As a postscript to Nicole’s most recent post, which focused on New York City, it should be noted that New York’s state government doesn’t immediately face a California-style cash crunch, either. The state stopped issuing short-term notes to cover cash flow back in the early 1990s, when it converted the annual spring borrowing to long-term bonds issued by the Local Government Assistance Corp. At the moment, Albany still appears to have sufficient reserves to meet its obligations in the current fiscal year, which ends next March 31.
But the state’s experience in the long-term market, where it plans to sell $2.7 billion in bonds in October alone, will bear watching.