These States Will Take Your License for Not Paying Student Loans

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-25/these-states-will-take-your-license-for-not-paying-student-loans

America’s Urban Distress: Which States and Regions set up their Cities to Fail?

http://www.cyniconomics.com/2013/08/03/americas-urban-distress-which-states-and-regions-set-up-their-cities-to-fail/

BIG VICTORIES UNDER THE RADAR TUESDAY NIGHT

http://jonrappoport.wordpress.com/2012/11/08/big-victories-under-the-radar-tuesday-night/

Needy States Use Housing Aid Cash to Plug Budgets

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/16/business/states-diverting-mortgage-settlement-money-to-other-uses.html?_r=1

States seek currencies made of silver and gold

I wonder if the financial elite, government officials, and central bankers will declare that "no one saw this coming."  Maybe they should have been reading this blog for the past 4 years.

http://money.cnn.com/2012/02/03/pf/states_currencies/

"In the event of hyperinflation, depression, or other economic calamity related to the breakdown of the Federal Reserve System ... the State's governmental finances and private economy will be thrown into chaos," said North Carolina Republican Representative Glen Bradley in a currency bill he introduced last year.

Unlike individual communities, which are allowed to create their own currency -- as long as it is easily distinguishable from U.S. dollars -- the Constitution bans states from printing their own paper money or issuing their own currency. But it allows the states to make "gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts."

To the state legislators who are proposing state-issued currencies, that means gold and silver are fair game, said Edwin Vieira, an alternative currency proponent and attorney specializing in Constitutional law. And since gold has grown exponentially more valuable, while the U.S. dollar continues to lose ground, the notion has become increasingly appealing to state lawmakers, he said. 

The state gold rush: Utah became the first state to introduce its own alternative currency when Governor Gary Herbert signed a bill into law last March that recognized gold and silver coins issued by the U.S. Mint as an acceptable form of payment. Under the law, the coins -- which include American Gold and Silver Eagles -- are treated the same as U.S. dollars for tax purposes, eliminating capital gains taxes.

Since the face value of some U.S.-minted gold and silver coins -- like the one-ounce, $50 American Gold Eagle coin -- is so much less than the metal value (one ounce of gold is now worth more than $1,700), the new law allows the coins to be exchanged at their market value, based on weight and fineness.

States to Financially Break Away from Federal Government

http://news.goldseek.com/GoldSeek/1317392425.php

State finances threaten recovery: Whitney

Default doyenne Meredith Whitney reiterates her bashing, er...downgrading of municipal bonds, and adds insolvent states to her crosshairs. 

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/18/us-municipals-whitney-idUSTRE74H44520110518

States see biggest revenue drop in 60 years

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0111/47165.html

In a sign of the sluggish economy’s devastating impact, state government revenue across the country dropped by nearly one third in 2009 - the sharpest decline in 60 years, the Census Bureau said in a new report.

States saw record-breaking losses to their pension funds and in their tax revenues, as the recession wreaked havoc on payrolls and investments.

Revenues plummeted by 30.8 percent, from $1.6 trillion in 2008 to $1.1 trillion in 2009, according to the report.

It was the most dramatic drop the Census Bureau has seen since it began collecting state revenue data in 1951.

And the worst may still be to come.

Fiscal 2012 “will actually be the most difficult budget year for states ever,” said Nicholas Johnson, director of the state fiscal project at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, in an interview with The Washington Post.

The center reported last month that states will see budget shortfalls totaling more than $140 billion next year as they continue to wrestle with depressed revenue levels while federal stimulus dollars and reserves run out.

Broke Town, U.S.A.

Thanks to Kitty for this submission.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/06/magazine/06Muni-t.html?ref=magazine

Former LA Mayor: 90% of cities and states to go bankrupt

http://www.economiccollapse.net/richard-riordan-90-percent-of-cities-and-states-to-go-bankrupt

States Warned of $2 Trillion Pensions Shortfall

http://www.cnbc.com/id/41129099

Newt Gingrich Pushing Bill To Allow States To File Bankruptcy Allowing Them To Renege On Pension And Benefit Obligations

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/newt-gingrich-pushing-bill-allow-states-file-bankruptcy-allowing-them-renege-pension-and-ben

Banking analyst Meredith Whitney

“You have to look at the states and the risk that the states pose, because the crisis with the states will result in an attempt at least for the third near-trillion-dollar bailout. That has consequences on the dollar that has consequences on just about everything. It certainly has consequences on the US recovery.”

Bonuses for Wall Street Bankers are going to be “really, really bad at year end.”

California and other states on verge of failure

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/california-on-verge-of-system-failure/article1609891/

Credit default swaps on muni bonds rise

The risk of default on municipal and state bonds is rising, resulting in higher prices for credit default swaps, which insure against bond defaults. This will undoubtedly increase the borrowing costs of states and municipalities, exacerbating their already tenuous fiscal conditions.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/27/banks-bet-against-us-citi_n_553891.html

Cities and States need bailouts

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-cities-20100425,0,3466570.story

Crank up the printing presses again. At least readers of this blog know what to do to protect their purchasing power.