If you expect you’ll be getting a refund from California when you file your 2008 state income tax return, be prepared: you may instead receive a “registered warrant.” Translation: an IOU.
This will make a lot of people happy
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Category Archives: Money
Ukraine Gas Shut Off Up Date
First some back ground from the BBC….
Gazprom cut off Ukraine’s gas supply on Thursday in a row over payment.
The firm has since accused Ukraine of stealing gas, however Ukraine’s state energy firm said Russia was not sending enough gas to ensure the EU supplies.
Ukraine’s state gas company, Naftogaz, denied illegally siphoning Russian gas, saying it was ensuring the export supply.
Now note the following stories….
Poland sees gas deliveries from Ukraine drop.
Hungary says gas pressure from Ukraine drops.
Russian gas exports to Romania fall by 30-40 pct
Who knows where the truth lies, but it is hard to believe that the Ukraine would let natural gas transit a crossed its country while its own citizens were cut off. On the other hand Ukraine had higher stocks this time around, so it is possible that Russia cut supplies just to make it look like Ukraine was stealing.
Manufacturing heading for crisis
The US index for new orders is at a sixty year low. Korea’s manufacturing output is shrinking faster than in the Asian crisis. China, Japan and Europe are all looking at manufacturing contractions too.
Over at Seeking Alpha, Edward Hugh has a collection of graphs showing the declining in manufacturing all over the world.
This can’t keep up for too long without serious problems.
We shall see
Another exception is New York. Prices in New York are only off 11.4% even though New York is part of the Zoned Zone. New York had a price bubble, but until recently prices had held up pretty well. This probably means New York house prices will decline by a larger percentage over the next year or two than other bubble areas …
Calculated Risk is talking about New York City, not New York State. Still, it has amazed me how well New York State real estate prices have held up compared to the rest of the country. Many places in upstate New York have not even seen as big as drop in prices as New York City has.
I doubt most consumers have even noticed
As American dairy farmers increased their shipments of powdered milk, cheese and other dairy ingredients to foreign markets, their incomes rose. And the demand surge helped drive up the price of milk for American families. The national average for whole milk peaked at $3.89 a gallon in July, up from an average of $3.20 a gallon in 2006.
But now, demand for dairy products is stalling amid a global economic slowdown and credit crisis, even as supplies have increased. The result is a glut of milk — and its assorted byproducts, like milk powder, butter and whey proteins — that has led to a precipitous drop in prices.
The price of powdered skim milk, used in infant formula, dairy products and processed foods, has fallen to roughly 80 cents a pound today from about $2.20 in mid-2007. Other dairy products have declined as well. Whole milk at grocers has not declined as rapidly as wholesale powdered milk, but it has dropped to $3.67 a gallon, down nearly 6 percent from the peak.
While consumers are undoubtedly pleased by the lower prices, dairy farmers are struggling.
Before I read this article, I had not realized that so much milk was being exported. I always thought it was mostly consumed in house. Which I guess it was until recently.
A Lot Of Unsold Cars
A bad situation
The Russian energy company is poised to cut off the gas supply to Kiev as disagreements regarding debt repayment and pricing persist.
With negotiations between Russian energy company Gazprom and Ukraine at an impasse just a few hours before the firm’s midnight deadline, it looks increasingly likely that Kiev residents will start 2009 without supplies of gas. Gazprom engineers are prepared to make good on a threat to shut down the gas pipelines in the absence of an agreement.
Russia wants Ukraine to pay more for the gas, yet Ukraine can’t afford to pay the gas bill it has already. One can hardly blame the Russians in this case though. They need the money badly and they are still charging Ukraine below market rates.
Still, you can’t get blood out of stone. And Russia has no way of getting the gas to Europe except through Ukraine. But then Russia is not limited to playing nice. War?
Even if things don’t get that bad this time around, they are almost bound to before long. Ukraine is going to get increasingly desperate as time goes on. And the only bargaining chip they have is the pipe line.
For more on how ugly Ukraine’s position is, look at this post by Edward Hugh.
20 years on the Job then you can retire?
From Las Vegas Business Press…..
Hill also criticized the PERS system.
“We are the only state with no minimum age,” he said.
Nevada requires 20 years on the job to qualify for the pension.
What a deal if you can get it. But it is the type of thing that will bankrupt a state.
At least they are trying to do something
The United States and NATO are planning to open and expand supply lines through Central Asia to deliver fuel, food and other goods to a military mission in Afghanistan that is expected to grow by tens of thousands of troops in the months ahead, according to American and alliance diplomats and military officials.
If you read the whole article, you will see that this is almost a non story. The other routes they are trying to open up are going to have such severe restrictions as to be almost useless. But at least they are trying to do something.
Good Metaphor
“I can describe the Russian economy as water in a sieve,” Yulia L. Latynina, a commentator on Echo of Moscow radio, said of the chronic waste in Russian industry.
“Everybody was thinking Russia had succeeded, and they were wondering, how do you keep water in a sieve?” Ms. Latynina said. “When the input of water is greater than the output, the sieve is full. Everybody was thinking it was a miracle. The sieve is full! But when there is a drop in the water supply, the sieve is again empty very quickly.”
Meanwhile, there is this from Bloomberg….
Standard & Poor’s cut Russia’s credit rating this month for the first time in nine years on concern the country is wasting its foreign currency reserves defending the currency. Russia has used about a quarter of its reserves, the world’s third largest, to defend the ruble since August.