MuniLand

The Wall Street Journal‘s David Wessel has a new book about the federal budget and the politics around it. From NPR:

The book is called Red Ink: Inside the High-Stakes Politics of the Federal Budget, and it breaks down the budget in stark terms: how the government spends its money, who pays what in taxes, and why politicians can’t reduce a potentially catastrophic debt load.

Good Links

USA Today: Comparing droughts: 1934 and 2012

WSJ: California still dominates foreclosure scene

Reuters: California official chastises SIFMA over eminent domain “threats”

Reuters: U.S. loves cops and firefighters – but not their pensions

Bloomberg: Raimondo pension lawsuit seen risking bankruptcies

Patriot News: Daupin County Commissioner: Harrisburg won’t be put ahead of other municipalities

@Twitter Talk

.@uscensusbureau launches new online tool giving public wider access to key U.S. #data, demographic maps and more.1.usa.gov/OhVQ2r

— U.S. Commerce Dept. (@CommerceGov) July 27, 2012

~$800m of muni inflows this week. During the last 47 weeks, municipal bond funds have experienced 44 weeks of inflows. $mub — David Schawel (@DavidSchawel) July 27, 2012

Most of a controversial Pa. law that stripped local officials of control over fracking has been ruled unconstitutional: ow.ly/cxWjb

— Corbin Hiar (@CorbinHiar) July 27, 2012

More from Calif. school report: More than $100 billion state/local bond money spent on schools since 1998. pdf here: edsource.org/today/wp-conte… — Rich Saskal (@RichSaskal_BB) July 27, 2012

Google will move 3,000 jobs to downtown Chicago, boosting city’s burgeoning tech sector @WSJ online.wsj.com/article/SB1000…

— Bruce Katz (@bruce_katz) July 27, 2012