Federal debt hits $23 trillion

https://thehill.com/policy/finance/468600-us-debt-surpasses-23-trillion-for-first-time U.S. National Debt rising at speedy rate since Trump took office - 10 months ago it hit 22 trillion. Interest costs alone annually are $376 billion.

U.S. debt and financial reporting

USA Debt Clock --- http://www.usdebtclock.org/ https://www.truthinaccounting.org/ Financial State of the Union --- https://www.truthinaccounting.org/news/detail/financial-state-of-the-union

Newspaper closings impact borrowing costs

https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Murphy-et-al..pdf

Federal deficit

http://www.rollcall.com/news/politics/budget-watchdog-sees-2-trillion-deficits-within-10-years

Debt extinguishment guidance

http://www.bkd.com/articles/2017/new-debt-extinguishment-guidance.htm

Resources to understand government debt

http://www.gfoa.org/debt-101-volume-1-issuing-bond http://www.gfoa.org/debt-101-volume-2-responsibilities-after-bond-issuance GFOA’s Committee on Governmental Debt Management issued these two resources

Detroit's first bond sale since emerging from bankruptcy

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-19/detroit-said-to-offer-4-625-in-first-bond-sale-since-bankruptcy Bond buyers are remembering and the bonds were priced to yield returns higher than top rated debt. This situation has resulted in more scrutiny of bond sales, but the plan has been set in place.

The States Data Lab

http://www.statedatalab.org/ Retrieve financial data on each of the 50 states.

8 bond downgrades under Governor Christie

http://watchdogwire.com/new-jersey/2014/09/10/bums-rush-new-jerseys-credit-rating-downgraded-for-record-eighth-time-under-christie/ The response includes a reference to the bondraters as "bums".

Which states have the highest student debt?

The following article includes some comparison of state data. http://247wallst.com/special-report/2014/07/02/ten-states-with-the-most-student-debt/

Cities fighting for solvency

8 out of 12 municipal bankruptcies in the last 3 years.   What are reasons and how to stop the downward slide are suggested here.  http://ww2.cfo.com/accounting-tax/2013/11/cities-brink/

Federal government shutdown costs billions

here's wishes for a speedy resolution to this issue.
http://www.fiercegovernment.com/story/shutdown-costs-economy-billions/2013-10-10?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal

Lesson in reckoning with obstacles as they occur

rather than "kicking the can" down the road.  http://www.thestreet.com/story/12059944/1/political-popular-obstacles-block-pension-changes.html

States and cities need to promise less

This article is discussing the potential of the borrowing and debt from promises made (pension and health care) and the challenges and warnings to various governments.   There is one quick-telling visual of the map of the U.S. with the pension gap highlighted in colors for states where this gap is greater than 50% of annual revenues.  http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21582258-it-not-just-detroit-american-cities-and-states-must-promise-less-or-face-disaster

Illinois Illinois, what you gonna do?

"By the rivers gently flowing Illinois, Illinois; O'er thy prairies verdant growing, Illinois, Illinois,  Comes an echo on the breeze, Rustling through the leafy trees, And its mellow tones are these, Illinois, Illinois, And its mellow tones"......

are screaming "How are you going to address these fiscal issues"?    Standard and Poors  yesterday downgraded the bond rating with the fair state (described above in idyllic terms in our state song) - the state that has the worst pension funding of any other state, among a host of other problems.  That is my pension we are talking about, so I have no answers, only questions.   How to fix this?  http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-29/illinois-debt-cut-by-s-p-after-lack-of-action-on-pension-funding.html

Japan debt and bond rating

First time in nine years to have bond rating decreased by Standard and Poorshttp://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01-27/japan-s-debt-rating-lowered-to-aa-by-standard-poor-s-outlook-is-stable.html

Long term debt - the real problem

This CNN article  http://money.cnn.com/2010/08/19/news/economy/long_term_debt/index.htm

Illinois searches foreign buyers to support pension debt

It appears that this is aimed to institutional investors....and the debt is taxable, not tax exempt.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=munievents&sid=ah3FJPW4QXG8