Fitch: State bond rating stays at AA+
Posted on November 17, 2009 at 8:34 amOn the day budget hearings started on Capitol Hill, Fitch Ratings lauded state officials’ “proactive approach to addressing the fiscal impact of the current downturn” and rated an upcoming $212 million bond sale at AA+, the state’s current rating.
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A lack of regulation? Phooey
Posted on November 11, 2009 at 10:10 amJeff Cornwall passes along a link to the latest Regulators’ Budget Report, which looks into the rise in spending on government regulation, a trend that started during the Bush administration and shows little sign of slowing — or of promoting entrepreneurship and job creation.
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Why you’re not hearing from hospitals in the reform debate
Posted on November 5, 2009 at 12:07 pm
A former CMS boss tells Blake Farmer they’re quite satisfied, thank you, with the lukewarm, wishy-washy way things appear to be going.
“If you really want to do the right thing and finance this thing and pay for it, hospitals should probably be taking a bigger hit as should probably a lot of the providers, but that’s not likely to happen.”
Vanderbilt researchers: Let’s talk about containing school spending
Posted on at 10:57 am
Professors James W. Guthrie and Arthur Peng worry that the Recovery Act billions being poured into school systems across the country will lead to persistently rising education outlays “regardless of the diminishing returns in terms of student outcomes.”
Based on historic spending trends and estimating that the federal government’s stimulus contribution will grow to approximately $90 billion, Guthrie and Peng project that national per pupil revenues could increase at a rate of nearly 2.5 percent annually over the next ten years.
Yet, reading scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) have been level for four decades. And, for a half century, nearly one-third of the nation’s high-school students have failed to graduate with their class each year, while graduation rates for black and Hispanic students are even lower.
SEE ALSO: The full paper, “The Phony Funding Crisis“
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Among prison operators, CCA best long-term bet
Posted on October 19, 2009 at 7:32 amA story in this weekend’s Barron’s puts the spotlight on private prison companies. Analyst T.C. Robillard says Corrections Corp. shares (Ticker: CXW) already have priced in a lot of the pending rebound, but are the best long-term investing proposition.
CCA’s massive inventory makes it the go-to company for federal and state customers. One worry: Because it has so many beds, investors fret that a large number could go unused. Earlier this year, 11,000 were empty, but new government contracts had trimmed the total to 6,500 by summer.
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CCA facing Oklahoma cuts
Posted on October 15, 2009 at 10:39 amOklahoma’s Department of Corrections will trim its budget by 5 percent to help the state manage a shrinking budget. Corrections Corp. of America manages more than 2,000 inmate beds in the state and, all other things being equal, would stand to lose about $2 million in annual revenues.
But Kevin Campbell at Avondale Partners says CCA and competitor GEO Group “will be able to offset these cuts with changes in the scope of services provided or increased inmates.” Shares of the Nashville company (Ticker: CXW) are down about 0.6 percent this morning.
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Bredesen: State’s health reform tab could top $1 billion by 2015
Posted on October 6, 2009 at 3:21 pmOn a conference call today, Gov. Phil Bredesen said the latest version of health reform being discussed in D.C. looks like it will cost Tennessee between $570 million and $1.2 billion over the next five and a half years.
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Where the jobs will have to come from
Posted on October 5, 2009 at 9:52 amBelmont professor Jeff Cornwall says entrepreneurs will — as they have before — be the driving force behind a true recovery, one that really makes a dent in our painfully high unemployment rate.
So all we need is government to do more, and we will be OK? Sorry, neither big government nor big corporations feeding at the government trough have ever brought us out of a recession and into a sustainable recovery.
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Technicality could put federal road funds beyond reach
Posted on September 29, 2009 at 1:19 pm
The National Governors Association recently wrote to lawmakers calling for quick legislastive action that would restore $9 billion in federal money earmarked for transportation projects.
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Unemployment insurance systems get federal cash
Posted on at 8:10 amTennessee’s unemployment insurance plan infrastructure will get an upgrade courtesy of almost $7 million in Labor Department cash. Only Georgia, Ohio and Oregon received more money – which says we either lobbied well or our systems really need the help.
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The government’s money isn’t helping the people
Posted on September 24, 2009 at 8:01 amFormer Labor Secretary Robert Reich says all those federal billions being pumped into the economy aren’t making their way to the common man and woman.
Despite the happy Dow and notwithstanding the upbeat corporate earnings, most corporations are still shedding workers and slashing payrolls. And the big banks still aren’t lending to Main Street.
Trickle-down economics didn’t work when the supply-siders were in charge. And it’s not working now, at a time when — despite all their cries of “socialism” — big business and Wall Street are more politically potent than ever.
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A little longer wait on West Tenn. megasite
Posted on September 21, 2009 at 7:27 amState ECD officials late on Friday said they have asked a State Building Commission subcommittee to defer any discussion of funding the planned Haywood County megasite until later this month. Area landowners apparently need some more time to get their arms around the site’s exact specs.
“Haywood County Mayor Franklin Smith has worked extraordinarily hard in putting this project together and is to be commended for his strong leadership. There is a great spirit of cooperation and excitement among property owners in the area,” said Commissioner Kisber “We fully anticipate all remaining details will be resolved in the coming days, and the land options exercised before the Oct. 31 deadline.”
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Debating the inflation picture
Posted on September 9, 2009 at 2:06 pm
Longtime Vanderbilt investment manager Bill Spitz is featured in this Bloomberg story on how some college endowment chiefs are planning to handle a possible inflation surge. The chief investment officer at George Washington sees prices rising faster now than in the nightmare 1970s.
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My guess is most of Main Street agrees
Posted on August 31, 2009 at 10:19 amA group of economists says there is no need for a second stimulus package and that the government should cut back on spending.
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Minority supplier conference coming to town this month
Posted on August 3, 2009 at 1:10 pmThe Nashville Convention Center will host the Tennessee Minority Supplier Development Council late this month. Among the key topics: Plugging into the Recovery Act’s cash flow, which is also the topic of the cover story of this week’s Nashville Post print edition.
SEE ALSO: Information on “Hispanic Integration as an Engine for Economic Growth Forum,” an event that will take place Aug. 11.
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