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exemplifies the federal stimulus bill at its worst.  It's basically a helicopter drop of cash justified on the grounds that, after all, these folks need the money and will spend it--which, when you come right down to it, is justification enough for Read More

Today's Times about how the nation's governors are worried that Congress will expand Medicaid without giving states more resources to pay their part. This part requires further inquiry: "Connie Baugh received a letter ... from [Washington Read More

Earlier this week, Mayor Bloomberg unveiled the first big proposal of his try for a third term: a "." Over at City Journal, . Read More

Earlier today, bond analysts at S&P downgraded to junk status $33 million worth of mortgage debt issued nine years ago by the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York (DASNY). DASNY had raised the debt to complete hospital construction projec Read More

"Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein has warned his employees to avoid making big-ticket, high-profile purchases as the gold-plated Wall Street firm hunkers down amid a firestorm of public and political anger over outsize bonus payments," today's N Read More

Last week, the Arizona Republic that the Grand Canyon State, faced with a 30 percent budget deficit, is looking to raise $735 million by selling its state properties, including the House and Senate buildings, to private investors. The state Read More

Richard Ravitch, New York's putative lieutenant governor, "is looking into using pension funds to help insure municipal bonds," according to an "insider" quoted in . But more than a few pension fund managers and investors believe that using pension Read More

My in today's New York Post is about the fiscal folly (economics aside) of trying to balance the state budget with higher taxes on a relatively small number of affluent New Yorkers whose incomes and portfolios have dropped sharply in the re Read More

Almost all of can be traced to falling tax receipts.  But rising spending will represent a growing share of the problem over the next three years.  In fact, more than one-third of the projected growth in next year's gap, and over half the Read More

Given , it should come as no surprise that the state's is forecasting a  $2.1 billion deficit for the current fiscal year.   But some of the financial details released by the Division of the Budget (DOB) today are getting even more worrisome. Read More

Writing in today's FT, investment-banking veteran (and former New York bailout-facilitator) Felix Rohatyn and ESC consulting-firm president Everett Ehlrich, pointing out that states still face $200 billion in operating deficits in the next t Read More

A new out from the state's Financial Control Board (FCB), which reviews New York City's finances, shows the updated value of New York's projected costs over time for providing healthcare to retirees. This liability has grown by 36 percent in the t Read More