There’s a line from Shakespeare’s Richard III, “Now is the Winter of our discontent,” meaning a time of unhappiness or sorrow will soon end. But if winter is replaced with summer, it could forewarn this period is just beginning or peaking. As we enter the last week of July, this…

As the song goes, “the money kept rolling in from every side” — if you survey reported June revenue receipts of U.S. states, you would see revenues continue to exceed earlier projections by record amounts even without accounting for direct Federal aid. And it’s coming in from “every side:” income…

There has been growing backlash in San Francisco. In February, more than 70 percent of voters recalled three board of education members and in June, voters successfully recalled their District Attorney in what was viewed as pushback to criminal justice reform nationwide. In The Atlantic, one commentary went as far…

It’s officially summer! And time for summer reading lists. Public finance doesn’t always lend itself as a typical beach read and some of these topics may be a little heavy. The books cover domestic and international finance, financial markets, and history — a little something for most readers. Each of…

Pension Obligation Bonds (POBs) are a complex transaction. As the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) puts it, The use of POBs rests on the assumption that the bond proceeds, when invested with pension assets in higher-yielding asset classes, will be able to achieve a rate of return that is greater…

After a year of COVID restrictions, everyone other than the workers themselves had high hopes employees would return to their high rises in central business districts (CBD) five days a week. But what started out as a concerted push last year to “return to normal,” mostly by financial firms, has…

Pennsylvania school districts have a problem — charter schools. But we’re not focusing on political views and student outcomes; let’s talk about finances. In Pennsylvania, students do not pay tuition to charter schools; the majority of their funding comes from their residence school districts. The amount a charter school receives…

States are flush with cash, but none more than California. According to the Governor, “No other state in American history has ever experienced a surplus as large as this.” Even while many other states are giving out tax rebates, The Golden State stands alone, reporting an estimated surplus last week…

In 2001, Boeing announced it was moving its headquarters to Chicago after 85 years in Seattle. Now, 20 years later, the company plans to move to the suburbs of Washington, DC. Unsurprisingly the move comes as the company’s tax incentives are ending. When tax incentives end cities and states are…