It's impossible to think that the fallout from Wall Street's casino culture would not impact everyone from retirees to small business to local cities and beyond. Even over here in Europe, there are still some who continue to suggest that (fill in the country of your choice) will somehow - magically with the wave of a wand or an invisible wall - avoid being hit hard by this. We are all so deeply interconnected and just as it was during previous recessions, the fallout will spread. Whether we like it or not, it is the reality that we're all stuck with for a while. My hope is that we learn a few lessons and start making changes to our regulations and tax code to encourage growth for everyone and not just a few as well as more balance in the way we do business.
Billings, Mont., is struggling to come up with $70 million more for a new emergency room. And Maine has been unable to raise $50 million for highway repairs.
“We really are in terra incognita here,” said Robert O. Lenna, executive director of the Maine Municipal Bond Bank, which helps that state’s towns and school districts raise money. He said he had worked in public finance for 34 years and had never seen credit evaporate so completely.
Maine had already begun some of its road work when the bond markets stopped functioning, so now it is scrambling for bank loans to keep the dump trucks rolling. If money does not start flowing soon, Mr. Lenna said, Maine will have to cancel some of its road and bridge projects.
The only alternative would be what New York City did on Monday: Go into the locked-up markets and whip up demand by offering to pay investors a very high return.
