The quasi nation-state of California has a national debt of $1.5 trillion as of June 30, 2017 according to the California Policy Center. This number is increasing about $200 billion per year. More than half of this number, $846 billion, is from unfunded pension liabilities. The state of California has a credit rating of AA- according to Fitch and Standard and Poor's. California has only $83 billion in general obligation bonds as of March 2018 and could easily sell more.
I think that the sovereign national debt of California is a ponzi scheme and will keep going up forever, just like the U.S. national debt. When a pension crisis hits, which is inevitable, the pension funds will be bailed out by the state or by the US, so the unfunded pension liabilities are in effect guaranteed. California can issue more bonds to pay interest on its debts, so there is no limit on how much debt it issues except for self-restraint but its radical socialist leaders will soon do away with that. The Fed could also purchase California G.O. bonds in a crisis.
If push comes to shove, California can just issue its own California dollars. It has done that before in 2009 by issuing "registered warrants".
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