https://the-looser-it-s-me.net Superblogging Wed, 17 Aug 2011 05:52:28 -0400 en https://the-looser-it-s-me.net/story/fisher-capital-management-strategies-mining-scam-ends-bs-yeddyurappa-innings-as-karnataka-chief-minister--fisher-capit https://the-looser-it-s-me.net/story/fisher-capital-management-strategies-mining-scam-ends-bs-yeddyurappa-innings-as-karnataka-chief-minister--fisher-capit Wed, 17 Aug 2011 04:52:28 -0400 aryanpope https://the-looser-it-s-me.net/story/fisher-capital-management-strategies-mining-scam-ends-bs-yeddyurappa-innings-as-karnataka-chief-minister--fisher-capit BANGALORE: Rocked by a spate of scams and in the wake of a damning indictment by a Lokayukta report on illegal mining, the 38-month tenure of Bookanakere Siddalingappa Yeddyurappa as chief minister of the first ever BJP government in the South came to an abrupt end on Sunday.
Sunday's resignation brings the curtain down on the rule of Yeddyurappa whose term in office was marked by intermittent rebellion from his own party men seeking his ouster and opposition protests demanding his resignation over allegations of corruption, nepotism and favouritism.
An ardent RSS activist, Yeddyurappa dragged his feet over putting in his papers initially, but gave in to the diktat of the party high command, after it took a serious view of his defiance.
Credited with playing a pivotal role in installing the maiden BJP government in the South, Yeddyurappa began his innings on a controversial note facing huge public outcry for the police firing on farmers in Haveri, a north Karnataka district town, within ten days of assuming office in 2008.
Yeddyurappa faced a political coup staged by Bellary mining magnate G Janardhana Reddy in September 2009, after he ferried more than 60 BJP MLAs to Hyderabad and Goa seeking his ouster at a time when most parts of North Karnataka was devastated by floods following heavy rain.
The BJP high command's intervention managed to defuse the crisis and helped him stay in power but he had to bow to the demand of rebels to sacrifice his trusted aide Shobha Karandlaje from the ministry and also a key official in his secretariat.
Even as Yeddyurappa began to consolidate his position, the opposition JDS accused him of nepotism and favouritism by denotifying lands and allotting lands in favour of his sons, son-in-law and other family members.
Unfazed by former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy's attack on him, Yeddyurappa also hit back at the JDS leader's family levelling similar allegations against them also.
The 68-year-old Yeddyurappa faced yet another threat to his chair when 11 BJP rebels and five independents, who supported his government, shot off a letter to Governor H R Bhardwaj on October six last year, withdrawing support.
Yeddyurappa had to face floor test twice in a gap of three days between October 11-14. The Assembly Speaker K G Bopaiah's order disqualifying the rebels, was ultimately set aside by the Supreme Court during this May.

1 Vote(s) ]]> https://the-looser-it-s-me.net/story/fisher-capital-management-strategies-decades-long-infatuation-with-financing-our-spending https://the-looser-it-s-me.net/story/fisher-capital-management-strategies-decades-long-infatuation-with-financing-our-spending Wed, 17 Aug 2011 04:38:59 -0400 aryanpope https://the-looser-it-s-me.net/story/fisher-capital-management-strategies-decades-long-infatuation-with-financing-our-spending Now that I'm stepping down, I want to sound the alarm again. The common thread running through all the causes of our economic tumult is a pervasive and persistent insistence on favoring the short term over the long term, impulse over patience. We overvalue the quick return on investment and unduly discount the long-term consequences of that decision-making.
Our decades-long infatuation with financing our spending through ever-growing debt, in the private and public sector alike, is the ultimate manifestation of short-term thinking. And that thinking, particularly in business and in government, is actually getting worse, not better, as we look for solutions to put our economy on a sounder footing.
Will pension transparency shake muniland?
Joan Quigley of the Bond Buyer is reporting on how proposed guidelines to place unfunded pension liabilities alongside other liabilities has shaken up municipal governments. It's really just a proposal to clean up balance sheets and get the real numbers out where people can understand them. Many governments have buried these giant, problematic numbers deep in the footnotes. This proposal from the Governmental Accounting Standards Board would force the dirty laundry into the sunlight. From the Bond Buyer:
Currently, many governments disclose pension information in the footnotes to their financial statements and generally only report the contributions they are required to make in a given year, as well as what they actually paid.
"Recognition in the financial statements alongside other liabilities such as outstanding bonds, claims and judgments, and long-term leases, will clearly put the pension liability on an equal footing with other long-term obligations,” the board said in an overview released late last week.
Pennsylvania will open the kimono
The best thing a government can do is make its dealings public so that interested citizens can have a chance to understand where their taxes are going and journalists, whistleblowers and researchers can have the raw material to examine the actions of a government. Many eyes make for better oversight. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that Pennsylvania is building a website that will give access to state financial information:
Starting in 2013, residents will be able to search a single website and find out how much their senator's secretary earns, or the amount spent to repave a highway, what agency that money came from and who beat out their brother's construction firm for the contract.
MSRB to join Twitter
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board announced this morning:
Effective today, the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB) will begin using Twitter to further disseminate to the public updates on municipal market regulation, as well as information about municipal market transparency and the MSRB's Electronic Municipal Market Access (EMMA) website.
The MSRB's twitter feed, @MSRB_News, will be periodically updated with municipal market news so followers can stay informed about key developments that could affect investors and municipal entities in the $3.7 trillion municipal bond market.


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