|
Korean Job Discussion Forums
"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Teachers from Around the World!"
|
| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
bacasper
Joined: 26 Mar 2007
|
 Posted: Wed Jul 07, 2010 6:25 am Post subject: Arnold orders minimum wage for state workers |
 |
|
Unfortunately, it is just temporary. As soon as there is a budget, they'll get all their money.
Lack of Budget Forces Schwarzenegger to Order Minimum Wage for Workers
07/02/2010
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has placed an order to the state controller to slash the pay for a majority of state workers to the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour because of the lack of a finances being in place by the start of the financial year, which started on Thursday.
The Governor was anticipated to make that order, which will have its affect on almost 200,000 state workers, although the timing was unsure.
State members of staff, who experience pay cuts, would be compensated once a state budget is set up. Maximum number of state employees is paid monthly at the end of the month, so if a budget is set up before the end of July, they would not be given a reduced paycheck.
Administration officers preserve that they are required by law to lessen worker pay in the nonattendance of a budget.
In a letter to Controller, John Chiang, Debbie Endsley, the Director of the Department of Personnel Administration wrote, that �Today is July 1, 2010, and there is no state budget. Unfortunately, we must take the steps, so as to adjust wages and salaries during this budget standoff�.
Assembly Speaker, John P�rez, D-Los Angeles, said that he was intensely saddened by Schwarzenegger's order. |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
Fox
Joined: 04 Mar 2009
|
| Posted: Wed Jul 07, 2010 4:05 pm Post subject: |
|
|
The State Controller has repeatedly refused to comply.
| Quote: |
A state appeals court today upheld Governor Schwarzenegger�s authority to cut state workers pay when lawmakers fail to pass a budget on time. That�s twice now that a court has backed the governor. But the guy who signs those pay checks still says he won�t go along.
The governor says without a budget, he�s compelled to pay most state workers no more than the federal minimum wage $7.25 an hour. The state�s 3rd District Court of Appeal agrees, as did a lower court.
But Controller John Chiang says neither court resolved this issue: whether he�s excused from complying with a pay cut if the state�s payroll system can�t accomplish the task without violating labor laws.
Chiang said �the governor well understands � because his office has been working with my office for the past three years � that we�re putting in place a new system that can pay minimum wage properly and legally in 2012. He (Schwarzenegger) knows that we can�t do it at this time, so he�s only exposing the state to extraordinary risk.� |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
|
| Posted: Wed Jul 07, 2010 9:24 pm Post subject: |
|
|
California is waiting for a bailout. There will be a bailout of the states. There will also be a bailout of muni bonds.
http://blog.atimes.net/?p=1504
| Quote: |
The Bank-Insurance-Municipal Daisy Chain (Why the Federal Government Will Bail Out the States)
Bank preferred debt, I argued on March 1, 2009, would not be allowed to go under after the fashion of Fannie and Freddie preferred, because shutting off payment on bank preferreds would ruin the insurance industry. Credit protection on the insurers was trading at over 1,000 basis points above LIBOR that week, which marked the nadir for the banks.
...
The same applies with a vengeance to the banks and municipal debt. As Bloomberg reported yesterday, the banking system owns well over $200 billion in municipal bonds:
...
If municipal debt actually defaulted, the capital position of the banking system would be impacted, bank preferred debt might stop paying, and the holders of bank preferred debt�starting with the insurers�would be in serious trouble. The $800 billion bailout package for Europe�s PIIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, Spain) in May was in fact a bailout for the banking system, which holds hundreds of billions of dollars worth of such debt. We don�t know quite how much, because European banks don�t have the same reporting requirements as American banks (and American banks� overseas branches don�t have the same reporting requirements as their domestic branches).
It�s a pretty safe surmise that the global banking system�s holdings of non-US government debt is not much different than the profile of American banks� purchases of US government debt.
...
Why buy munis? For all of Warren Buffett�s dire warnings about municipal finances, the fact is that the federal government can�t let major municipal debtors (at the level of states, for example) go under without also bringing down the banking system and everything else.
If it goes, it all will go together. That�s why munis ultimately will be bailed out. A Democratic administration whose core constituency is public employee unions will do everything in its power to keep them happy (and a Republican Congress, which we likely will have in 2011, may frustrate this). But ultimately it�s a matter of survival. |
When the bailouts end the situation will be worse. The American age is over. I don't mean to be hyperbolic, but it's true. Chris Whallen from Institutional Risk Analytics put it succinctly:
http://us1.institutionalriskanalytics.com/pub/IRAMain.asp
| Quote: |
| The Chinese and Russians see themselves in the ascendancy and, unlike the U.S., these nations have a vision of where they want to be a century from now. Americans just want to borrow more money. |
Illinois is in worse shape than Cali. Here's how they're dealing with it:
| Quote: |
| Springfield, Ill. - More than 40,000 unionized state workers got a pay raise last Thursday, bringing to 7 percent the amount they're gotten since last year. These same state employees are in line for another 7 percent by next July 1, all at a cost of a half-billion tax dollars a year. |
http://www.myfoxchicago.com/dpp/news/metro/illinois-state-workers-payraises-20100706
The state employees should take what they can get now. Quite a few won't be employed in a couple-three years. There is no more money. When they print money there are diluting the existing wealth to pay public pensions, bankster bonuses, military contractors. The actual wealth is being consumed by non-productive elements in the country. California alone has a half a trillion dollar unfunded pension liability. It really is an unsolvable crisis. Got gold? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
The Happy Warrior
Joined: 10 Feb 2010
|
| Posted: Thu Jul 08, 2010 7:32 pm Post subject: |
|
|
TaxVox: States beginning their fiscal years
| Quote: |
| For the states, aggregate taxes may be up since last year but they are still ten percent below where they were in the first quarter of 2008 despite having raised taxes or fees over the last couple of years. The National Council of State Legislatures estimates that states are starting the current fiscal year with an aggregate $89 billion deficit. And over half are counting on additional federal aid, mostly in the form of a yet-to-be-passed extension of extra federal Medicaid matching funds. Without the extension, these additional federal dollars will dry up at the end of December. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
|
| Posted: Fri Jul 09, 2010 6:20 am Post subject: |
|
|
| The Happy Warrior wrote: |
TaxVox: States beginning their fiscal years
| Quote: |
| For the states, aggregate taxes may be up since last year but they are still ten percent below where they were in the first quarter of 2008 despite having raised taxes or fees over the last couple of years. The National Council of State Legislatures estimates that states are starting the current fiscal year with an aggregate $89 billion deficit. And over half are counting on additional federal aid, mostly in the form of a yet-to-be-passed extension of extra federal Medicaid matching funds. Without the extension, these additional federal dollars will dry up at the end of December. |
|
^ Ugly. I don't know how this is going to be fixed. A bailout this year will require bailouts every year for ever. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Fox
Joined: 04 Mar 2009
|
| Posted: Fri Jul 09, 2010 5:51 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| mises wrote: |
| The Happy Warrior wrote: |
TaxVox: States beginning their fiscal years
| Quote: |
| For the states, aggregate taxes may be up since last year but they are still ten percent below where they were in the first quarter of 2008 despite having raised taxes or fees over the last couple of years. The National Council of State Legislatures estimates that states are starting the current fiscal year with an aggregate $89 billion deficit. And over half are counting on additional federal aid, mostly in the form of a yet-to-be-passed extension of extra federal Medicaid matching funds. Without the extension, these additional federal dollars will dry up at the end of December. |
|
^ Ugly. I don't know how this is going to be fixed. A bailout this year will require bailouts every year for ever. |
Well, that's the answer as to how to fix it, at least on a state level: resist the temptation to bail states out. It's not like these states don't still have enough revenue to meet their basic requirements. If the federal government forebears, they'll be forced to be more realistic about their situation, and either raise taxes or cut services (or both to some extent, which is probably wisest). They just need to be forced to be realistic about things. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
|
| Posted: Fri Jul 09, 2010 9:57 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Fox wrote: |
| mises wrote: |
| The Happy Warrior wrote: |
TaxVox: States beginning their fiscal years
| Quote: |
| For the states, aggregate taxes may be up since last year but they are still ten percent below where they were in the first quarter of 2008 despite having raised taxes or fees over the last couple of years. The National Council of State Legislatures estimates that states are starting the current fiscal year with an aggregate $89 billion deficit. And over half are counting on additional federal aid, mostly in the form of a yet-to-be-passed extension of extra federal Medicaid matching funds. Without the extension, these additional federal dollars will dry up at the end of December. |
|
^ Ugly. I don't know how this is going to be fixed. A bailout this year will require bailouts every year for ever. |
Well, that's the answer as to how to fix it, at least on a state level: resist the temptation to bail states out. It's not like these states don't still have enough revenue to meet their basic requirements. If the federal government forebears, they'll be forced to be more realistic about their situation, and either raise taxes or cut services (or both to some extent, which is probably wisest). They just need to be forced to be realistic about things. |
The only answer, as far as I can tell, is default of bonds and reorganization on other liabilities. The process is difficult but not impossible. Orange County did it two decades or so back after a stupid bet on derivatives.
Pension funds in Illinois and California are making extremely risky (they'll lose) bets on derivatives. What they're doing is suicide. Particularly in Illinois. Most all pensions are now assuming 8% returns forever. Good luck. We're likely in a 3-4% world for a long, long time. The pension bets will probably explode and equity evaporate.
http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=166746
| Quote: |
Dale Rosenthal, a former strategist for Long Term Capital Management, the hedge fund known for its epic collapse in 1998, and a proprietary trader for Morgan Stanley, has seen his share of financial complexities.
But when shown a seven-page list of derivatives positions held by the Illinois Teachers Retirement System as of March 31, obtained by Medill News Service through a Freedom of Information Act request, the University of Illinois-Chicago assistant professor of finance expressed disbelief.
�If you were to have faxed me this balance sheet and asked me to guess who it belonged to, I would have guessed, Citadel, Magnetar or even a proprietary trading desk at a bank,� Rosenthal said. |
^ Teachers pensions.
Disaster. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
AsiaESLbound
Joined: 07 Jan 2010
Location: Truck Stop Missouri
|
| Posted: Sat Jul 10, 2010 4:42 am Post subject: |
|
|
| I like the governator who was once the Terminator. He's a bit conservative on a few important issues, but is a good man. Politician? I want my favorite movie star back!!! Schwarzenegger was awesome. Uh, why did one of the greatest movie stars become a politician? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
