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Hartford, full of billionaires to go bankrupt? Liberal city
Posted on: July 10, 2017 at 19:37:45 CT
JeffB MU
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in a liberal state in a liberal region, full of money... but can't manage their finances. Surprised?
The “World Capital of Insurance” edges closer to bankruptcy
http://www.insurancebusinessmag.com/us/business-news/the-world-capital-of-insurance-edges-closer-to-bankruptcy-72620.aspx
The fiscal crisis in Hartford, the historic center of the American insurance industry, is fast becoming more representative than mansions or yachts of the wealthiest state in the U.S. The city is edging closer than ever to the breaking point, waiting for the financially troubled state government to step in.
It may seem crazy that a place as rich as the Nutmeg State, which counts among its residents hedge-funds masters like Ray Dalio and Steven A. Cohen and legions of Wall Street bankers, could be in such fiscal trouble. Last year, the per-capita income there was $71,033, the highest in the nation, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.
For all that, state-worker pensions have been underfunded for decades. Tax increases aimed at closing deficits have put a strain on an economy struggling from the loss of high-paying finance jobs, leaving it among the few that still haven’t recovered from the recession. The hedge fund industry fell on hard times, with about 1,060 shuttering globally last year. UBS Group AG abandoned the world’s largest trading floor in Stamford after the financial crisis, and the Royal Bank of Scotland downsized its office there. Pension, debt and health-care costs just kept growing.
“There’s a limit to how much you can tax and there’s a limit to how much you can cut before you damage the viability and attractiveness of the city,” Mayor Luke Bronin said in May. “Right now, from a fiscal standpoint, you have a capital city fighting with its hands behind its back."
Like many other local governments across the country, Hartford -- city of Mark Twain and the young John Pierpont Morgan -- has been grappling with budget problems for years. On the same day that Illinois lawmakers finally scraped together a long-overdue budget, Hartford hired the law firm Greenberg Traurig LLP to evaluate its options, which include bankruptcy. It would be the first prominent U.S. municipality to seek protection from its creditors since Detroit did so in 2013.
As for Connecticut, it faces a projected two-year deficit of $5 billion that lawmakers haven’t figured out how to close, even though the new fiscal year began on July 1.
In Hartford, the woes have been piling up for a while. Like Puerto Rico, which filed a record-setting bankruptcy in May, or even Greece, the city came to the edge in the usual way: slowly, then suddenly. ...
The “World Capital of Insurance” edges closer to bankruptcy
http://www.insurancebusinessmag.com/us/business-news/the-world-capital-of-insurance-edges-closer-to-bankruptcy-72620.aspx
The fiscal crisis in Hartford, the historic center of the American insurance industry, is fast becoming more representative than mansions or yachts of the wealthiest state in the U.S. The city is edging closer than ever to the breaking point, waiting for the financially troubled state government to step in.
It may seem crazy that a place as rich as the Nutmeg State, which counts among its residents hedge-funds masters like Ray Dalio and Steven A. Cohen and legions of Wall Street bankers, could be in such fiscal trouble. Last year, the per-capita income there was $71,033, the highest in the nation, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.
For all that, state-worker pensions have been underfunded for decades. Tax increases aimed at closing deficits have put a strain on an economy struggling from the loss of high-paying finance jobs, leaving it among the few that still haven’t recovered from the recession. The hedge fund industry fell on hard times, with about 1,060 shuttering globally last year. UBS Group AG abandoned the world’s largest trading floor in Stamford after the financial crisis, and the Royal Bank of Scotland downsized its office there. Pension, debt and health-care costs just kept growing.
“There’s a limit to how much you can tax and there’s a limit to how much you can cut before you damage the viability and attractiveness of the city,” Mayor Luke Bronin said in May. “Right now, from a fiscal standpoint, you have a capital city fighting with its hands behind its back."
Like many other local governments across the country, Hartford -- city of Mark Twain and the young John Pierpont Morgan -- has been grappling with budget problems for years. On the same day that Illinois lawmakers finally scraped together a long-overdue budget, Hartford hired the law firm Greenberg Traurig LLP to evaluate its options, which include bankruptcy. It would be the first prominent U.S. municipality to seek protection from its creditors since Detroit did so in 2013.
As for Connecticut, it faces a projected two-year deficit of $5 billion that lawmakers haven’t figured out how to close, even though the new fiscal year began on July 1.
In Hartford, the woes have been piling up for a while. Like Puerto Rico, which filed a record-setting bankruptcy in May, or even Greece, the city came to the edge in the usual way: slowly, then suddenly. ...
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Hartford, full of billionaires to go bankrupt? Liberal city - JeffB MU - 7/10 19:37:45