Just as we were warned by Grand Rapids’ police chief before this year’s income tax hike that a failure of the tax increase would result in ‘increased risk’ for city residents, the Police union in Bay, Michigan is actually threatening residents that they will be “beaten, shot, stabbed robbed” if the city doesn’t...
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I’ve created a new chart, which will be updated monthly,showing the balance of the city’s combined pension plans in comparison with the stock market, tracking S&P 500 index. Unfortunately, as I’ve pointed out previously, the city’s pensions are largely invested in risky assets which makes the entire plan correlate well with the markets. Please...
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Most Americans probably haven’t heard of the term austerity until recently. If you lived in Europe, it would be a daily topic of discussion. Austerity essentially means being forced to live with less, particularly as it relates to government benefits. As Greece has essentially entered a period of national bankruptcy, the government is finally...
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Grand Rapids’ Chief Financial Officer, Scott Buhrer, updated the city’s Fiscal Outlook through 2014 on February 12. You can read the report here. My first reaction was, “Finally, somone at City Hall gets it!” I will quote extensively from his comments and bold the comments that I believe are important to note. This financial...
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The Grand Rapids City Commission voted last week to place a 15% income tax increase on the ballot May 4th. The vote was 6 to 0 in favor, showing a remarkable lack of leadership and critical thinking on the part of any of the city commissioners. I guess replacing Jim Jendrasiak in the 1st...
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A little-discussed news item is that, as the Great Recession drags on, states are getting crushed under piles of borrowing to continue to pay unemployment benefits. As states run out of money, they begin to borrow from the Federal Government. Why is this issue important? Because the state will eventually have to repay this...
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Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal had possibly the most dire article I’ve ever read on a company’s viability. Unfortunately, the article wasn’t online, but here are some highlights: General Motors Corp. capped a dismal 2008 with a $9.6 billion loss in the fourth quarter, brining its loss for the year to $30.9 billion. … GM...
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Proposal five, which will be on Michigan’s ballot on Tuesday, is a union-sponsored and funded campaign to dramatically boost funding for teacher pensions. The proposal basically creates a madatory annual increase for school funding, based on the rate of inflation. However, what the proposal’s backers don’t tell you is that the majority of this...
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