MuniLand

While the sharks circle Harrisburg, the French press reports on the fiscally battered city. National Public Radio weighs in on Harrisburg too.

Good Links

Bloomberg: China’s central bank may grade local governments’ creditworthiness

CBO: Federal budget outlook and aid to states

Hightower Lowdown: Post Office is not broke — and it hasn’t taken any tax money since 1971

Bloomberg: Jonathan Weil dissects the new state integrity index and finds it wanting

NYT: Estimated cost of federal tax preferences in 2013: $38 billion for muni bonds

Bloomberg: Universities tap the corporate bond market for long-dated bonds

Dealbreaker: Why can’t California find any underwriters that haven’t repeatedly defrauded it?

NYFed: The stability of upstate New York’s housing markets during the recession

WPRI.com: Should Rhode Island put everyone into the state pension plan?

Arizona Republic: Nice roundup of Arizona’s muniland

BlackRock: Muni fundamentals look good; expect some credit stories to make headlines

@Twitter Talk

Ars Technica  @arstechnica California DoD bases sitting on 7 gigawatts of solar potential:  http://arst.ch/t0y

Laura Olson  @lauraolson “We’re not motivated to move quickly,” says PA welfare secretary on federal health-care law, insurance exchanges   http://bit.ly/H4W1JJ

Andrew Morse @CAndrewMorse The reasoning used to decide that Central Fall’s school district is separate from the city is pretty solid   http://bit.ly/H4VQOB

David Burge  @iowahawkblog A government that agrees to pay retired 53-year old employees $100k/year until death will end up dying before the employee.

Otis White @OtisWhite “Found” places: What could be done with a humble urban parking lot? Just use your imagination. http://owl.li/9Sgi2