Friday, February 19, 2010

Greece is not alone - the world is full of PIGS

Muni Threat: Cities Weigh Chapter 9
by Ianthe Jeanne Dugan and Kris Maher
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Just days after becoming controller of financially strapped Harrisburg, Pa., in January, Daniel Miller began uttering an obscure term that baffled most people who had never heard it and chilled those who had: Chapter 9. The seldom-used part of U.S. bankruptcy law gives municipalities protection from creditors while developing a plan to pay off debts. Created in the wake of the Great Depression, Chapter 9 is widely considered a last resort and filings under it are more taboo than other parts of bankruptcy code because of the resulting uncertainty for everyone from municipal employees to bondholders. The economic slump, however, is forcing debt-laden cities, towns and smaller taxing districts throughout the U.S. to consider using Chapter 9. As their revenue declines faster than expenses, some public entities are scrambling to keep making payments on municipal bonds. And that is causing experts to worry about the safety of securities traditionally considered low risk...
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Comment: There is no safety in anything that is linked to the State. The State lives from the illusion that HE is the protector, savior, the WORLDLY GOLD when in fact the state is nothing else but an instrument for a specific (yet changing) small group to enrich itself at the cost of the rest. One may get rid of one elite only to be suppressed and exploited again by another one. The answer is not change of regime but change of system. This was the great project of the founding fathers of the American Republic. However, it did not take long for the US to become like the rest, and in some respects even worse.

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