While we’re watching the Olympics, several hundred thousand workers from Qidong protest an open ended waste water pipe being routed to the sea…
Tag: economy
Idle corporate cash piles up | David Cay Johnston
IRS data suggests that, globally, U.S. nonfinancial companies hold at least three times more cash and other liquid assets than the Federal Reserve reports, idle money that could be creating jobs, funding dividends or even paying a stiff federal penalty tax for hoarding corporate cash.
Do the ‘Job Creators’ really need more cash? – Ed.
California cities eye plan to seize mortgages | NBC News
Typically, eminent domain has been used to clear property for infrastructure projects like highways, schools and sewage plants. In this case, supporters say, the public purpose is served because communities battered by foreclosures have seen tax rolls decimated and services gutted and have suffered economic blight.
Weekly Economic Report | LAEDC
THIS WEEK’S HEADLINES:
- U.S. June Labor Market Report
- U.S. Light Vehicle Sales in June
- May Hotel Figures Show Los Angeles is Busy
- Events of Interest
- July 25: 2012 LAEDC Mid-Year Economic Forecast
- July 28: 8th Annual Access to Capital Business Expo
Is There a Question?
Public Pensions Are Not The Whole Problem | ZeroHedge
While it’s the latest new thing to vilify public employees and their pensions, this little known and understood threat is doing just as much damage:
In 2002 a little-known but powerful state agency in California and Wall Street titans Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, and Ambac consummated one of the biggest deals to date involving … an “interest rate swap.” A year later the executive director of the Bay Area’s Metropolitan Transportation Commission, Steve Heminger, proudly described these historic deals to a visiting contingent of Atlanta policymakers as a model to be emulated.
Because of the economic collapse, and the decline of interest rates in 2008 to virtually zero, the MTA has been forced to pay the amazing sum of $658 million in net swap payments so far.
Lowering interest rates to zero isn’t Fed policy, it’s Wall Street policy – Ed.
Weekly Economic Update | LADEC
THIS WEEK’S HEADLINES:
- May Home Sales and Prices Up in Southern California
- U.S. Travel & Tourism Spending Up in First Quarter 2012
- Events of Interest
- July 25: 2012 LAEDC Mid-Year Economic Forecast
Weekly Economic Update | LAEDC
THIS WEEK’S HEADLINES:
- Consumers Borrow for Autos and Student Loans
- U.S. Light Vehicle Sales in May
- Assessment of California’s Farm Industry in the First Quarter of 2012
- Events of Interest
- June 20: Foreign Trade Association Trade Zone Seminar
- June 20: UCLA Anderson Forecast June 2012 Economic Outlook
- June 26: 2012 LA NABE Robert T. Perry Awards Luncheon
- July 25: 2012 LAEDC Mid-Year Economic Forecast
Personal Loans Make a Comeback | AllBusiness.com
At a time when banks remain reluctant to approve business loans, many are issuing more and more unsecured personal loans. SmartMoney reports that SunTrust Bank handed out 23 percent more personal loans through September 2011 than it did in the same period a year ago, while TD Bank issued 5 percent more personal loans. Wells Fargo and Capital One also say their personal loans are up.
The Enemy is Us | The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation on Venture Capital Investing
In “WE HAVE MET THE ENEMY… AND HE IS US” , Lessons from Twenty Years of the Kauffman Foundation’s Investments in Venture Capital Funds and The Triumph of Hope over experience no detail is spared in a direct, unflinching look at how a $2BN, entrepreneurial foundation under performed the S&P 500 through group think and the willingness to be lead.
A long read, and somewhat technical, but truly worth the time. It makes a lot of what we’re seeing make sense.
Dispatches From The Front 