Yesterday, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) a major settlement with J.P. Morgan Securities concerning the fascinating municipal-corruption case of Jefferson County, Alabama. Under the deal, J.P. Morgan, which doesn't admit or deny any Read More
In their weekly outlook, Municipal Market Advisors (MMA) tries to dampen the hysteria over a "coming municipal market collapse," saying that although "state and local credit quality is undeniably getting worse," we're unlikely to see mass-scale muni Read More
Wendell Cox has a new at newgeography on how practically to open up transit monopolies. One part, which discusses how London runs its public-bus service, is relevant to New York: Transport for London ... is competitively bid. Between Read More
Governor Paterson's includes a $300 million raid on the coffers of the Battery Park City Authority (BPCA), which would be required to issue new bonds and send the proceeds to Albany. But BPCA board member Charles Urstadt and former authority spok Read More
Xerox (ACS) for $6.4 billion. Why? Partly because ACS does a lot of work for government entities, processing Medicare benefits and all kinds of other stuff. Big businesses -- including Xerox and ACS competitor IBM, which is running ads all over p Read More
Some states are being more stimulated than others. February's stimulus package included something called "Build America Bonds." Under the program, states can issue taxable debt to bondholders to raise money for infrastructure projects, rather than i Read More
Sometimes the credit crisis seems like last year's news. At least, you would think so if you looked at projected Wall Street bonuses and New York City and State public spending. But a new Moody's report shows how the crisis continues to impact Read More
The MTA's continued funding woes aren't just hurting mass transit riders and downstate taxpayers. They're hurting New York's ability to keep its bridges and tunnels in reasonable repair. Bond analysts at Fitch may downgrade the debt backing the Tr Read More