First, the facts. NY City needs roughly $93 billion (just for everything leading up to the end of 2020). You can figure that another $15 million will lay on top of that by the end of February. The state of California has $280 to $300 billion in debt. L A (by itself....needs $7-to-8 billion)?
The generally discussed topic is that President Biden will walk in and structure some type of credit payment for 2021/2022. No one says the amount. It might be structured as a zero-interest loan and maybe a couple billion in 'gift-money'.
In the case of NY City....that won't cut it. They probably need the US federal government to walk in and lay down $20-odd billion as 'gift-money'.
So the working piece of this deal....is the Senate. If the Republicans retain control (winning both Georgia seats)....then this 'gift-idea' won't go far. To be honest, just getting $20-billion in interest-free loans....won't cut it either.
The way for the Senate to 'gift' the money without it being noticed? Well....you'd go and say 'bad-boy', then laundry $10-billion over to three California cities (each) for road/bridge projects, on top of what they'd flip thirty-billion over to the banks to pay debt....to use the fed-money for the projects.
In the past, you could have done this, without anyone grasping how you funneled the money over. Today? People tend to ask questions.
So if Biden doesn't deliver? By the end of 2021....something probably needs to happen, or you start to notice banks getting worried because neither NY City or California can sustain the new debt payments. Both likely to add another 50-percent of debt on top of the present situation? That's what I would fear the most. But to be honest....where would you start to cut, and can you sustain mega-cities/states in this condition?
Biden and Harris being 'deal-makers' while they were in the Senate? No, not exactly. That's another part of the story. If you were looking around for expertise within the Democratic Party and the Senate today....looking for people who were experts at rigging unpleasant deals to have a decent outcome....no one really stands out.
No comments:
Post a Comment