While some of the numbers looked better for 2010 (vs 2009), JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon said he expects more U.S. municipalities to declare bankruptcy and urged caution when investing in the $2.9 trillion public-debt market. “There have been six or seven municipal bankruptcies already,” Dimon, 54, said yesterday, “I think unfortunately you will see more.”
Cities including Detroit and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, have raised the prospect of bankruptcy. Still, the number of filings has declined. Five municipal entities sought protection in 2010 compared with 10 in 2009, according to data compiled by James Spiotto, head of the bankruptcy practice at Chapman & Cutler, a Chicago law firm. The biggest last year was a South Carolina toll road with more than $300 million in debt, he said.
U.S. states will contend with about $140 billion in deficits in the next fiscal year, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a Washington research group, said in a report issued Dec. 16.
HERE IS THAT NATIONAL REPORT: http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=711
HERE IS THE ENTIRE ARTICLE: http://tinyurl.com/5u3cxex
At The Risk Of Being Repetitive: If there was ever a time where FIRE DEPARTMENTS should be aggressively reminding and demonstrating their value and worth to the community in a "we, the citizens, cannot and will not live without a (our) well staffed, well trained, well lead FD" – this would be it.
In most respects it’s sad and ridiculous that it has to be done, but that appears to be the "new" reality.
