Pensions Timebomb - Pensions "Are Going To Be A National Crisis"
- America’s underfunded pension system is “not a distant concern but a system already in crisis”...
- Tax may explode as governments seek to bail out insolvent pension plans
- Illinois, California, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Kentucky and eight other states vulnerable
With Maine looking like it will be the first state to shut down heading into the new fiscal year on Saturday morning and perhaps beating Illinois to the punch, moments ago Connecticut, as previewed last night, will also enter the new fiscal year without a budget, inviting rating agencies to downgrade it to Illinois' "barely junk" rating or perhaps making CT the first US junk-rated state.
After Maine Gov. Paul LePage delivered an ultimatum to state lawmakers, promising to provoke a government shutdown should the state's legislature hand him a budget that includes a tax increase, it appears the governor intends to keep his word.
LePage told reporters at the state capital that he won't sign anything Friday, ensuring that a shutdown will begin at midnight, because the current budget proposalwhich was endorsed late Thursday by a special panel of lawmakers but has not yet been approved by the state legislature, includes a 1.5% lodging tax increase.
Connecticut isn’t the only state in New England that’s facing a budget showdown today. As Reuters reports, Maine is bracing for a possible partial government shutdown on Friday – what would be the first in the state since 1991 - as Republican Governor Paul LePage has warned he will reject any budget deal that does not cut income taxes.
Via The Daily Bell
The police do not care about keeping you safe. If they did, they wouldn’t put innocent people in danger every day by driving unmarked cars, behaving unprofessionally, and performing no-knock raids. All these things make it quite easy to impersonate an officer in order to commit a crime.
People know their lives are literally in jeopardy if they disobey even the most minor order from a police officer. Innocent people are no exception, and simply questioning an officer, or asserting one’s rights has gotten people beaten, arrested, and even killed.