• 1) Fed balance sheet grows to record in latest week

"(Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve's balance sheet grew to another record size in the latest week as the central bank bought more bonds in an effort to support the economy, Fed data released on Thursday showed.

The purchase was part of its $600 billion quantitative easing program, dubbed QE2, with the goal to stimulate investments and economic activity.

The balance sheet, a broad gauge of Fed lending to the financial system, expanded to $2.585 trillion in the week ended March 16 from $2.567 trillion the prior week."

.................1A) Fed Assets Rise to Record $2.61 Trillion on Treasury Purchases

"The central bank has purchased $465.4 billion in Treasuries since Nov. 12 under plans to purchase $600 billion of government debt through June and reinvest proceeds from maturing mortgage debt."

• 2) Texas budget could cost 600000 jobs

"NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Texas could see more than 600,000 jobs disappear if lawmakers adopt the $83.8 billion budget that will go before the state House late next week, according to a state agency.

Harsh spending cuts in the budget could cost more than 263,500 private sector jobs and 343,000 government positions over the next two years, according to estimates released Wednesday by the Legislative Budget Board, a bipartisan committee."

• 3) California employers could be hit with big tax bill for jobless benefits, auditor warns

"California's debt to the U.S. for covering its unemployment checks the last two years could reach $13.4 billion by the end of the year. If the loans aren't repaid by November, a payroll tax will kick in. It starts at $325 million next year and could rise to $6 billion."

• 4) Advisory NYS finance board warns NYC must brace for deeper service cuts in years to come

"NEW YORK — The state Financial Control Board warned Thursday that this year's proposed cuts to New York City services are just the beginning, and residents should expect deeper reductions in the coming years.

In its report on Mayor Michael Bloomberg's proposed budget, the board said that unless the city curbs rising capital debt and growing pension and healthcare costs, it can expect deep reductions for years to come.

"If people are complaining about the cuts the mayor's already made ... they're just going to get worse and worse," said board Executive Director Jeffrey Sommer. "The economy will not recover at a speed fast enough to close these gaps on its own."

This year's proposal calls for closing budget shortfalls by laying off thousands of city teachers and other workers, shuttering some fire companies and reducing library hours, among other measures. Sommer suggested the mayor would need to make $1 billion more in new cuts in the budget he proposes next year."

• 5) Tentative schools budget includes 2500 layoffs, pay cuts, larger classes (Nevada)

"The mood was somber as Jeff Weiler, chief financial officer for the Clark County School District, finished a presentation Thursday night at a School Board meeting.

Sitting in front of a standing-room-only crowd, Weiler served as the bearer of bad news: As part of a tentative 2012 budget, $411 million would be cut from the district and nearly 2,500 employees would lose their jobs.

The tentative budget includes a 7.8 percent reduction in salaries for all employees, a 25 percent cut in funding for textbooks and supplies, a 20 percent cut in administrative department budgets, an increase in health insurance costs for employees and an increase in class sizes by three to seven students."

• 6) Coming layoffs may shrink Merced Police Department below 2005 level (California)

"Around 3,000 documented gangbangers, belonging to 30 gangs, prowl Merced's streets and alleys.

With Merced police layoffs looming, the ranks of the task force devoted to keeping tabs on those bad guys may be slashed in coming months.

That's just one scenario police officials are bracing for as a result of the city's fiscal crisis.

The gang unit isn't the only part of the department subject to the budgetary scalpel. The Traffic Division will probably be cut substantially. Moreover, officers will no longer personally respond to lower priority property crimes, such as certain types of theft."

• 7) Japan faces prolonged energy crunch ("managed blackouts" over the summer)

"OSAKA, March 25, 2011 (AFP) - Disaster-struck Japan is bracing for months of energy shortages that could curb factory production and force households and workers to sweat out the humid summer with little or no air conditioning.

The world's number three economy, which endures 20 percent of all major earthquakes, generates about 30 percent of its power from nuclear plants.

The record 9.0-magnitude tremor and monster wave which battered Japan's northeast coast on March 11 prompted 11 of Japan's 55 nuclear reactors to automatically shut down and triggered a major crisis at a plant in Fukushima.

The nuclear problems are causing "serious constraints on the supply of electricity", so managed blackouts are likely to continue "at least over the summer," said Credit Agricole economist Susumu Kato. "

.........................7A) Japan May Consider Daylight Saving to Curb Power Use After Quake

• 8) Gates calls for Syrian forces to move aside

"Syria should follow Egypt’s lead and the Syrian army should “empower a revolution”, Robert Gates, US secretary of defence, argued as thousands marched in a southern city.

Mr Gates made his comments – some of the toughest remarks to date by a US official about the rule of Bashar al-Assad, Syria’s president – on a day of further upheaval in the Middle East and beyond."

• 9) 150 Michigan school systems on verge of going broke

"More than 150 school districts and charter schools in Michigan are teetering on the edge of going broke, a situation that is likely to get worse under Gov. Rick Snyder's proposed cuts of $470 per pupil.

These are the districts that have so little set aside in rainy day funds that Snyder's cuts -- coupled with a huge increase in retirement costs this summer -- could put them in a deficit, joining the 43 districts and charters already there.

It's a situation that has mobilized school leaders -- testifying in Lansing, writing lawmakers and sending letters to parents. They say that after years of closing schools, laying off staff and slashing programs, there's little left to cut."

• Other news, headlines and opinion:

S&P cuts Portugal credit rating, warns of further downgrade

Portugal Bonds Fall, Spain Dodges Contagion Effect 

Portugal bailout could top $100 billion

Portugal 'headed towards a default' (BBC)

China PBOC: See Risk Of "Competitive Devaluation" By Developed Countries

IMF Said to Be Discussing Activation of $583 Billion Crisis Lending Pool

Irish bond yields remain close to 10%

Ireland's borrowing costs hit record high as GDP falls

Irish Banks May Need 27.5 Billion Euros More Aid, Analysts Say

Treasury to Sell $161 Billion in Securities (Next week)

US High-Yield Bond Supply For Quarter Is Second-Highest On Record

Hong Kong Official: Expect Next Fiscal Year Budget Deficit HK$8.5 Billion

Hawaii's New Budget Deficit: $1.3 Billion

Expert says 10% of Hungarian hotels may soon go bankrupt

Salinas layoff list draws worst-case scenario (California)

Elmira School District Considering 200 Staff Layoffs (NY....20% of the district's workforce)

Hundreds of Layoffs at Montgomery Public Schools

Lightstone's $10M Bid Wins Distressed Hotel ("The seller, WPH Boston LLC, had previously acquired the property in September of 2005 at $26.6 million")

Phoenix expects big budget shortfall ($59 million)

Roach Sees a ‘Powerful’ Japan Rebound Fading to Lost Decade

Israel May Use ‘Great Force’ in Retaliation for Gaza as Gates Urges Peace

......................Belgium protester video

"...While much attention has been focused on the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, only fragmentary information has become available about damage to other large complexes, like water distribution and sewage treatment plants.

Even Japanese government agencies and professional engineering groups appear to have limited knowledge of the scope of the destruction along the northeastern coast of Honshu Island, where the tsunami hit on March 11, and further inland, where the quake damaged buildings and other structures and caused landslides.

“We don’t understand the real situation,” Hiroyuki Yanagawa of the Japan Society of Civil Engineers wrote in an e-mail. “We cannot investigate the area.” The group is based in Tokyo, far from the affected region, where entry has been restricted largely to emergency vehicles.

In the United States, earthquake engineers who often travel to the scene of a major quake within days have been unable to go to Japan because of concerns about radiation.

Stephen Mahin, a structural engineering professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and the director of the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center, said that he and others had been planning to go but that the university had canceled their travel insurance. ...."

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/25/world/asia/25infrastructure.html?_r=1&ref=science

As a new member to CM's Crash Course (and very overwhelmed by the reality of lies I now realise I've been fed by Govt), I am discovering that if you look, there are more people starting to raise awareness of the systemic mismanagement CM highlights. See Bill Gates' recent TED Talk http://www.ted.com/talks/bill_gates_how_state_budgets_are_breaking_us_schools.html

If more people like Bill, who are well known and respected, start calling it out, then maybe we can hope that politicians will start to deal more in reality....a stretch I know, but let's put the pressure on!

Canada heads to polls after PM toppled

By Craig McMurtrie and wires

Canadians are going back to the polls after the Conservative government of prime minister Stephen Harper was toppled in a no-confidence motion.

The main opposition Liberal Party united with two other opposition parties to bring down the Harper government over concerns about the federal budget.

The motion passed by just 11 votes, with 156 votes in favour to 145 against.

It is the first time that a Canadian government has been found in contempt of parliament.

The opposition claimed that the Conservatives failed to disclose the full cost of proposals, including the purchase of 65 F35 stealth fighters.

Like Australia, Canada is one of the international partners in the troubled US fighter project.

Opinion polls show the Conservative Party is the frontrunner for the coming election, but observers say Mr Harper is unlikely to be able to form a majority government.

Opposition MPs insist that Canada's continuing commitment to the strike fighter is in doubt.

"The vote today obviously disappoints me and will, I suspect, disappoint most Canadians," Mr Harper said in a statement.

He says he will ask governor-general David Johnston to officially dissolve parliament on Saturday (local time) and send Canadians to the polls in early May.

The election will be the fourth in seven years.