Global Economy Bursting?

[Terrel L. Shields]

http://www.globalenergyworld.com/ne...ute_s_Largest-Ever_Organic_Photovoltaic_D.htm

organic photovoltaic cells

 

[Randolph Kinney]

Southern California gas prices pass Hawaii, approach record

http://www.bizjournals.com/losangeles/news/2012/03/02/southern-california-gas-near-record-high.html

Southern California gas prices are now within 30 cents of their all-time records set in 2008 after three straight weeks of double-digit increases.

According to the Automobile Club of Southern California’s Weekend Gas Watch, the average price of self-serve regular gasoline in the Los Angeles-Long Beach area is $4.368 per gallon, which is 18.2 cents more than last week, 57.6 cents higher than last month, and 59 cents higher than last year.

On the Central Coast, the average price is $4.40, up 20.2 cents from last week, 43 cents higher than a month ago, and 56 cents above last year.

In the Inland Empire, the average per gallon price is $4.345, up 20.3 cents from last week, 58.7 cents higher than last month, and 59 cents more than last year.

“Southern California drivers are now paying more than those in Honolulu, where prices are averaging $4.22 a gallon, and the state average price of $4.334 is almost as high as Hawaii’s state average of $4.351,” said Auto Club spokesperson Jeffrey Spring said in a statement.

 

[Randolph Kinney]

California Cities Hit the Wall

First Test of New Bankruptcy Law as Revenue Drop Crunches Three Communities

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203833004577247464140386148.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Confronted by declining tax revenue and rising employee costs, Stockton, Calif., is considering bankruptcy—while several other struggling California cities warn they could eventually face the same predicament.As in Stockton, two other Northern California cities, Hercules and Lincoln, are attempting to restructure their debt and cut employee costs to forestall insolvency. Late last year, Hercules retained bankruptcy attorneys in part to explore options with its creditors.

The problems facing these cities follow the Chapter 9 bankruptcy of Vallejo, Calif., in 2008. Vallejo exited from bankruptcy last year after cutting costs, but its finances remain precarious, officials said.

Since then, there have been municipal bankruptcies elsewhere, including by Central Falls, R.I., Harrisburg, Pa., and Jefferson County, Ala.

While a number of communities nationwide are in financial straits, troubled ones in California are under unusual pressure. State law makes it hard for cities to quickly raise taxes to cover shortfalls because they typically have to gain voter approval for increases. California also was hit harder than many states by the mortgage crisis and housing bust, leaving it with one of the country's highest foreclosure rates. That reduces tax revenue.

California's treasurer, Bill Lockyer, said he is concerned the "reputational stain" from any further municipal bankruptcies in the state might harm the ability of other cities, and perhaps the state, to raise funds in the bond market.

Richard Larkin, director of credit analysis at Herbert J. Sims & Co., an underwriter of tax-exempt bonds, agreed. "The more [bankruptcies] that occur, the more likely that the credit market will begin to make borrowing more difficult by raising interest rates for bond issues of other organizations in California, including the state itself," Mr. Larkin said.

To avoid bankruptcy, other California cities have taken drastic steps in recent years. San Carlos and Half Moon Bay, both south of San Francisco, have outsourced city services such as law enforcement and recreation management to shed their costs.

 

[Randolph Kinney]

To Pay New York Pension Fund, Cities Borrow From It First

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/28/n...on-fund-cities-borrow-from-it-first.html?_r=1

When New York State officials agreed to allow local governments to use an unusual borrowing plan to put off a portion of their pension obligations, fiscal watchdogs scoffed at the arrangement, calling it irresponsible and unwise.

And now, their fears are being realized: cities throughout the state, wealthy towns such as Southampton and East Hampton, counties like Nassau and Suffolk, and other public employers like the Westchester Medical Center and the New York Public Library are all managing their rising pension bills by borrowing from the very same $140 billion pension fund to which they owe money.

Across New York, state and local governments are borrowing $750 million this year to finance their contributions to the state pension system, and are likely to borrow at least $1 billion more over the next year. The number of municipalities and public institutions using this new borrowing mechanism to pay off their annual pension bills has tripled in a year.

The eagerness to borrow demonstrates that many major municipalities are struggling to meet their pension obligations, which have risen partly because of generous retirement packages for public employees, and partly because turbulence in the stock market has slowed the pension fund’s growth.

The state’s borrowing plan allows public employers to reduce their pension contributions in the short term in exchange for higher payments over the long term. :new_all_coholic:

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

Did you ever wonder why a gallon of gas cost a whole $1 per gallon more on the coasts than in the middle of the country.

Lets Compare California to Arkansas in ¢

The base Federal tax is 18.5¢
state state tax + federal tax and surcharges + "other taxes"
Arkansas21.5+22.5+ .3
Plus .3-cpg environmental assurance fee assessed at the wholesale level for underground storage tank fund.

California35.3+18+15.2
“Other Taxes” columns include a 2.25% state sales tax for gasoline and at least a 1.25% local sales tax for various counties in the state for diesel. The tax rate applied is a weighted average based upon county populations. A 2 cpg state UST fee is also included

 

[Randolph Kinney]

California becoming more dependent on foreign oil

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/03/03/BURC1NFDC3.DTL

California is growing more and more dependent on imported oil - including crude from the volatile Persian Gulf - even as the rest of the country becomes less.

And if the standoff over Iran's nuclear program breaks into open conflict, that reliance could leave California vulnerable.

The Golden State last year relied on imports for almost 50 percent of its crude oil, according to preliminary figures from the California Energy Commission.

Never before has California, once the largest oil producer in the world, seen that level of dependence. As recently as 1997, half of all the oil used in California was pumped from the ground within the state's borders, or in federal waters just offshore.

Now, the state's oil fields produce 38 percent of the crude used in California refineries. Alaska supplies the rest of the domestic crude - just under 12 percent.

California now gets more oil from the Persian Gulf countries, mostly Saudi Arabia and Iraq, than from Alaska.

According to the Energy Commission, about 21 percent of California's oil supplies in 2010 passed through the Straits of Hormuz, the narrow and strategic shipping lane that Iran has now threatened to close.

"If there was an interdiction in supplies, then yes, prices will all go up," said Gordon Schremp, senior analyst with the Energy Commission. "And those who are receiving oil through the straits will be scrambling to find other sources."

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

In the 1920's California outproduced Texas and Oklahoma by far.

There are some good prospects but state regs and high severance taxes etc. are a drag on development. Same for New Mexico which taxes the oil mineral owners probably the heaviest in the nation, not to mention the oil companies.

Long Beach and the "offshore" rigs of the late 1930s. A postcard sent to my grandmother by her mother.

 

[Couch Potato]

Credit-, debit-card and PayPal sales reported to IRS

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/02/25/BUET1NBGCH.DTL#ixzz1nghSmNBj

More than 50 million businesses that accept credit or debit cards or online payments are grappling with a new tax-reporting form they received for the first time this year, the 1099-K.

In an effort to uncover income being hidden from the Internal Revenue Service, Congress passed a law that requires banks and other entities that provide credit and debit card acceptance services to send this form to merchants with whom they do business. The form, which is also sent to the IRS, shows the gross revenue a merchant received on payment cards the previous calendar year.


New 1099-K Reporting Requirements for Payment Settlement Entities

http://www.irs.gov/businesses/article/0,,id=251489,00.html

Did you think this 1099-K requirement of Obamacare was repealed?

Surprise!

Yes, the requirements in Obamacare were repealed.

You are referencing the requirements from the 2008 housing act.

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

BTW, if you have a non-profit...incorporated or not. You take in $1. You have to file a return with the IRS now. And you have to register with the state annually in my state. So a non-profit to be a legal entity is subject to taxation and expense even when they are handling a tiny amount of money.

This is affecting small family cemetery groups, high school scholarship funds, non-affilated help groups, the old Home Economics clubs (what few remain in rural areas), etc. It is an enormous waste of paperwork.

 

[Randolph Kinney]

House approves fix to “Man-Made Drought” in California

http://naturalresourcereport.com/2012/03/house-approves-fix-to-man-made-drought-in-california/

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley Water Reliability Act (H.R. 1837) in a bipartisan vote of 246 to 175. The legislation, introduced by Congressman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), will end a “man-made drought,” which is the result of water intended for California farm and ranch land irrigation being cut off and diverted to the San Francisco Bay in the name of protecting a three-inch minnow, the Delta smelt.