Professor Elam

Birmingham AL may be facing the biggest municipal bankruptcy in history.  Housing then casinos have collapsed, no doubt taking the economy of Las Vegas and Nevada with it.  I suspect the next disaster is municipal debt and the inabiltiy to pay it.  The numicipal bond market is melting, it is difficult to get a bid on even a well rated (A) bond.  This foresees real problems. Coupled with falling housing prices, it will be more and more difficult for municipalities to raise much less keep appraised values where they are.  Arnold S. is already declaring various states of emergency for CA, looks like CA is right back to where it was when Arnold became Governor.  He was going to change things and then started going along with spending programs and more taxes to get re elected, does this sound familiar?