"Florida House Speaker Larry Cretul said Tuesday that state revenue projections haven't improved as hoped and that the state may be faced with a $2.6 billion funding shortfall for the next fiscal year."
- 2) US Avoids Technical Default By Three Days (zerohedge)
"On December 24, the Senate passed a vote by a razor thin margin (with not a vote to spare) to raise the Federal debt ceiling from $12,104 billion to $12,394 billion. The actual debt ceiling increase took effect on December 28. And as the chart below shows, the Treasury's cash flow projections were spot on: 3 days later, and the debt subject to limit surged to $12,254, a jump of over $200 billion in 2 days, and a whopping $150 billion over the old debt ceiling. Three days is all the buffer the administration's reckless spending spree has afforded this country to avoid bankruptcy. Had one more Democratic vote dissented from the stopgap measure, the US would now be in technical default. There is just $140 billion left before the revised debt ceiling is breached. We hope for the country's sake that Bill refunding in January is massive, because as we already pointed out, on January 7th we expect another ~$130 of new Treasuries to be announced for auction by January 15th. And then there are two more weeks in January... Which is why the Treasury better be using that TARP money to pay down all it can, because if the general population understands how close this nation was to the fiscal brink, many more answers may be demanded out of the ruling party as to how it could allow things to get so out of hand. "
- 3) CMBS delinquencies pass 6 pct for first time (Reuters)
"The delinquency rate for loans underlying commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) ballooned 500 percent in 2009, surpassing 6 percent in December for the first time, underscoring the rapid collapse of the U.S. commercial property market, according to real estate data provider Trepp.
The delinquency rate -- the percentage of loans 30 or more days delinquent -- among CMBS loans rose 0.42 percentage point in December to 6.07 percent. They began 2009 at 1.21 percent and the decade, before the U.S. commercial real estate boom, at 0.50 percent."
- 4) US shopping center vacancies hit records - report (Reuters)
* U.S. strip mall vacancy hits 18-year high
"Vacancies at U.S. strip malls hit an 18-year high in the fourth quarter and the vacancy rate for large regional malls reached the highest in at least 10 years, according to real estate research firm Reis Inc.
Strip malls -- neighborhood and community shopping centers typically anchored by grocery or drug stores -- had a vacancy rate of 10.6 percent in the fourth quarter, surpassing the high set in 1991, Reis economist Ryan Severino said in a report released on Wednesday. The early 1990s is a period often referred to as the commercial real estate depression."
- 5) Retail centers mired in foreclosures (San Jose area)
"Five retail centers in the Bay Area have belly-flopped into bankruptcy, listing at least $39 million in debts, an ominous sign that consumers may still be struggling and the credit squeeze isn't over.
The retail developments that are mired in Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases — all filed in December — include a proposed Asian-themed retail center in Fremont, a strip center in Newark, two retail centers in San Jose and a yet-to-be built retail, office and residential mixed-use complex in Santa Clara.
"We're just beginning to see some of the retail properties that were purchased three to five years ago running into trouble," said Greg Labarthe, a vice president with Grubb & Ellis, a commercial realty brokerage."
"The Social Security Trust Fund issued their November and December reports today. They also provided the payment data for January 2010. I think there is some significant information."
"There was a $100 billion surplus for the year. But compare that to the $190 Billion surplus in 2007. We have lost $90 Billion in just two years. But this number should be much higher than the 07 surplus. It was assumed that the Fund would have larger and larger surpluses for years to come. The 2008 Trustee Report (signed by then Chairman Hank Paulson) provided a set of Intermediate Assumptions for the Fund's surpluses looking forward. As you can see we missed the 2009 target of a $220b surplus by a cool $120 billion. As of 12/31/09 the funds assets are behind that 08 schedule by $155 billion."
...............6A) Social Security's Grim Milestone: Half a Year in the Red
) tells it like it is. 
Join the discussion