What Recovery?

Here are some posts referenced on Chris Martenson’s site yesterday. Is there anything in here that even remotely looks like a green shoot? Things continue to deteriorate and will do so in spite of what the touts tell you.

New York Personal Income Tax Collections Fell 21% Last Year

Nov. 17 (Bloomberg) — New York state’s personal income tax collections, its largest source of revenue, fell $4.73 billion, or 21 percent, from a year earlier, according to a report issued today by Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. The decline is the result of 236,000 lost jobs in the last year, which increased the state’s unemployment rate to 8.9 percent from 5.8 percent a year earlier, according to Labor Department reports.

Global junk bond default rate rises in October -S&P

Through Nov. 11, some 243 issuers have defaulted this year, the most in any one year since S&P began tracking them in 1981. The dollar volume of worldwide defaults has ballooned to $573 billion so far in 2009 from $433 billion in all of 2008 and $8 billion in 2007, the rating agency said in a report.

Life Insurers May Lose $22.6 Billion on Commercial Real Estate

U.S. life insurers, a group led by MetLife Inc. and Prudential Financial Inc., may lose as much as $22.6 billion on investments in commercial real estate through 2011, Fitch Ratings said….. Life insurers held more than $450 billion in commercial loans and mortgage-backed securities at the end of 2008, Fitch said in a related report. The delinquency rate on U.S. CMBS rose to 4.01 percent at the end of October, almost seven times what it was a year ago, Moody’s Investors Service said yesterday.

S&P cuts ratings on $17 bln worth of U.S. CLOs

Defaults and rating downgrades of underlying collateral supporting Collateralized Loan Obligation bonds were the main factors in the CLO downgrades, including some rating cuts to the CCC level, which is deep into junk territory and suggests “substantial risk” of default, S&P said.

Silverdome sale price disappoints (posted by pwanex)

Pontiac — Nearly 35 years after taxpayers spent $55.7 million building the Pontiac Silverdome and a year after a $20 million sale fell through, city officials have sold the arena once called the most desirable property in Oakland County. The price: $583,000.

Pickens Predicts $100 crude in 2010, $300 by 2020

As reported by bnet.com on Friday, oilman-turned-natural-gas-entrepreneur T. Boone Pickens is talking about oil prices spiking…again. The outspoken Texan predicted in October that oil would reach over $75 a barrel before the end of 2009. Now he’s claiming that 2010 will see even higher oil prices, with crude potentially reaching $100 per barrel. Pickens doesn’t see the buck stopping there either—he thinks that, within a decade, oil could go as high as $300 per barrel.

Michael Panzner: Commercial Real Estate Is A “Tsunami Unfolding”

Michael Panzner is bearish, and you should listen. Why? The 25-year veteran of the global stock, bond, and currency markets was one of the few who called the crisis before it happened, with a book aptly titled “Financial Armageddon.”

Ski Homes Feel the Real Estate Chill

Asking prices on properties in some of the country’s priciest ski zip codes have seen 15-30 percent price cuts this year. Sellers have learned that even the most tricked-out ski houses with Jacuzzis, heated decks, and hot tubs aren’t immune to the real estate slump, say agents. “I never thought I would see the day of million-dollar price reductions,” said Colorado real estate agent Karen Barrocas of Colorado Ski Real Estate.

China, U.S. eye pact to help troubled banks: sources (posted by rhare)

Chinese and U.S. regulators are negotiating a pact aimed at encouraging Chinese financial institutions to buy into small and medium-sized banks in the United States, bankers briefed on the plan said on Tuesday. Chinese bankers have complained that it’s been difficult for them to set up branches or invest in banks in the world’s leading economy, due partly to U.S. regulators’ tough supervision and strict approval process for financial deals. But the global financial landscape has been revamped by the credit crisis, and cash-rich Chinese banks are now bigger players on the world scene and are scouting around for investment targets.

National Debt Now Tops $12 Trillion (CBS News)

It’s another record-high for the U.S. National Debt which today topped the $12-trillion mark. Divided evenly among the U.S. population, it amounts to $38,974.34 for every man, woman and child. Technically, the debt hit the new high yesterday, but it was posted on the Treasury Department website just after 3:00 p.m. ET today. The exact calculation of the debt is a 16-digit tongue-twister and red-ink tsunami: $12,031,299,186,290.07

California faces a projected deficit of $21 billion

The legislative budget analyst’s projection, to be released Wednesday, threatens to send Sacramento back into gridlock and force across-the-board cuts to state programs.

Utah’s fictitious ’4th Congressional District’ gets $1.2 million in stimulus funding (ABC News)

Utah’s 4th congressional district received more than $1.1 million in stimulus funds, according to President Obama’s Recovery.org website. The problem: Utah doesn’t have a 4th district. In fact, Utah is one of many states listed on the recovery web site with ‘phantom’ districts.

VA might have to cut $2.9 billion more by ’12

The bleak forecast announced Tuesday at a House Appropriations Committee retreat comes on top of nearly $7 billion in reductions to the state’s current two-year budget since last year. “These budget numbers are scary, and they’re stark,” Del. Clarence E. “Bud” Phillips (D-Dickenson) said. “They’re going to have a grave impact on the citizens of the commonwealth.”

Senator: VT will face $88 million budget deficit

The economy’s fallen apart, our revenues have plummeted and the state of Vermont’s facing the toughest fiscal challenges in our history,” Senate President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin told more than 50 legislators and a couple dozen lobbyists gathered at the Statehouse for a budget briefing. Shumlin, of Windham County, said that the estimate does not include an additional $22 million needed for the retirement fund the state maintains for teachers, $9 million in retirement funds for state employees and a projected $30 million for growth in caseloads for state health and other human services programs.

Charleston Seeks Help With Pensions

Senate Pensions Chairman Dan Foster, D-Kanawha, estimates that of 53 pension plans across the state, 45 cities’ plans are seriously under-funded at 40 percent or less.

We Don’t Have Confidence in the U.S. Dollar Now

We must reform the international monetary system,” Yu Yongding, a former Chinese central bank adviser, said at a forum in Beijing today. “A good monetary system should make us confident. But we don’t have confidence in the U.S. dollar now.

San Francisco heads into $53 million deficit (Video)

Newsom hasn’t been seen much since he dropped out of the governor’s race two weeks ago. Meanwhile, the controller’s office is now working on the 2010-2011 budget and they’re already talking about a projected $400 million deficit for San Francisco.

State college pre-paid tuition program deep in debt (South Carolina)

The struggling economy in South Carolina has claimed another victim — the state Tuition Prepayment Program. State officials say the program that allows parents to pay future college tuition using today’s rates is about $60 million in debt.

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