Month: December 2014

The Washington Post has an intriguing headline: Many of the nation’s worst run states were the hardest hit by the housing crash.

Guess who made the list of “worst run states”? Ah, no fair, you peeked!

The list, compiled by 24/7 Wall Street, used a number of factors including unemployment, debt per capita, credit rating, and median household income to determine the ranking. Home values fell by at least 10 percent in five of the 10 bottom states: Arizona, Georgia, Illinois, New Jersey, and Rhode Island.

Here is what 24/7 had to say about Arizona:

45. Arizona
> Debt per capita: $2,140 (11th lowest)
> Credit Rating (S&P/Moody’s): AA-/Aa3
> 2013 unemployment rate: 8.0% (12th highest)
> Median household income: $48,510 (21st lowest)
> Poverty rate: 18.6% (9th highest)

Few states received lower credit ratings than Arizona from the two largest rating agencies, S&P and Moody’s. S&P awarded the state a rating of AA-, while Moody’s rates Arizona an Aa3 on its scale, both worse than most states. However, Moody’s recently upgraded the state’s outlook on improved fund balances, as well as low debt and net pension liabilities. Additionally, as with Florida, Arizona is in the midst of a housing market recovery after a brutal downturn during the recession. Last year, home values in the state rose 9.2% from the year before, better than all states except for Nevada. Despite this, the median home value was still down by nearly 12% between 2009 and 2013, by comparison, the U.S. median home value fell 6% in that time.

Read more

Howard Fischer reports that Arizona’s weak law requiring independent expenditure committees to register and to file disclosure statements was voided by U.S. District Court Judge James Teilborg on Friday, who ruled the law is “vague, overbroad, and consequently unconstitutional in violation of the First Amendment.” This likely means that there is now no regulation of independent expenditure committees in Arizona. Registration rule for political groups ruled too vague:

A federal judge has voided state laws requiring groups to register before spending money on campaigns — and with it, the reports they’re supposed to file on who is behind all that cash.

Judge James Teilborg accepted arguments by challengers that the statute dictating who must register is “vague, overbroad, and consequently unconstitutional in violation of the First Amendment.” Teilborg said that means it cannot be enforced.

Deputy Secretary of State Jim Drake said his office will ask Teilborg to delay the effect of the ruling, made late Friday, to provide a chance for an appeal. If nothing else, Drake said his office needs time to figure out how badly this undermines years of laws designed to give the public a better idea of who is contributing to political campaigns.

But Drake said he’s not optimistic.

“It does kind of turn campaign finance on its head,” he said.

Read more

The Syrian civil war has raged for three and a half years. It has ruined the economy, cost over 200,000 dead and forced more than 10 million people from their homes. With Syrian refugees swamping neighboring countries, the hard pressed UN and other donor agencies are struggling to provide aid to the ever increasing number of refugees.

The forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have managed to stave off defeat due in part to the splintering of opposing rebel forces. As American coalition aircraft began attacking jihadist groups, some Sunni rebel groups quit the moderate camp and joined extremist groups such as Jabhat al-Nusra (affiliated with al-Qaeda) and the fearsome Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). In the gloomy realm of Syrian opposition, many believe the goal of the American air coalition has changed, it now helping the Assad regime hold on to power.

Read more