Fiscal Costs of Illegl Immigration to Taxpayers

July 26, 2010 Illegal immigration is a hot topoic today. It has been brought to my attention that the Federation for American Immigration recently released a report, The Fiscal Burden of Illegal Immigration on United States Taxpayers, that reveals information specific to each of our 50 states. The cost to Oregon taxpayers alone is $687.2 million annually. The annual costs to federal, state, and local governments combined is about $113 billion, nearly $29 billion at the federal level and $84.2 billion at state and local level. (Oregonions for Immigration Reform This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) The full report can be found at www.fairus.org/site/DocServer/USCostStudy_2010.pdf?docID=4921.

Peddling Relief, Firms Put Debtors into a Deeper Hole

June 18, 2010 NY Times (Peter S. Goodman): Consumers rarely emerge from debt settlement programs with their credit card balances eliminated, these critics say, and many wind up worse off, with severely damaged credit, ceaseless threats from collection agents and lawsuits from creditors...On multiple fronts, state and federal authorities are now taking aim at the industry.

Are the Majority of States in Trouble, too?

May 21, 2010 EconomicPolicyJournal.com has learned that 32 states have run out funds to make unemployment benefit payments and that the federal government has been supplying these states with funds so that they can make their  payments to the unemployed. In some cases, states have borrowed billions. As of May 20, the total balance outstanding by 32 states (and the Virgin Islands) is $37.8 billion.

China Issues Escalate

February 10, 2010 Barrons reported: Beijing has called for a substitute for the U.S. dollar as the world's main reserve currency and has upbraided Washington for its fiscal and regulatory management. And while Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner asserted last weekend that the U.S. government would never lose its triple-A credit rating, last year Chinese students openly laughed at his assertion that U.S. securities were safe. (by Randall W. Forsyth)

The Housing Mess Continues

"In January (2010), builders sold a whopping 1000 houses per day nationally. During the same month, foreclosures rang up at 4300 and Notice-of-Defaults at 5100 per day nationally. What a mess."  (Included in John Mauldin's newsletter. Info reported by Mark Hanson.)