Free Republic 2nd Qtr 2024 Fundraising Target: $81,000 Receipts & Pledges to-date: $19,709
24%  
Woo hoo!! And we're now over 24%!! Thank you all very much!! God bless.

Keyword: bonds

Brevity: Headers | « Text »
  • Larson’s tunnels: Big plan, even bigger challenge

    11/27/2016 8:28:10 PM PST · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 51 replies
    The Connecticut Mirror ^ | November 15, 2016 | Tom Condon
    Not everyone is thrilled with U.S. Rep. John Larson’s proposal to build massive highway tunnels under Hartford, but Daniel Burnham might be, were he still with us. It was Burnham, the great Chicago architect and planner, who said, “Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably will not themselves be realized.”Larson’s is anything but a little plan; it is breathtaking in scope. It has stirred the blood of some public officials and business leaders. But the concept is so vast, complex and potentially expensive – it would be longer than Boston’s “Big Dig” tunnels...
  • How Trump Might Try to Fix Bridges and Highways: QuickTake Q&A

    11/24/2016 7:44:35 AM PST · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 9 replies
    Bloomberg ^ | November 14, 2016 | Laurence Arnold and Sho Chandra
    Link only - Bloomberg
  • ‘Trump trade’ sparks stampede out of bond funds into stocks

    11/23/2016 7:16:45 AM PST · by Ernest_at_the_Beach · 9 replies
    Marketwatch ^ | Nov 18, 2016 1:07 p.m. ET | Anora Mahmudova
    Weekly bond outflows were biggest since June 2013 The rotation out of bonds into stock postelection is greatest in years The so-called Trump trade that followed the Nov. 8 election victory of Donald Trump sparked the largest outflow from bond funds since the “taper tantrum” of June 2013, with investors piling into stocks, according to flow data compiled by Bank of America Merrill Lynch.In the week ended Nov. 16, investors withdrew $9.06 billion from bonds funds. The money withdrawn from bond funds as well as some of the cash sitting on the sidelines, found its way to equity funds and...
  • Who’s Going to Pay for Trump’s Huge Infrastructure Plans?

    11/20/2016 10:02:22 PM PST · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 81 replies
    The Fiscal Times ^ | November 14, 2016 | Mark Joffe
    A rare point of agreement between President-Elect Trump and Congressional Democrats is that America has an infrastructure deficit: The nation’s transportation, power, water and sewerage facilities are too often outdated and unable to reliably serve a growing population. But while the diagnosis crosses party lines, solutions are more controversial. Democrats may not be too worried about the recent increase in federal deficits, but Republicans who have made an issue of the national debt will be reluctant to produce more red ink. Likewise, tax increases to pay for new federal construction spending are off the table under Trump and a Republican-controlled...
  • Trump promises big on highway funding, could open door to more tolls and privatization

    11/19/2016 11:54:49 PM PST · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 33 replies
    Overdrive ^ | November 14, 2016 | James Jaillet
    President-elect Donald Trump said throughout his campaign for the White House that he wants major investments in U.S. infrastructure, calling for $1 trillion on infrastructure projects during his presidency.He reiterated the point in his victory speech last Wednesday. “We’re going to fix our inner cities and rebuild our highways, bridges, tunnels, airports, schools, hospitals,” Mr. Trump said. “We’re going to rebuild our infrastructure, which will become, by the way, second to none.”However, major infrastructure bills are challenging pieces of legislation to pass, especially since Congress changed little in the election, says Todd Spencer, executive vice president of the Owner-Operator Independent...
  • Are Texans paying twice for toll roads?

    11/10/2016 8:07:35 PM PST · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 13 replies
    Click 2 Houston ^ | November 7-9, 2016 | Joel Eisenbaum
    HARRIS COUNTY, Texas - The Harris County Toll Road Authority collected about $760 million in tolls the last fiscal year, yet it is improbable that any Harris County toll road will ever be “paid off,” Channel 2 Investigates has learned.   “Not with system financing, which allows us to borrow money at a favorable rate to build new projects,” said Patti Evans, the authority’s assistant director of communications.In other words, tolls collected today are not only used to pay down system-wide debt, but to construct more toll roads in the future.    “I think it is important to say —...
  • IL Tollway announces $951M infrastructure program for 2017

    11/04/2016 6:43:53 AM PDT · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 12 replies
    Construction DIVE ^ | October 31, 2016 | Kim Slowey
    Dive Brief: The Illinois Tollway announced Thursday that it had set a preliminary budget for 2017 that includes $951 million for Move Illinois projects, as well as $336 million for a maintenance and operation program, according to Equipment World.Major Move Illinois capital initiatives planned for next year include the Illinois Route 390 Tollway ($374.5 million), SmartRoad upgrades to I-90 ($163.5 million), reconstruction of I-294 ($56.5 million) and expansion and maintenance of the I-PASS system. The remaining funds will go toward development, repair and maintenance.Move Illinois is a 15-year, $12-billion capital project program financed by bonds and tolls. The Illinois Tollway,...
  • I-69 construction woes lead to another bond downgrade

    10/11/2016 1:03:45 AM PDT · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 15 replies
    Indiana Business Journal ^ | September 20, 2016 | Susan Orr
    Continuing delays on the construction of Interstate 69 between Bloomington and Martinsville have led to another ratings downgrade on the bonds issued to help finance the project. Standard & Poor’s has lowered its rating from BB+ to BB- on $244 million in bonds issued by the Indiana Finance Authority in 2014 for the interstate project. “The rating action reflects our view of increased construction risk at the project, which is eight months behind schedule and about 56 percent complete,” S&P Global Ratings credit analyst Tony Bettinelli said in the ratings agency’s statement on the downgrade last week. The 21-mile project,...
  • Gross: Low Rates Pushing Investors to Gold, Bitcoin

    10/05/2016 7:43:54 AM PDT · by oblomov · 7 replies
    Barron's ^ | 4 Oct 2016 | Bill Gross
    My country club locker room is a fascinating 19th hole observatory where human nature and intelligence often come into conflict. Almost all of my golfing buddies are risk takers by nature and many of them are gamblers — not just in the card room but also in the casinos in Las Vegas. Having spent some time in Sin City myself in my early 20s as one of the first blackjack counters, I was, and still am, most familiar with odds and the impossibility of beating the “House” in any game other than blackjack over a long period of time. Still,...
  • State Department Admits It ‘Lost’ Clinton Foundation Email

    10/02/2016 12:40:35 AM PDT · by detective · 28 replies
    Breitbart ^ | 1 Oct 2016 | John Hayward
    The State Department has admitted it lost a 2012 email between Hillary Clinton aide Jake Sullivan and a Clinton Foundation employee, which may demonstrate a financial conflict of interest for the former secretary of state. The Washington Examiner describes the message as follows: The email contained an attachment memo about Greek bonds — a significant detail given the heavy investments Clinton’s son-in-law, Marc Mezvinsky, was making in the Greek economic recovery during that same period.
  • Pa. Turnpike wedded to toll hikes, mired in debt

    08/20/2016 8:06:18 PM PDT · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 35 replies
    The Lehigh Valley Express-Times ^ | July 31, 2016 | Express-Times Letter to the Editor
    Is it possible that a toll road could price itself right out of its market? That's essentially what the Pennsylvania Turnpike is prescribing for itself. Last week the Turnpike Commission informed us that tolls will go up a ninth consecutive year in 2017 — and stay on a steadily upward trajectory until 2044. And of course, there's no guarantee after that. By then, we can only hope, the turnpike will have morphed into a giant solar-powered car-train — for self-driving cars, of course. "Unsustainable" is an overused word these days, but it applies to the toll road's future. The turnpike...
  • World’s Biggest Pension Fund Loses $51 Billion in Stock Rout

    07/30/2016 6:26:17 AM PDT · by CorporateStepsister · 13 replies
    Bloomberg ^ | July 30 2016 | Yuko Takeo and Shigeki Nozawa
    Japan’s $1.3 trillion Government Pension Investment Fund lost 3.8 percent in the year ended March 31, or 5.3 trillion yen ($51 billion), the retirement manager said Friday in Tokyo. That’s the biggest drop since the fiscal year ended March 31, 2009. GPIF lost 10.8 percent on domestic equities and 9.6 percent on shares in other markets, while Japanese bonds handed the fund a 4.1 percent gain.
  • Germany Is About To Sell Zero-Coupon 10 Year Bonds For The First Time Ever

    07/13/2016 5:20:11 AM PDT · by Leaning Right · 27 replies
    Zero Hedge ^ | July 13, 2016 | Tyler Durden
    *snip* According to Bloomberg, on Wednesday morning Germany will sell 10-year bonds with a zero coupon for the first time, as a rally in fixed-income securities pushes investors to forgo annual interest payments in order to hold the safest assets.
  • Highway project delays rack up $700 million cost overruns

    06/24/2016 9:54:35 AM PDT · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 20 replies
    The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ^ | June 13, 2016 | Catie Edmondson
    Madison— Faced with delays and inflation over the past five years, four major state highway projects — including a Madison artery — have accumulated overruns in excess of $700 million. While some of these increases come from faulty cost estimates or unavoidable inflation, the new figures underline the obvious: Delays can be costly for Wisconsin taxpayers. When projects are paused because of financial challenges in the state's road fund, the price of materials, labor and real estate can rise. The numbers compiled by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel underline the urgency of a divisive issue for Wisconsin's Republican leaders: finding a...
  • 2001 California Electricity Bonds

    06/07/2016 12:32:50 PM PDT · by sheana · 27 replies
    Vanity, need help with research ^ | June 7, 2016 | Sheana
    In 2001 Governor Gray Davis signed SBX1 6 which authorized the sale of $5 billion in bonds to purchase electricity for California. I believe these were 15 year bonds. As a result our electricity rates were tiered and prices went way up. At the time I contacted PG&E and asked them what they were doing with the extra monies. The answer.....we send it to the state to pay back the bonds. The 15 years is now up and our rates are the same. Nothing has changed. I've contacted news people and asked them to look into it...silence. I called the...
  • Five banks sued in U.S. for rigging $9 trillion agency bond market

    05/20/2016 5:49:11 PM PDT · by Lorianne · 5 replies
    Reuters ^ | 18 May 2016 | Jonathan Stempel
    Five major banks and four traders were sued on Wednesday in a private U.S. lawsuit claiming they conspired to rig prices worldwide in a more than $9 trillion market for bonds issued by government-linked organizations and agencies. Bank of America Corp (BAC.N), Credit Agricole SA (CAGR.PA), Credit Suisse Group AG (CSGN.S), Deutsche Bank AG (DBKGn.DE) and Nomura Holdings Inc (8604.T) were accused of secretly agreeing to widen the "bid-ask" spreads they quoted customers of supranational, sub-sovereign and agency (SSA) bonds. The lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court by the Boston Retirement System said the collusion dates to at least 2005,...
  • Puerto Rico Says Will Default Tomorrow, Begs Congress For Help "Or Else Crisis Will Get Worse"

    05/01/2016 4:39:02 PM PDT · by tcrlaf · 64 replies
    Zerohedge ^ | 5-1-2016 | Durden
    Update: PR Governor Padilla has spoken... -PUERTO RICO GOVERNOR SAYS WON'T PAY DEBT TOMORROW -PUERTO RICO GOVERNOR SAYS ISLAND WON'T PAY DEBT MONDAY -PUERTO RICO GOVERNOR: GOVERNMENT SIGNED MORATORIUM BILL YESTERDAY -PUERTO RICO NEEDS DEAL W/ CREDITORS AND/OR CONGRESS: GARCIA And of course, demands a bailout... -PUERTO RICO GOVERNOR CALLS ON U.S. CONGRESS, PAUL RYAN FOR HELP And then threatens... -CRISIS WILL GET WORSE IF U.S. CONGRESS DOESN'T HELP: GARCIA -PUERTO RICO GOVERNOR CONCLUDES REMARKS TO COMMONWEALTH A default on the $422 million due today is "virtually certain," S&P Global Ratings said April 11.
  • Road project opponents to pay hefty fees under proposed SC law

    04/29/2016 8:02:07 PM PDT · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 3 replies
    Myrtle Beach Online ^ | April 6, 2016 | Audrey Hudson
    Legislation moving through the state House and Senate would require that environmental groups using the legal system to object to road construction provide a sound basis for their claim before those projects are halted. Lawmakers supporting the bill, which includes almost all of the Horry County House delegation, say the legislation is needed to prevent the process from being abused to easily block road projects, including International Drive. “I started talking to folks on the coast, and they told me how any individual can just file an automatic stay against a project to slow it down for whatever reason,” said...
  • Saudi Arabia Approves Economic Reform Program

    04/25/2016 6:40:41 AM PDT · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 15 replies
    The Wall Street Journal ^ | April 25, 2016 | Margherita Stancati and Dahlia Kholaif
    RIYADH—Saudi Arabia, crimped by low crude prices, approved Monday a long-term blueprint for the kingdom’s economic transformation aimed at reducing its dependence on oil. The multiyear plan, dubbed “Saudi Vision 2030,” was approved by the cabinet, according to Saudi Arabia’s monarch, King Salman. The Saudi cabinet, in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency, said the government’s economic council would be in charge of overseeing the vision’s implementation. Saudi officials later Monday were to present a broad overview of the country’s most extensive economic shake-up in decades. The steep drop in oil prices has given new urgency to...
  • Chicago Debt Downgraded to Near ‘Junk Bonds’

    03/30/2016 5:42:15 AM PDT · by detective · 5 replies
    Breitbart ^ | March 29, 2016
    Fitch Ratings downgraded the City of Chicago’s credit rating to just one step above “junk bonds” on March 28.