It’s been so easy the past 15 years for local governments in the USA, state governments, government authorities, corporations, banks, hedge funds and the US Federal government to simply say how many millions, billions or trillions of dollars they wanted, pay some high priced call accountants to fill out some paperwork with fine print and voila, millions, billions and trillions of dollars in borrowed money simply appeared. It has been that easy!
Now, the government in the USA owes $46 trillion, US corporations owe $15 trillion, US individuals owe $13 trillion plus there are $315 trillion in outstanding Wall Street derivatives. (Few Americans know what a derivative is, but we as a nation are on the hook for up to $315 trillion in additional debt because of these derivatives.) These debt figures continue to escalate with each passing month.
Detroit and Puerto Rico have only just begun the debt bombs bursting in the USA, the USA’s slow motion economic collapse. Who’s next? I’m going to tell you about some US local and state governments that have too much debt and are ripe for debt collapse along with a few US government authorities and corporations that borrowed too much money and are also ripe for debt collapse.
Mr. Dudley of the New York Federal Reserve Bank recently warned of a wave of US municipal debt collapses coming soon. The problem is bigger than solely US municipalities as Mr. Dudley no doubt is aware. Chicago or LA, which one is more likely to collapse first? Chicago. Kanakee County IL or Perry County KY? Kanakee County is more likely to go belly up first. Atlantic City (AC) or Yonkers? AC is more likely to bite the dust first. 1 out of 25 states are ready to collapse within months, as are 1 out of 20 US cities, 1 out of 15 US government authorities and 1 out of 7 US corporations. Within a few years, many US cities, counties, authorities, states and corporations will have debt collapsed, before the USA as a nation debt collapses. A tsunami of debt collapses is hitting the USA. The causes are government officials and corporate executives who borrowed too much easy money plus Wall Street bankers and hedge fund vultures who lent too much easy money.
Besides city, county and state collapses, there will also be school debt collapses, hospital debt collapses, government authority debt collapses, individual bankruptcies, corporate debt collapses and finally the nationwide debt collapse of the USA. If change cannot be brought about fast – like increasing revenue (e.g. raising taxes on the rich) or cutting spending (e.g. ending endless war, cutting military/intel spending) or both – then, the best way forward may be to evacuate. Get away from the places about to collapse as quickly as you can. If you find your home is burning to the ground, as I discovered one Sunday evening in New York City in the Summer of 2011, what are you going to do? Evacuate.
Much of the data about which collapses are forecast to come first, second, third and so forth are from financial data, spreadsheets, credit ratings, revenue vs. debt calculations and the like. These are projections, they are not cast in stone. Any corporation, any individual, any part of government in the USA can stop borrowing too much money and can start paying off the debts they owe anytime they feel like it.
Most likely to be first up to collapse are some US cities like Atlantic City NJ, Chicago IL, Newark NJ and Paterson NJ. If you’ve studied cost accounting at a graduate level, did cost accounting work and you look at publicly available financial data from these cities, it’s like looking at nightmare on main street parts I, II, III and IV about to happen.
The next set of cities most likely to collapse include: Arkansas City KS, Asbury Park NJ, Brownwood TX, Coralville IA, Fairfield IA, La Feria TX, Lockport NY, Maple Heights OH, North Las Vegas NV, Philadephia PA and Poughkeepsie NY.
US cities most likely to collapse next include: Baltimore MD, East Pennsboro PA, Erie PA, Houston TX, Jersey City NJ, Kearny NJ, New Orleans LA, Union City NJ and Yonkers NY. Most likely to be followed by: Bristol VA, Buffalo NY, Carroll IA, Central Falls RI, Eastlake OH, East Chicago IN, Los Angeles CA, Monessen PA, Niles OH, Orlando FL, Phoenix AZ, Pittsburgh PA, Providence RI, Robstown TX, Taylor MI, Toledo OH, Tulare CA, Two Rivers WI, Washington DC, West Haven CT, Williston ND and Woonsocket RI.
Counties most likely to collapse first include Kanakee County IL and Perry County KY. BASF’s decision, in September 2015, to close their nylon and epoxy unit at their Kanakee IL factory is yet another accelerant to the debt collapse of Kanakee County IL. Most likely to be followed by the economic collapses of Allegheny County PA, Baxter County, AR, Boyd County KY, Cullman County AL, Dutchess County NY, Essex County NJ, Gilchrist County FL, Harris County TX, Passaic County NJ, Putnam County MO, Rockland County NY, San Bernadino County CA and Wayne County MI.
Without a doubt, the State of Illinois is the US state most likely to collapse first. Followed by, most likely, New Jersey. Tied for 3rd place for US states most likely to collapse are: Arizona, California, Kentucky and Michigan. Tied for 7th place: Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
The severity of this debt collapse around in the USA, coupled with the impotence of the US government, the emperor has no clothes, their inability to mount a rescue of the US economy – because Fed Funds interest rates have been at 0% since December 2008, and cannot be lowered, and because the US Treasury already printed $4.5 trillion out of thin air (QE1, QE2 & QE3); more money printing on that scale will lead to hyper-inflation which will cause the US dollar to become worthless – will accelerate the economic collapse of the USA and worse. An example of worse is an increased likelihood of states such as Texas seceding from the Union.
Vast cultural differences between US regions – like the Rockies, Midwest, Northeast, Southeast and West Coast – will be exacerbated during the USA’s economic collapse 2016-2021, which will increase the likelihood of states or even entire regions seceding from the overly-indebted economically collapsing USA. State defiance of national laws (e.g. marijuana laws) coupled with the far right movement (e.g. Tea Party, Libertarian Party) has set the stage for secession fever to catch fire against the capitol district, Washington DC.
The next article in this USA debt bombs bursting series will cover more on the likely sequence of events such as pension cutting, more lethal health care rationing, escalating unemployment, rising crime, increasing hunger, more Americans freezing to death each winter, possible deflation followed by hyper-inflation, wars, etc. – events which could make the Deagle Inc. economic forecast for the USA more plausible. The main focus of this article is limited primarily to places likely to collapse first before the entire nation, the USA, economically collapses.
Many government authorities will collapse including many schools, school districts and hospitals. Among the most likely authorities to collapse first are the East Liverpool City Hospital in Ohio, Citrus Memorial Hospital in Citrus County FL, the Detroit Public Schools, Pontiac City MI public schools and some universities like Ashland University in Ohio, Dowling College in NY, Franklin Pierce University in NH, the Detroit Academy of Arts and Sciences and the University of Puerto Rico (UPR). Many universities, public and private, have done borrowing through state dormitory authorities blurring the line between private and public, and leaving taxpayers on the hook for much of the debt that many universities took out for luxurious new dormitories, new gyms, etc.
Student loans guaranteed by the US Federal government are at $1.3 trillion and climbing fast. A higher than ever number of graduates are unable to find work in their majors. The labor participation rate among US adults is 63% employed and 37% unemployed. The US unemployment rate will ratchet up much higher than 37% in 2016, 2017 and subsequent years as the slow motion USA debt collapse climaxes with the entire nation’s final economic collapse, like a house of cards blown away in a cool summer breeze. Like domino’s falling, city by city, corporation by corporation, government authority by government authority and state by state until the entire nation, the USA, debt collapses.
Higher education in the USA is a bubble. That bubble is bursting. Universities most likely to financially collapse and scale back (or close down) first include Ashland, Dowling, Detroit Academy of Arts and Sciences, Franklin Pierce and UPR. The next set of US colleges and universities most likely to financially collapse include: Bellarmine University (KY), College of Saint Rose (NY), Delaware Valley College (PA), Dominican University of California, Drew University (NJ), Lake Forest College (IL), Mills College (CA), Morehouse College (GA) and the University of Sacred Heart (PR). The wave of US colleges and universities most likely to financially collapse next include Beloit College (WI), Canisius College (NY), the New York Institute of Technology, the University of West Hartford (CT) and US News top-tier ranked Yeshiva University in NYC.
Yeshiva University’s potential collapse may be caused more from Bernie Madoff’s ponzi scheme debts, that university’s “investments” in Madoff’s ponzi schemes, and their bad timing to have not gotten out in just in the nick of time.
The USA’s debts are increasingly being compared to ponzi schemes like Madoff’s ponzi schemes. More Elderly Americans getting stiffed out of pensions they were promised. More creditors are getting screwed out the money owed to them. The US government’s $46+ trillion in debts will soon turn out to be the largest ponzi scheme ever in human history.
Public school districts most likely to collapse next include: Charleroi Area School District(SD) in PA, East Allegheny SD in PA, Frazier SD in PA and York City SD also in PA. Next most likely to financially collapse school districts include: Lake County SD in IL, Coatesville Area SD in PA, East Ramapo SD in NY, McLean SD in MD, Odem-Edroy Independent SD in TX, Pocono Mountain SD in PA, Reading SD in PA and Manatee County SD in FL.
Elementary and Secondary school is legally mandated in the USA, so it’s unclear what the outcomes to the tsunami of public school district bankruptcies will be. Will teacher to student ratios mushroom up to more than 50 students in each classroom? Will these school districts stop paying for books, food and buses? What will happen to teacher pay and benefits? Will the quality of teaching decline even further in the USA? The USA has been falling in international educational rankings for decades now, how low can the quality of education in the USA get? Will teachers get stiffed out of their pensions, Detroit style?
There is also a healthcare bubble in the USA with average physician salaries at $187,200, an intentional shortage of physicians in the USA (only 850,000; far fewer physicians per 1,000 people than in most nations), many new blockbuster drugs – like Sovaldi – costing $85,000 per patient or more, bankrupting hospital stays often exceeding $5,000 per day and a decades long wave of hospital closings nationwide leaving the USA exceedingly unprepared for a pandemic or biological crisis. Many US hospitals, in the best of economic times (2010 – 2014), were already routinely reporting Emergency Room waits of more than 24 hours. How long can ER waits get in the USA? And with an acute shortage of both hospital beds and doctors in many areas, what will happen in the USA in the event of a crisis? The USA’s greed ridden healthcare system is too woefully fragile for words.
The hospitals most likely to financially collapse next include: Blue Mountain Hospital District in OR, East Texas Medical Center Regional Healthcare Systems, Guadalupe Regional Medical Center in TX, Indiana County Hospital Authority in PA, West Jefferson Medical Center in LA and Whidbey Island Public Hospital District in WA.
The most likely next wave of hospitals to financially collapse include Clarendon Hospital District in SC, Community Medical Center in Montana, Eisenhower Medical Center in CA, Exeter Hospital in NH, Friendship Village Assisted Living Facility in Columbus OH, Holyoke Medical Center in MA (Romneycare land), Hopkins County Hospital District in TX, San Antonio Community Hospital in Upland CA and Wood County Hospital Association in OH.
Millions of Americans will have to travel further, in many instances, many more miles (kilometers) further, in the event of a ‘minutes make a life or death difference’ healthcare crisis. The looming wave of hospital debt collapses and closings will result in delays for millions of Americans to get emergency care which will result in many more Americans dying each year because they cannot get the healthcare they need in time. Is this intentional on the part of US government planners to save money? Or is it due to ignorance and a depraved indifference to human life (the human lives of US citizens) on the part of US government officials.
Many of the too expensive Obamacare deductibles are not being paid, Medicaid cuts and the political talk of turning Medicare into a voucher system, that is a system of coupons for health care discounts, will accelerate hospital bankruptcies and closings around America, resulting in many more deadly delays for Americans in the USA trying to get healthcare just in the nick of time. None of the hospitals on the above list of endangered hospitals are in the areas where the richest 10% of Americans live. Ditto for endangered school districts.
The Rostaver Township Sewage Authority in PA is also on the verge of financial collapse. One of the largest municipal bankruptcies in the past decade, the Jefferson County AL bankruptcy, traces back to an expensive sewage system financed in that county.
The San Joaquin Hills Corridor Transportation Authority has $2.1 billion in debt for a 12 mile stretch of toll road (Route 73) in Orange County CA. Overly optimistic toll revenue projections fell short and this is yet another government authority on the verge of debt collapse. Who’s going to pay $2.1 billion plus interest and fees for that 12 mile stretch of road?
1 out of 7 corporate bonds are classified as junk with a high risk of imminent default. Many of these corporations are Fortune 1000 corporations on the verge of financial collapse during the USA’s current financial nosedive.
Valeant Pharmaceuticals, for example, has $31 billion in junk bond debt, they currently employ 17,000 people worldwide and have a monopoly on several of the 500 drugs they make like Efudex and Mestinon. A financial collapse of Valeant not only means 17,000 more unemployed people, it also raises the question of who exactly is going to make Efudex, Mestinon and other drugs they have a monopoly on. Will the patients taking Valeant Corporation medicines be left high and dry, how many people will die due to drug shortages? In 2012, during the best of times, the FDA reported 117 drug shortages. Many of those shortages were lethal. How many Americans in the USA can be killed off each year because of pharmaceutical shortages, how empty can pharmacy shelves get in the USA?
Other corporations on the list of corp.’s most likely to financially collapse in the immediate future include: Peabody Energy, Clear Channel Communications, JC Penney, Radio Shack, Rite Aid and Sears. These corporations are overextended, maxed out and living on the financial edge. A couple of quarters with lower revenues makes all the difference between financial subsistence or financial collapse to overly indebted corporations. Overly indebted junk corporations employ 25 million Americans who have about 25 million children. If only 50% of these corporations go belly up by 2019, that’s an additional 25 million Americans without a source of income (and not paying taxes). Where would the money come from to pay for food stamps, housing and Medicaid for another 25,000,000 Americans in poverty? Where will the money come from to pay for the $0.4 trillion loss in tax revenues each year?
Many energy companies are in the first wave of debt collapse corp.’s. Many fracking corporation executives were more interested in borrowing money and paying big executive salaries with the borrowed money, than they were in actually fracking for gas. Gas and oil prices collapsed (2014 to August 2015) and there is a tsunami of energy corp.’s debt collapsing now, more than $1 trillion in debts that cannot be paid back (money lent assuming that oil and gas prices would only go up up up), which will leave more than 1,000,000 more Americans unemployed. Hydrofracking pumps billions of liters of toxic carcinogenic fracking fluid into the ground in the USA each year, which will result in millions of additional Americans in the USA getting cancer in coming decades; how will Medicare and Medicaid pay for millions of additional Americans with cancer?
Some of these energy companies likely to collapse or already collapsing include: Bristol VA based Alpha Natural Resources Inc., a coal corporation with 10,000 employees and $3.5 billion in debt, Alta Mesa Energy (TX, 200 employees, $0.4 billion in debt), American Eagle Energy (CO, 100 employees, $0.25 billion debt), Arch Coal (St. Louis, 5,000 employees, $5.15 billion debt), Armstrong Energy (NM, 25 employees left, $0.25 billion debt), Basic Energy Services (TX, 6,000 employees, $1 billion debt), Black Elk Offshore (500 employees, $0.25 billion debt), California Resources (LA based, 2,000 employees, $6.6 billion in debt), Centrus Energy (MD based uranium corp., 500 employees, $0.25 billion debt), Cobalt International Energy (TX, 200 employees left, $2.0 billion debt), Comstock Resources (TX, 150 employees left, $1.4 billion debt), Conacher Oil and Gas ($0.2 billion debt, 200 employees left), Energy XXI Gulf Coast (TX, 500 employees, $4.7 billion debt), Exco Resources (TX , 600 employees, $1.6 billion debt), Forbes Energy (RI, 2,500 employees, $0.3 billion debt), Forest Oil aka Sabine Oil ($0.8 billion in debt, already in bankruptcy), Goodrich Petroleum (TX, only 80 employees left, $0.65 billion debt), Halcon Resources Corp (TX, 500 employees, $3.7 billion in debt, who’s going to pay?), Heckmann Corp aka Nuverra (AZ based fracking water treatment corporation, 2,500 employees, $0.55 billion debt), Hercules Offshore ($1.2 billion debt, declared bankruptcy August 2015, 2,000 employees left), Linn Energy (TX based fracker, 2,000 employees, $10.5 billion debt), Midstates Peteco (OK based, 200 employees, $2 billion debt), Milagro Oil and Gas (TX, $1 billion debt, in bankruptcy), Niska Gas (PA based, $0.8 billion debt, 200 employees left), Parker Drilling Corp. (TX, 3,500 employees, $0.6 billion debt), Petroquest Energy (Louisiana based, 200 employees left, $0.4 billion debt), Quicksilver Inc (TX, 3,000 employees, $1.1 billion debt, in bankruptcy), Raam Global Energy (KY based, 100 employees left, $0.25 billion debt), Resolute Energy Group (Denver based, 300 employees, $0.8 billion debt), Samson Resources (Australia based doing business in USA, 2,000 employees, $7 billion debt), Saratoga Resources (TX, $0.2 billion debt, bankrupt, no known employees left), Sandridge Energy (OK based fracker, 2,000 employees, $4.5 billion debt), Swift Energy (TX, 300 employees, $1.2 billion debt), US Shale Solutions (TX, $0.3 bln debt), Venoco Inc. (CO based, 500 employees, $1 billion debt), W & T Offshore (TX, 500 employees, $1.5 billion debt), Walter Energy (AL based, 2,500 employees, $3.1 billion debt), Warren Resources (NY based, $0.5 billion debt, 100 employees left), Willbros Group (TX based, 8,000 employees, $0.3 billion debt) and Williams Clayton Energy (TX, 500 employees, $0.8 billion debt). This is a partial list of energy corporations most likely to debt collapse first.
Commodity companies, like metals corporations, have suffered since demand for metals decreased as demand for electronics and luxuries have declined, 500,000+ more Americans will become unemployed, hundreds of billions of dollars in debts that cannot be paid back: Castle A M and Co. (IL based metals and plastics distributor, 2,000 employees, $0.4 billion debt), Cliffs Natural Resources (OH based, 5,500 employees, $0.6 billion debt), Coeur Mining (IL, 2,000 employees, $0.6 billion debt), Glencore (180,000 employees, global operations, $30 billion debt), Magnetation (MN based, 500 employees, $0.4 billion debt), Molycorp (Colorado based rare earth metals corporation, 2,000 employees, $1.7 billion debt), New Enterprise Stone & Lime (PA, 2,000 employees, $0.5 billion debt), Patriot Coal (St Louis based ,3,000 employees, $1.1 billion debt, already in bankruptcy), Peabody Energy (St. Louis based, $6.3 billion debt, 9,000 employees) and Thompson Creek Metals (CO based, 1,000 employees left, $0.95 billion debt). This is a partial list of commodity corporations most likely to debt collapse first.
Retail corporations, many of which can’t figure how to sell online, but did figure out how to borrow too much money. As online sales continue to climb, many retail stores are closing down or scaling back, more than 5,000,000 more Americans will become unemployed. Many retail stores couldn’t figure how to sell online, but they didn’t borrow too much money; they’ll be in much better shape than these corporations who borrowed too much money: A & P Supermarkets (NJ based, $2.3 billion debt, 25,000 employees), Albertsons (CA based, 250,000 employees, $8 billion debt), American Apparel (CA based, $0.3 billion in debt, 9,000 employees left), Bon Ton Department Stores (PA, 25,000 employees, $1 billion debt), Conn’s (TX based retailer, $0.9 billion debt, 4,500 employees), Guitar Center (CA based retailer, $1.7 billion debt, 10,000 employees), Gymboree (CA based, $1.2 billion debt, 8,000 employees left), Haggen Grocery Stores (WA based, 15,000 employees, announced shut down of 27 more stores in September 2015, has at least $0.3 billion in debt), JC Penney (TX based, 114,000 employees, $5.5 billion debt), Jones Apparel Group (NYC, 6,000 employees, $0.9 billion debt), Logan’s Roadhouse (TN based, 6,000 employees, $0.5 billion debt), NPC International Restaurants, e.g. some Pizza Huts (KS based, 29,000 employees, $1 billion debt), Party City (NY based, 8,000 employees still there, $1.9 billion debt), Radio Shack (TX based, $1.25 billion debt, 50,000 employees), Reddy Ice (TX based ice maker, 1,300 employees, $0.55 billion debt), Rite Aid ($7.3 billion debt, PA based, 51,000 employees left), Rue 21 (PA, $1 billion debt, 15,000 employees), Sears & Roebuck (IL based, 200,000 employees, $3.4 billion in debt) and Toys R Us (NJ based retailer, 70,000 employees, $1.3 billion debt). Too many Americans will become unemployed because these corporate executives borrowed too much money, much of which they paid themselves in extravagant executive pay and a gravy train of executive freebies.
With the winding down of long expensive multi-trillion dollar wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, along with other factors, like certain contractors falling out of favor with government officials who spend billions of our tax dollars each year, are some defense related corporations: Altegrity (Falls Church VA based, $1.8 billion debt, 1,000 employees left, who’s going to pay $1.8 billion it owes?), Colt Defense LLC (original producer of M-16’s, now bankrupt, $0.35 billion debt, few employees left) and Dyncorp International (VA based contractor, 25,000 employees, $0.8 billion debt) and Alion Science and Technology (VA based contractor, 3,500 employees, $0.6 billion debt).
Media and communications companies, many are now scaling back or shutting down, leaving more Americans unemployed: Charter Communications ($14+ billion debt, CT based, 24,000 employees), Clear Channel Communications aka iheart media (TX based, $21 bln debt, 21,000 employees), Knight Ridder aka The McClatchy Co. (CA based, 6,000 employees left, $1.1 billion debt) and LBI Media (CA based, $0.2 billion debt, 1,000 employees) – just a few examples of overly indebted media corporations.
Many banks have also borrowed too much money on the assumptions they’re too big to fail and when they do fail, the government will bail them out (again). It remains to be seen how the US government can bail them out, assuming the American people do again want to bail out the big banks that borrowed and lent too much easy money. Banks which paid their executives too much money, loaned trillions in debts that cannot be repaid; over 2,000,000 more Americans will become unemployed due to the most likely to collapse first banks like: Bank of America (NC based, 220,000 employees, $525 billion debt plus trillions in derivatives), Bank of Nova Scotia (90,000 employees, Canada based bank operating in USA too, $104 billion debt plus trillions in derivatives), Capitol City Bank & Trust (Atlanta GA), Citibank (NY, 240,000 employees, $490 billion debt plus tens of trillions of dollars in derivatives), Community Choice Financial (530 check cashing branches, 4,000 employees, $0.5 billion debt), Doral Bank (San Juan PR), Edgebrook Bank (Chicago IL), First Data Corp. ($30 billion debt, Atlanta based, 23,000 employees), First National Bank of Crestview, FL, Frontier Bank (Palm Desert CA), Goldman Sachs (NYC based, 35,000 employees, $400 billion in debt plus tens of trillions of dollars in derivatives), Highland Community Bank (Chicago IL), Northern Star Bank (Mankato MN), Nelnet (Nebraska based, 3,500 employees, $29 billion debt), Ocwen (GA based mortgage corporation, $6.2 billion debt, 11,500 employees), Premier Bank (Denver CO), Squaretwo Financial (Denver based, 5,000 employees, $1+ billion in debt), SG Structured Products, part of Societe Generale, a French bank operating in the USA (150,000 employees worldwide, $400 billion debt plus tens of trillions of dollars in outstanding derivatives) and Wilton Holdings (Bermuda based life insurance corporation, $0.3 billion in debt, only a few employees).
Some other corporations that borrowed too much money, will cause 5,000,000+ more Americans to become unemployed and are among the most likely to debt collapse first include Affinion Group (CT based, 4,000 employees, $2.3 billion debt), AMD computer chips (CA, 10,000 employees left, $5 billion in debt), ASG Consolidated (Seattle based, $0.95 bln in debt, 1,000 employees, has 6 big fishing boats), Aspect Software (MA based, 2,500+ employees, $1 billion+ in debt), Aurora Diagnostics (FL based, 1,000 employees, $0.4 billion debt), Avaya (CA based, 14,000 employees, fka Lucent Technologies, $6.1 billion debt), Alere Inc (MA based, otherwise successful diagnostics corporation that has $3.6 billion in debt, which may cause scale backs and possible debt collapse, 10,000 employees), BMC Software (TX, 10,000 employees, $8 billion debt), Beazer Homes (GA home builder, $1.55 billion debt, 1,100 employees), Brookstone Holdings (500 employees, $0.3 billion debt), Harrahs now Casears Entertainment (NV based, $20 billion debt, 20,000 employees), Altice’s takeover of Cablevision adds $8.6 billion in new debt to $9.6 billion in old debt (NY based, 14,000 employees), Cenveo Corp (CT based marketer, 8,000 employees, $1.3 billion debt), Congoleum Corporation (NJ based, 1,000 employees, $0.2 billion debt, foreign competition may hit harder than their debt), Dispensing Dynamics (CA based, 2,000 employees, $0.3 billion debt), Education Management (PA based, 11,000 employees, $1.5 billion debt), Frontier Communications ($9.6 billion debt, CT based, 18,000 employees), Getty Images (WA based, $2.3 billion debt, 1,000 employees), Gibson Brands (TN based musical instruments, $0.3 billion debt, 1,000 employees), Harnett Health Systems (NC based, $0.4 billion debt, 1,000+ employees), HD Supply (GA based distributor, 14,000 employees, $5.4 billion debt), Hewlett Packard (CA based, $26 billion debt, 305,000 employees, recently announced 30,000 more lay offs), Momentive Specialty Chemical (NY based, subsidiaries include Borden and Hexion, $3 billion in debt, 10,000 employees), Hovnanian Enterprises (NJ homebuilder, 2,000 employees, $2.2 billion debt), MGM Resorts (NV based, $13.5 billion debt, 52,000 employees), Monitronics International (TX, 1,000 employees, $1.75 billion debt), Radiation Therapy Services aka 21st Century Oncology (FL based, 5,000 employees, $0.6 billion debt), Sitel Financial (TN based subsidiary of Toronto based Onex Corporation with 190,000 employees and $17 billion debt), Sprint (KS based telecommunications corporation, $35 billion debt, 31,000 employees), Tenet Healthcare (TX based, 81,000 employees, $14.8 billion debt), Valeant Pharmaceuticals ($31 billion in junk bond debt,17,000 employees worldwide), Verso Paper Holdings (TN, 2,000 employees, $3 billion debt), Visant (NY based, 3,500 employees, $1.6 billion debt), Waterford Gaming (CT based gambling corporation with stake in Mohegan Sun Casino, Mohegan Tribe also owns part of Mohegan Sun and has $1.6 billion in debt, 10,000 employees) and Weight Watchers (NY based, 21,000 employees, $2.3 billion debt). This is a very partial list of overly indebted US corporations most likely to debt collapse in the immediate future.
Hundreds of thousands of corporations in the USA borrowed too much money and they will experience debt collapses in the months to come. The above mentioned corporations are just a snapshot of fewer than 1% of the US corporations that will have to scale back or shut down because their executives borrowed too much money. With few exceptions, the US corporate executives who borrowed too much money then paid themselves gigantic amounts of money and a gravy train of freebie perks, freebie benefits and bonuses with that borrowed money prior to their corps’s debt collapse and the unemployment of millions of Americans.
Within a couple years of USA debt bombs bursting all over the USA, the US government will no longer be able to borrow any more money. The US government has been hooked on binge borrowing money by the trillions for more than 3 decades now. How is their withdrawal from binge borrowing money going to work out?
So far, in 2015, the Peoples Central Bank in Beijing (the US government’s #1 foreign creditor) has dumped $0.2 trillion in US Treasury bonds and oil rich states in the Middle East have dumped $0.1 trillion in US Treasury bonds. With fewer sugar daddies willing to lend money to Uncle Sam, how is the US Federal government going to continue borrowing money by the trillions?
Many cities, counties, government authorities and corporations are on the verge of financial collapse in the USA. A tsunami of US municipal, government authority and corporate financial collapses will be followed by entire states – like Illinois and New Jersey – collapsing financially.
As the domino’s falling are getting bigger with each collapse, from Detroit to Puerto Rico to fill in the blank who’s next, we see the tactics and outcomes from each financial collapse. 11 cents on the dollar for pensions leaving retirees in poverty (e.g. Detroit). Lethal healthcare rationing (e.g. Detroit and Puerto Rico). Electric bills at $436 a month on average (e.g. Puerto Rico) and rising. Water shut off 5 days a week (e.g. throughout Puerto Rico). 60 plus minute waits for a response to 911 calls (e.g. Detroit). People are dying in the USA. Hedge Fund vultures swooping down and grabbing anything of value like airports, seaports, utilities, highways, mines and factories. Wall Street bankers, hedge fund vultures and US government officials are trying to set the example of lowering the minimum wage to less than $7.25 an hour in Puerto Rico, so that the same can be done all across the USA, so that US wages will be ‘more competitive’ with China’s average $1.75 an hour minimum wage, but without American people getting the benefits that Chinese people get from their government. Foreclosures, crime, poverty, homelessness, misery and desolation are mushrooming up in post debt collapse parts of the USA, like Detroit and Puerto Rico.
With vast differences between regions and even between states within the USA, secession fever will catch fire. And the Lone Star Republic is on the short list of states most likely to secede. In a coming era of $50+ barrels of oil, Texans will secede when they somehow become focused on the economics of just how much money they will have as an oil rich independent republic vs. just how poor they will be with the economically collapsing USA draining their tax money and their oil from them.
If even one region or state secedes from the USA, there is a likelihood that the USA’s vast military-intel-industrial complex will be directed inwards at trying to quell another civil war instead of directed outwards at foreign wars against other countries. Woe. A majority of California residents will soon be Latino. A 2020 California Ballot Proposition for re-unification with Mexico could pass.
What we’ve seen in Detroit and Puerto Rico is what’s coming soon all over the USA, unless we the people make changes for the better, fast, to paying down debt instead of increasing debt. I wrote previously of several ways towards government budget surpluses and paying down the government’s gigantic mountain of debt like Medicaid for All, one Social Security pension for All with a $2,000 a month minimum and current cap, train more doctors, build more hospitals, cut or eliminate the patent monopoly, tax cuts for the poor and middle class (e.g. raise the standard deduction to $90,000), increase tax rates on the richest 10% in the USA, a sales tax on financial ‘sales’ and cutting military/secret police spending.
In 2020, we’re going to look back and ask how was it humanly possible that these money lenders and money changers on Wall Street didn’t known that all these corporations and governments – local, state and national (e.g. USA and Japan) – couldn’t possibly pay back the mountains of debt lent to them? Or did the Wall Street money lenders and money changers just want to have a master’s upper hand over debt slave corporations and governments?
The solutions still exist. It’s a decision on the part of Americans, we the people, to passively go along with a slow motion debt collapse, the USA’s slow motion economic collapse – collapsing municipalities (e.g. Atlantic City, Chicago, etc.), collapsing government authorities, collapsing schools and hospitals, collapsing corporations (e.g. Clear Channel Communications, Peabody Energy, etc.), collapsing states (e.g. Illinois, New Jersey, etc.) and a collapsing USA – or to choose a better way.