Bloomberg‘s Lisa Abramowicz is asking the question, “What happens when the Federal Reserve loses its stranglehold over debt markets?” Which after having order break down in the U.S. stock market yesterday, after having held for the previous four years, is a pretty good question to ask. More specifically, she’s looking at the nation’s corporate…
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As we have noted, Emily Bazar of the California Health Care Foundation’s Center for Health Reporting has been working three shifts documenting the abuses of Covered California, a wholly owned subsidiary of Obamacare. These abuses include a dysfunctional computer system that cost nearly $500 million, cancellation of health insurance without notice when people report…
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One of the biggest news items in the past week was the Chinese government’s surprise devaluation of the nation’s currency, the yuan. This week, Bloomberg‘s Mark Whitehouse reports on the fallout, and the potential disruption it will have on the ability of the businesses and governments of other nations to pay their debts: The…
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In recent years California has raised per-pupil education spending about 50 percent, to $13,000 a year. As Dan Walters of the Sacramento Bee shows, despite this increase, “national academic testing has found that California’s students rank near the bottom in achievement.” The response of the state’s education establishment is to attack the tests. As…
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Jeff Desjardins of Visual Capitalist has created a unique visualization of how the world’s nearly $60 trillion of money borrowed by various governments, at all levels, is distributed among the world’s nations: Desjardins describes some of the bigger numbers and where they came from: Today’s visualization breaks down $59.7 trillion of world debt by…
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China is, by far, the largest foreign lender to the U.S. federal government. But now, with its primarily export-driven economy under stress, it has been shedding its holdings of debt securities issued by the U.S. Treasury. Bloomberg reports on the surprisingly small impact of China’s significant change in its international lending policies: To get…
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Lingering debt of $1 billion and beyond tends to be associated with federal, state or municipal governments. Taxpayers should not be surprised, however, when a school district incurs a debt of more than $1 billion. In 2008, voters in the Poway Unified School District (PUSD) in San Diego County approved $179 million in bonds…
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The story we’re about to share is completely true. It was just published by Bloomberg and describes how the Obama administration is working to relieve the crushing burden of student loan debt by making taxpayers pick up the tab for the wasted education of a 29-year old Chicago woman who graduated with a doctorate…
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The clock ticking toward Puerto Rico’s default on its debt has finally struck. CNN reports that the U.S. territory just went into default for the first time in its history: The commonwealth paid a mere $628,000 toward a $58 million debt bill due Monday to creditors of its Public Finance Corporation. This will hurt…
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What if the U.S. federal government were to build a brand-new business from scratch? Would it, with the full backing of the resources of the U.S. government, be an unparalleled success? Or would it — because none of the people who work for the government are really smart enough, capable enough, or competent enough…
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