"Today, Whitney is releasing a 600-page report, colorfully entitled
"The Tragedy of the Commons," that rates the financial condition of America's
15 largest states, measured by their GDP.
. . . the study warns that the giant gap between states' spending and their tax
revenues, estimated at $192 billion or 27% of their total budgets for the 2010 fiscal
year, presents two dangers that investors are seriously underestimating.
First, municipalities could start defaulting on their bonds guaranteed by the cities
and towns themselves, an exceedingly rare event over the past three, mostly
prosperous, decades.
"People keep saying it can't happen, just as they said national housing prices
could never go down," says Whitney. "Now, it's a real danger.""
http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2010/09/28/meredith-whitneys-new-target-the-states/#comments
"The Tragedy of the Commons," that rates the financial condition of America's
15 largest states, measured by their GDP.
. . . the study warns that the giant gap between states' spending and their tax
revenues, estimated at $192 billion or 27% of their total budgets for the 2010 fiscal
year, presents two dangers that investors are seriously underestimating.
First, municipalities could start defaulting on their bonds guaranteed by the cities
and towns themselves, an exceedingly rare event over the past three, mostly
prosperous, decades.
"People keep saying it can't happen, just as they said national housing prices
could never go down," says Whitney. "Now, it's a real danger.""
http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2010/09/28/meredith-whitneys-new-target-the-states/#comments
