This will most likely be the first of many to come.
(Reuters) - Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, moved a step closer to defaulting on a bond payment when its city council passed a 2010 budget that does not include $68 million in debt repayments on an incinerator.
Without the debt provision in the $65 million budget, the state capital may miss a March 1 payment of $2.072 million, a rarity for a municipal bond issuer.
securitization, swaps on Greece implies.....
I'm not surprised. Now that it's coming out Greece sold off major public assets for short term cash which still imply loan term debt and are hidden through various swaps and derivatives structures, per our usual suspect friendly hands of derivatives peddlers, JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs...
I know there are tons of these deals at the State and City level in the U.S. Some of them made headlines, such as the securitization/privatization of the Indiana toll road, but many never did...
So, how many of these things are "off the books" on States, cities?
This is only going to get worse. If housing prices do not drop another 15% (and notice how while we picked up on the lack of solutions on the housing crisis, just today the MSM is starting to) I will be shocked and so many cities, counties are based on property taxes.
Meanwhile Harry Reid guts any direct jobs program in the Senate AND we're going to move from frying pan to fire with Congress.
We're seeing a host of retirements but we're going to get that corporate Republican agenda....which is worse than the corporate Democrat agenda....
and we cannot get uncorrupt politicians even on the ballot as a choice. What is this country going to do? I guess just vote 3rd party as long as that person isn't a complete crazy incompetent who is running?