"Last December Meredith Whitney told a 60 Minutes audience that a municipal bond meltdown was coming. Ms. Whitney has been under attack ever since.
All year long financial commentators have been asking Meredith, “show us the defaults!”
The largest municipal bankruptcy in history was filed yesterday when the county commissioners of Alabama’s Jefferson County voted 4-1 to file Chapter 9. Melinda Dickinson reports for Rueters,
On August 1, tiny Central Falls, Rhode Island filed BK, citing pension costs it can’t afford.
While Jefferson County was throwing in the towel, officials were declaring a state of financial emergency in Flint, Michigan. This is the first step toward the state of Michigan taking over the city’s finances. This seems to be a trend as Mathew Dolan writes for the Wall Street Journal,
at http://blog.mises.org/19120/meredith-whitneys-dream-coming-true/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MisesBlog+%28Mises+Economics+Blog%29
All year long financial commentators have been asking Meredith, “show us the defaults!”
The largest municipal bankruptcy in history was filed yesterday when the county commissioners of Alabama’s Jefferson County voted 4-1 to file Chapter 9. Melinda Dickinson reports for Rueters,
The bankruptcy filing by the southern U.S. county will add to concerns about the risks in the $3.7 trillion U.S. municipal bond market, which was hit recently by the high-profile debt crisis in Pennsylvania’s capital of Harrisburg.Jefferson County, which includes the city of Birmingham, owes $5 billion surpassing Orange County’s filing in 1994. JPMorgan held more than $1.2 billion of the county’s sewer debt as of May and negotiated aggressively to avoid bankruptcy.
On August 1, tiny Central Falls, Rhode Island filed BK, citing pension costs it can’t afford.
While Jefferson County was throwing in the towel, officials were declaring a state of financial emergency in Flint, Michigan. This is the first step toward the state of Michigan taking over the city’s finances. This seems to be a trend as Mathew Dolan writes for the Wall Street Journal,
Three other Michigan cities—Pontiac, Ecorse and Benton Harbor—as well as Detroit’s school district are run by emergency managers. Flint, the state’s seventh-largest city by population, would be the largest municipality under state control.Down the road from Flint, Detroit mayor Dave Bing is playing chicken with union members. The municipal unions have until November 21st to agree to $42 million in concessions or Detroit’s finances will be run from Lansing..."
at http://blog.mises.org/19120/meredith-whitneys-dream-coming-true/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MisesBlog+%28Mises+Economics+Blog%29
