921296 Dead Canary
Dead Canary's picture

FREE JOHN CORZINE!

(Oh wait. He is.)

Fri, 10/26/2012 - 09:53 | 2921250 Lohn Jocke
Lohn Jocke's picture

Most Americans would be if they actually took the time and did the research.

Fri, 10/26/2012 - 10:00 | 2921275 Badabing
Badabing's picture

And now I am

Fri, 10/26/2012 - 09:42 | 2921221 Fukushima Sam
Fukushima Sam's picture

Los Gatos is also the home of Netflix...

Fri, 10/26/2012 - 09:45 | 2921229 HD
HD's picture

GARY Johnson?

Crap, I voted for Arte Johnson - which is verrrry interesting....but stupid.

Fri, 10/26/2012 - 09:47 | 2921233 aint no fortuna...
aint no fortunate son's picture

its just not worth reading you anymore Tyler - a guy could go bankrupt trading on the truth... good luck, they won

Fri, 10/26/2012 - 09:49 | 2921237 slaughterer
slaughterer's picture

Friday humor:

AMZN P/E

3,098.37
Fri, 10/26/2012 - 09:34 | 2921202 alstry
alstry's picture

This should be a great driver of Prostitution Jobs globally as we head into the http://www.udderworld.com

A place that we all milk off each other.

Fri, 10/26/2012 - 09:37 | 2921208 timbo_em
timbo_em's picture

But aren't Munis next on the Fed's buying list (or does the Fed move directly to corporate bonds?) and wouldn't that mean that soon the smart money front running the Fed starts buying Munis? So problem solved and the taxpayers via the Fed will be on the hook?!

Fri, 10/26/2012 - 10:18 | 2921350 vincent van goo
vincent van goo's picture

I could see a future hearing where Ron Paul asks why Detroit MB's are on the Fed's balance sheet. :)

Fri, 10/26/2012 - 09:38 | 2921213 Dr. Engali
Dr. Engali's picture

So Amazon misses on both top and bottom line and it's up 6 bucks. What a fucked up world.

Fri, 10/26/2012 - 09:49 | 2921236 HD
HD's picture

 We all know they are gonna fight this sell off for another two weeks come hell or high-water. That 0.2% better than expected GPD reversed more than 100 points on the Dow - that's not natural buyers coming in...

Fri, 10/26/2012 - 09:56 | 2921261 Dr. Engali
Dr. Engali's picture

What gets me is that in the past when a GDP report would come out the" marke" would sell down because it's old news. The "market" already had that priced in. This is getting more than a ittle annoying.

Fri, 10/26/2012 - 10:07 | 2921300 HD
HD's picture

I hear you. I guess I've become a little zen about it. I just assume I'm going to get screwed in the short term and my blood pressure doesn't go up as much.  I keep adding to my gold and shorts and if it breaks I'm prepared...if it doesn't, then I'm just another poor soul who fought the Fed and lost.

Fri, 10/26/2012 - 10:11 | 2921321 fonzannoon
fonzannoon's picture

You guys are wildly optomistic compared to me.

Fri, 10/26/2012 - 10:22 | 2921365 HD
HD's picture

How so?

Fri, 10/26/2012 - 10:33 | 2921411 fonzannoon
fonzannoon's picture

Because I am not sure what I should be rooting for at this point. Financial repression for the rest of my life or a reset that will probably wipe out almost everyone. If we get the wipeout I am probably more prepared than others, especially in my area. But I will fully admt that my skills reside in the market like some others on here. I tip my hat to those who live elsewhere and have a subset of skills that will probably be a hell of a lot more useful if the shit hit the fan (cue laws of physics smacking me around). I don't think I get away with some market crash and a rebuilding phase. Whatever shred of confidence in the markets that remain will be gone. The market will be gone and most likely the landscape will be very different. Sitting on your porch with your shotgun sounds nostalgic as long as you can avoid sleeping 24 hours a day.

There is a part of me that hopes we get out of this and somehow can start over and rebuild together but I don't put much stake in it. I am not sure where that leaves me.

Fri, 10/26/2012 - 10:56 | 2921509 HD
HD's picture

The more times passes, the more I think this mess will play out for the next 10 or 20 years. They will print globally to spread out the misery - but the SOBs at the very top will (sooner or later) take losses and pay more like it or not. Everyone has been living in fiat fantasy land and reality will reassert itself - standard of living will fall considerably, but I don't think all hell is going to break loose.

Maybe just wishful thinking on my part...

 

Fri, 10/26/2012 - 11:08 | 2921559 fonzannoon
fonzannoon's picture

It does seem more likely that one entity after the next will come to the brink of failure (pensions etc.) and bailout after bailout happens. I don't see how we don't end up with massive inflation in that scenario crushing most people along the way. In some distorted way I am probably more prepared for that.

Fri, 10/26/2012 - 09:55 | 2921259 gjp
gjp's picture

It's been the same story for at least the last severa quarters.  Miss both top and bottom line.  And in spite of top line misses they keep spinning it as an invest-for-growth story ... it's nothing more than a game for fleecing shorts it seems.

Fri, 10/26/2012 - 09:42 | 2921218 helping_friendl...
helping_friendly_book's picture

I work for a Muni. as Engineer and read the financial statement online for fun.

206,000 population and over one billion in revolving debt.

946 City Police.

56 Univesity Police.

Consulatants make hundreds of millions while city engineers just sign the invoices.

almost 4 years of aggravation and nobody even gives a damn.

All the consultants are Yankee carpetbaggers who take the money and spend it elswhere.

Property tax rate is $1.02 per $100 assessment. $1700 on a 1200 ft2    House

Fri, 10/26/2012 - 09:45 | 2921226 CPL
CPL's picture

I hate working on a municipal level as a contractor.  Getting paid in a timely manner is the challenge there, unless you are a business consultant and recycling oxygen.

 

The irony it's the business consultants that are supposed to point out waste when the reality is they are the over head waste.

Fri, 10/26/2012 - 09:46 | 2921232 slackrabbit
slackrabbit's picture

lol I'm still waiting to get paid by the World Bank

Fri, 10/26/2012 - 09:52 | 2921247 BurningFuld
BurningFuld's picture

Guys! The consultants come in and schmooz the City council. Take them to dinner and tell them how smart they are for going ahead with whatever their latest spend money plan is. They are part of the inner circle of course they get paid and paid well.

Fri, 10/26/2012 - 10:00 | 2921270 helping_friendl...
helping_friendly_book's picture

No shit.

I work for the city.

The fucking consultants run the show and act as if they work for the contractor.

My job is to recover funds, for the city, from the state and federal gov't.

The fucking carpetbagging scumbags bill for every nickel on a task order whether the consultant has earned it or not. They bill until the task order is exhauted. Then my boss will issue a new task order in round numbers such as $1,000,000 or $1,500,000. They always bill every nickel.

I keep all the records and email them to my personal email adress just in case they fuck with me.

Fri, 10/26/2012 - 10:33 | 2921403 CPL
CPL's picture

atta boy,

MBA's are dirt bags. Keep everything loaded and in the chamber when dealing with them.

Fri, 10/26/2012 - 11:19 | 2921605 helping_friendl...
helping_friendly_book's picture

One FOIA asking the value of about 100 contracts is all it would that make a nice front page story.

They keep everyone separated so one hand doesn't know what the other hand is doing.

Procurement, finance and my department all carefully segregated to hide the connecting pieces.

I just happen to be in a position, and happen to actually give a crap, to put the pieces together.

City Gov't is an ongoing conspiracy to commit grand larceny.

No one cares, they just move to the suburbs. 40% of the city's population lives below the poverty level the rest of us are rolled continuously.

Fri, 10/26/2012 - 11:54 | 2921770 TNTARG
TNTARG's picture

"University Police"? What's that?

Fri, 10/26/2012 - 09:46 | 2921230 youngman
youngman's picture

The country..the world needs to reset...how we reset is the question...

Fri, 10/26/2012 - 09:50 | 2921239 Citxmech
Citxmech's picture

Resets are always bad.  TPTB are like a drowing man - they will even drag their rescuers down with them trying to save their doomed position.  Personal resiliancy is the key - that way you can batton down the hatches and try and weather the storm. . .

Fri, 10/26/2012 - 09:52 | 2921242 adr
adr's picture

I want to know who the Fed saved last night by buying a shitload of Amazon last night.

Bezos must supply politicians with Asian sex slaves or something.

How that company can continue to get away with this we'll make up the loss on revenue BS is beyond me. Getting away with selling stolen and counterfiet merchandise should have been enough to shut them down.

The FBI goes after shoe and purse counterfeit rings and siezes billion of dollars in merchandise. Yet Amazon is allowed to sell and ship counterfeit products all day long. More than half of the electronics are black market goods from Russia. You don't think Amazon really gets to buy a TV for $200 less than the cost to Best Buy do you?

The new normal, it isn't crime if Wall Street can get rich off it.

Fri, 10/26/2012 - 09:52 | 2921243 ebworthen
ebworthen's picture

Doesn't matter if Bernanke stays or they put someone new in, the FED will be buying toxic muni debt along with toxic mortgages and continuing currency swaps to benefit foreign governments and propping banks at all costs.

The debt ponzi must be maintained, perception must be managed, free markets must be suppressed.

All hail Caesar!

Fri, 10/26/2012 - 10:02 | 2921281 fonzannoon
fonzannoon's picture

Exactly ebworthen. All the muni funds I see are up big ytd. This is a classic example of don't try to trade this news. A fed backstop is no doubt in play here.

Fri, 10/26/2012 - 10:07 | 2921307 Seasmoke
Seasmoke's picture

must be why the fucking thugs with badges are so pissed off everywhere.......time is up !

Fri, 10/26/2012 - 11:26 | 2921637 helping_friendl...
helping_friendly_book's picture

 

 

NYPD Officer Held in Plot to Cook Women and Eat Them


By  Published: October 25, 2012

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/26/nyregion/gilberto-valle-accused-in-plot-to-kidnap-women-and-cook-them.html?src=me&ref=general&_r=0

Fri, 10/26/2012 - 11:18 | 2921604 toomanyfakecons...
toomanyfakeconservatives's picture

The South was right!

Fri, 10/26/2012 - 11:23 | 2921623 helping_friendl...
helping_friendly_book's picture

We didn't lose! We are just regrouping.

Our state has the most machine guns of any state in the Union.

We will send these Yankee queers back north where they belong.

Next time we will invite China to back our cause. Let's see how the North handles that one!

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