The first major city has filed for bankruptcy. I have a bad feeling there will be many more.
Harrisburg, PA Files For Bankruptcy
Pennsylvania's capital city voted to file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection on Tuesday as it faced a state takeover, according to media reports.
The City Council voted 4-3 to seek bankruptcy protection for Harrisburg, which has a debt burden five times its general-fund budget "because of an overhaul and expansion of a trash-to-energy incinerator that doesn’t generate enough revenue," Bloomberg Businessweek reported.
The bankruptcy means the city will lose state aid, but that is better than the proposed recovery plans, Councilwoman Susan Brown-Wilson said, according to Bloomberg. But State Sen. Jeffrey Piccola, a Republican from Dauphin County, where Harrisburg is located, said the council's vote is against the law.
“I have been on the record as saying that bankruptcy is simply not an option. It’s illegal under Pennsylvania law, which prohibits third class cities from filing for bankruptcy,” Piccola said, according to PennLive.com.
Patty Kim, who voted against bankrupcy protection, said the city cannot afford the high cost of litigation that will likely ensue.
“The problem still exists that we still don’t have money, and we still haven’t moved one foot forward,” Kim said.
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Here is Central Planning at it's finest. Another reason why we need to get these corrupt SOBs out of Washington. I copied in my favorite part, but read the whole article.
Pelosi's Brother-in-Law receives Govt Funds
The shocking scale of spending Solyndra lavished on the factory it started building alongside Interstate 880 in Fremont, California, has been revealed.
When it was completed at an estimated cost of $733 million, including proceeds from the company's $535 million U.S. loan guarantee, it covered 300,000 sq ft, the equivalent of five football fields.
It had robots that whistled Disney tunes, spa-like showers with liquid-crystal displays of the water temperature, and glass-walled conference rooms.
John Pierce, 54, a San Jose resident who worked as a facilities manager at Solyndra, said: 'The new building is like the Taj Mahal.'
Designed to make far more solar panels than Solyndra got orders for, the site is now empty and U.S. taxpayers may be stuck with it.
Solyndra filed for bankruptcy protection on September 6, leaving in its wake investigations by Congress and the FBI.
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Dang Corn Mazes!
Couple Gets Lost in Maze, Call Police
Getting lost in a corn maze is supposed to be fun.
But it turned into a nightmare for a Massachusetts couple who got so turned around that they had to be rescued by the police.
It all started late Monday afternoon, when the couple entered a corn maze at Connors Farm in Danvers, Mass., about 23 miles north of Boston.
After about an hour in the maze, darkness began to fall. The couple, who were there with their 3-week-old baby, could not find a way out. As the mosquitoes started to descend, they placed a desperate call to 911 asking to be rescued.
The Danvers police released audio of the call. Here’s an edited transcript:
Woman in tears: "Hi, I just called. I’m still stuck at Connors Farms. I don’t see anybody. I’m really scared. It’s really dark and we’ve got a 3-week-old."
Police officer: "Your husband is with you?"
Woman: "Yes. But my baby..."
Police officer: "A police officer is on the way. Can you put your husband on the phone?"
Husband: "I see lights over there at the place, but we can’t get there, we’re smack right in the middle of the cornfield."
Woman: "I don’t know what made us do this. It was daytime when we came in. We thought if we came in someone would come in and find us... We can hear (the police officers) ... Oh, my goodness. The mosquitoes are eating us alive, and I never took my daughter out, this is the first time. Never again."
Woman: "This is embarrassing."
By the end of the seven-minute call, a K-9 unit had found the couple.
Kamille Combs, marketing director for the Utah-based company the Maize, which designed the Connors Farm maze, said the company’s average corn maze is 8 to 10 acres and it takes the average person 45 minutes to complete the maze.
She said the company usually breaks its mazes into three different phases "because some people want that ultimate challenge, and others are happy after 20 minutes."
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Ok so I'll actually post some economic news. Jobless claims were out this morning.
Jobless Claims 1K "Better" Than Expected 405K, To Be Revised To "Miss" Next Week; Record Trade Deficit With China
In today's weekly dose of BS from the BLS, we get the previous week's massive beat of 401K revised to 405K, cutting the 410K estimate beat in half. But what is important is that the expectation for this week of 405K was massive beaten by a whopping 1K at 404K. Of course, next week this number will be revised to 408K meaning the consensus was missed but no robots will care. As for the non-noise, non seasonally adjusted claims soared by 66,442 in the week from 332,394 to 398,836. Spin cycle to commence imminently. In some modestly good news, the "cliffers", those on EUCs and Extended benefits, which have declined by 1.3 million in the prior year, increased modestly by 2K, meaning those playing Xbox and collecting benefits actually rose for the week. In other news, the Trade Balance came in line with expectations, at a deficit of 45.6 billion. However, last month's number which gave all the banks hope that Q3 GDP was going to be a whopping beat and got so many Lemmings to re-revise their GDP forecast higher, was reduced from -44.8 billion to -45.6 billion, meaning Q3 GDP is right back down where it belongs. Most notably, the Chinese trade deficit hit a politically convenient record, increasing from $27.0 billion in July to $29.0 billion in August. Exports increased $0.2 billion (primarily soybeans, fish and shellfish, and nonferrous metals) to $8.4 billion, while imports increased $2.2 billion (primarily other household goods and toys, games, and sporting goods) to $37.4 billion. Expect Chuck Schumer's head to explode in 5...4...3...A (not so) pretty picture:
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