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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TTDC envisions its own 2.0
Posted on October 27, 2009 at 8:28 amMilt Capps sums up some of the strategic changes being envisioned by the leadership of the Tennessee Technology Development Corp. as they face a potentially tough fight to secure new funding next spring. Among the ideas being floated is an intermediary role piggybacking on the new TNInvestco program.
… TTDC management has raised the possibility of asking the TTDC board to consider supporting the spinning-out of TTDC’s Tennessee Capital Formation Board, to create the “TCFB IP Holding Company,” which could help manage the licensing of intellectual property from universities, research institutions and companies to entrepreneurs.
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Why state, local governments need more stimulus
Posted on October 26, 2009 at 9:10 am
Employment in state and local governments appears to lag that in the private sector by about a year. Given that the latter fell off cliff about a year ago, there’s a case to be made that funneling more stimulus cash to local governments now will stave off more job losses.
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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Psst, wanna invest in some small companies?
Posted on July 23, 2009 at 12:47 pmThe state’s ECD team has outlined the process for picking the six firms that will receive $120 million of tax credits to help them invest in high-potential Tennessee companies. One of the rules: No money will go to ventures active in “professional accounting, medical or legal services, banking or lending, real estate development, insurance, oil and gas exploration or direct gambling services.”
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Guv candidate: Local AIG group lost $1B
Posted on April 12, 2009 at 10:56 pmWard Cammack knows this because he and a partner looked at buying American General’s Brentwood division. But the losses sustained due to an asset-lending program designed to goose returns ended that conversation.
From a Cammack blog post:
Maybe AIG should have voluntarily disclosed the details of how the collateral from the asset lending program was invested. The fact that the AIG Tennessee subsidiary was involved in asset lending was artfully hidden in a two-page note to their financial statements. Contrast that to the required disclosure of their invested assets. Each asset is individually detailed in their annual statement, so that policy holders, investors, regulators, and employees can know exactly what the risks are from those investments.
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Bringing market mechanisms to state government
Posted on April 1, 2009 at 11:42 pmBy instituting what is essentially a sin tax.
State employees who smoke - or who have a smoking spouse - will begin paying an extra $50 per month for health insurance next year, state Finance Commissioner Dave Goetz said Wednesday.
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Working toward the next Wacker
Posted on March 6, 2009 at 9:17 amState lawmakers are taking small steps to prepare another West Tennessee megasite that could compete for major high-tech economic development projects like Hemlock Semiconductor and Wacker Chemie, solar energy material makers headed for Clarksville and Cleveland, respectively.
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TennCare work has DHS hiring
Posted on at 9:11 amSo how are you in “difficult sitations?” The state Department of Human Services is hiring 30 attorneys to handle TennCare claims.
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Bredesen: Federal cash will mean no state layoffs
Posted on February 4, 2009 at 8:46 pmThe Governor tells the Kingsport Chamber of Commerce he may not have cut more than 2,000 people from the state’s payroll.
“We certainly will be able to reduce it to a vastly lower number. I’m old fashioned enough to kind of believe that having a job is at the heart of almost everything. Anything I could possibly do to help state government preserve jobs … I will certainly try to do. … It’s two-year money. It’s not going to continue forever.”
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