California Will Default on it's Debt

[humboldtrat]

Originally Posted by jeffredo

Yeah, we didn't vote the way certain elements wanted.

I knew it - another Republican conspiracy! Who needs the Republicans? The Dems who have been running the state for 40 years are quite capable of running the state into a ditch all by themselves.

[SacTown11]

BY LAW?

Please...pieces of paper are ignored by anyone who wants to commit a crime. The Legislators of California have committed a crime by creating a system that is unsustainable. This is why it won't matter what is written in LAW...unless the LAW says that in a case of potential default that assets of its citizens will be seized to pay for the debt. Last I checked, that language isn't in there, so your LAW can watch reality rain all over its parade.

Pfft..Law...please, use some Common Sense.

[18Montclair]

Originally Posted by jeffredo

Yeah, we didn't vote the way certain elements wanted.

Ya know, I was never much of a conspiracy theorist with respect to stuff like this, but you look at the behavior of certain industries of our economy and the political factions they control and to be honest nothing would surprise me anymore.

Anybody else remember Enron and how they DELIBERATELY slowed the transport of electricity just to manipulate contracts with California-and we were ripped off to the tune of $9 BILLION???

So due to their manipulative practices, we endured rolling blackouts, Out of his interest to simultaneously protect Enron and flip off California, Dick Cheney said that it was all California's fault and that conservation would never work and what happened?

-Californians conserved and rolling blackouts ceased-almost immediately.

-Enron was investigated and found to have broken the law.

-And today, Enron is no longer in business.

Lesson? What goes around ALWAYS comes around.

And that is no different from what is occuring today. California will be led to the edge of the abyss but so long as we stand up for what is right, it will be those who lead us to the edge that actually fall off.

Can I get an amen?

LOL

[Lovehound]

Originally Posted by Snort

OP likely to miss finer points of identifying possessive pronouns.

Snort [is] likely to miss [the] finer points that a sentence without a verb is a sentence fragment.

It's not good to post a criticism of grammar unless the criticism is grammatically correct.

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by 18Montclair

California is NOT Greece.

Greece's debt was well over 100% of its Gross Product.

California's debt is between 5-10% of its Gross Product.

It's not the current debt so much as the future pension liabilities for state workers as well as health care costs (for retired state workers as well as MediCal recipients).

Even though pension plans are being reformed, most of the savings will only apply to new state employees, which means it will be several years in the future before the state starts seeing any benefits.

The health care issue is another problem. We spend more and more money on health care (both publicly and privately funded plans) and are far from the healthiest country. Clearly, a lot of money is being wasted, yet no real reforms have been made in the way health care services are delivered. We just keep throwing more money (public & private) at a broken system.

[18Montclair]

Originally Posted by mysticaltyger

It's not the current debt so much as the future pension liabilities for state workers as well as health care costs (for retired state workers as well as MediCal recipients).

Even though pension plans are being reformed, most of the savings will only apply to new state employees, which means it will be several years in the future before the state starts seeing any benefits.

The health care issue is another problem. We spend more and more money on health care (both publicly and privately funded plans) and are far from the healthiest country. Clearly, a lot of money is being wasted, yet no real reforms have been made in the way health care services are delivered. We just keep throwing more money (public & private) at a broken system.

+1 Agreed.

[18Montclair]

When Ireland and Greece run big budget deficits, debt investors get angry. But when California says it will need more than $20 billion to balance its budget, bond buyers stay cool. The state is marketing $10 billion of short-term debt that matures next year to big and small investors at interest rates that would make Dublin or Athens green with envy.

The Golden State hopes to pay just 1 to 1.5 percent on its new notes, roughly matching what it coughed up on similar debt last year. Demand isn’t as robust as then, but considering the state legislature’s dithering over the last budget — they blew the deadline by 100 days — it’s remarkable that investors haven’t been more demanding.

Markets won’t force California’s budget hand | Analysis & Opinion |

California has demonstrated itself to be a worthy borrower time and time again, now we need to demonstrate restraint through austerity.