Feeling Insecure-A State View of Whether Investors in Municipal General Obligation Bonds Have a Mere Promise to Pay or a Binding Obligation

The City of Detroit's filing for municipal bankruptcy in July, 2013, has added to a continuing controversy of whether general obligation bondholders have a secured lien. The City of Detroit claimed its general obligation bondholders did not have a fully secured lien because the law of the state of Michigan did not create a statutory lien. Without the creation of a lien by state law, during the insolvency or bankruptcy of municipalities, general obligation bondholders will potentially have a mere promise to pay versus a binding obligation to pay, and therefore, will not have a secured lien. Treating otherwise secured general obligation bonds as unsecured will create more risk for investors and increase the cost of borrowing for cities. This article discusses the treatment of general obligation bonds in recent municipal bankruptcies; identifies the states that create a binding obligation to pay general obligation bondholders; describes problems of not treating general obligation bonds as secured; and proposes that states create clear laws that grant statutory liens for general obligation bondholders

Modeling, Design, Packaging and Experimental Analysis of Liquid-Phase Shear-Horizontal Surface Acoustic Wave

Recent advances in microbiology, computational capabilities, and microelectromechanical-system fabrication techniques permit modeling, design, and fabrication of low-cost, miniature, sensitive and selective liquid-phase sensors and labon- a-chip systems. Such devices are expected to replace expensive, time-consuming, and bulky laboratory-based testing equipment. Potential applications for devices include: fluid characterization for material science and industry; chemical analysis in medicine and pharmacology; study of biological processes; food analysis; chemical kinetics analysis; and environmental monitoring. When combined with liquid-phase packaging, sensors based on surface-acoustic-wave (SAW) technology are considered strong candidates. For this reason such devices are focused on in this work; emphasis placed on device modeling and packaging for liquid-phase operation. Regarding modeling, topics considered include mode excitation efficiency of transducers; mode sensitivity based on guiding structure materials/geometries; and use of new piezoelectric materials. On packaging, topics considered include package interfacing with SAW devices, and minimization of packaging effects on device performance. In this work novel numerical models are theoretically developed and implemented to study propagation and transduction characteristics of sensor designs using wave/constitutive equations, Green’s functions, and boundary/finite element methods. Using developed simulation tools that consider finite-thickness of all device electrodes, transduction efficiency for SAW transducers with neighboring uniform or periodic guiding electrodes is reported for the first time. Results indicate finite electrode thickness strongly affects efficiency. Using dense electrodes, efficiency is shown to approach 92% and 100% for uniform and periodic electrode guiding, respectively; yielding improved sensor detection limits. A numerical sensitivity analysis is presented targeting viscosity using uniform-electrode and shear-horizontal mode configurations on potassium-niobate, langasite, and quartz substrates. Optimum configurations are determined yielding maximum sensitivity. Results show mode propagation-loss and sensitivity to viscosity are correlated by a factor independent of substrate material. The analysis is useful for designing devices meeting sensitivity and signal level requirements. A novel, rapid and precise microfluidic chamber alignment/bonding method was developed for SAW platforms. The package is shown to have little effect on device performance and permits simple macrofluidic interfacing. Lastly, prototypes were designed, fabricated, and tested for viscosity and biosensor applications; results show ability to detect as low as 1% glycerol in water and surface-bound DNA crosslinking

Feeling Insecure—A State View of Whether Investors in Municipal General Obligation Bonds Have a Mere Promise to Pay or a Binding Obligation

The City of Detroit\u27s filing for municipal bankruptcy in July, 2013, has added to a continuing controversy of whether general obligation bondholders have a secured lien. The City of Detroit claimed its general obligation bondholders did not have a fully secured lien because the law of the state of Michigan did not create a statutory lien. Without the creation of a lien by state law, during the insolvency or bankruptcy of municipalities, general obligation bondholders will potentially have a mere promise to pay versus a binding obligation to pay, and therefore, will not have a secured lien. Treating otherwise secured general obligation bonds as unsecured will create more risk for investors and increase the cost of borrowing for cities. This article discusses the treatment of general obligation bonds in recent municipal bankruptcies; identifies the states that create a binding obligation to pay general obligation bondholders; describes problems of not treating general obligation bonds as secured; and proposes that states create clear laws that grant statutory liens for general obligation bondholders

Who’s Going to Pick Up the Trash? Using the Build America Bond Program to Help State and Local Governments’ Cash Deficits

All over the United States, state and local governments are facing increasing revenue deficits due to the current economic recession. Even during good economic times, state and local governments experience temporary cash-flow deficits. State and local governments use short-term municipal bond debt to finance temporary cash-flow deficits caused by the normal erratic collection of tax revenue. The issuance of short-term debt secured by future tax revenue has always been a financing tool that helped local governments with cash-flow problems. The effects of the subprime mortgage crisis and the current recession threaten state and local governments’ ability to use this financial tool. The increased cost of issuing short-term debt, coupled with the general reduction of tax revenue collected due to the current recession, has restricted state and local governments’ ability to issue short-term debt. Without the use of affordable short-term debt, state and local governments are faced with severe cash-flow problems that threaten their ability to pay for services for their citizens. For example, local governments may be faced with the decision to layoff public safety workers such as fire fighters and police officers, reducing library and recreational park hours, or, in some cases, reducing trash pickup within their communities. To reduce the borrowing costs for state and local government issuers of short-term municipal bonds that are used to finance cash-flow deficits, this article proposes to utilize a federal subsidized taxable bond program similar to the Build America Bond program

Was the Deal Worth it? : The Dilemma of States with Ineffective Economic Incentives Programs

Federal subsidies to state and local governments have been substantially reduced due to public opinion prioritizing the reduction of the federal deficit, the recent fiscal cliff legislation, and the federal budget sequester cuts. In addition, in many states, revenue collection from individual and corporate income tax is below prerecession levels. To address the reduction in federal funding and reduced revenue collections, state and local governments will increasingly rely on economic incentive programs to grow their economies through increased job creation and private capital investment within their jurisdictions. These economic incentive programs are no longer comprised of simple tax reductions for companies seeking expansion or relocation, but include financial incentives and direct investment programs. The cost of these incentives, both in expenditures and forgone tax revenue, represents a growing portion of state and local governments\u27 budgets and may subject them to steep budget deficits if the incentives do not produce net economic growth. Because of the budgetary risk and the increased reliance on these economic incentives, there is a need for state and local governments to account for the cost of these incentives and to measure their effectiveness. Effective state economic development requires growth in state economic activity that results in a net increase of revenue in relation to the cost of the incentives. To measure effectiveness, state and local governments must maintain reliable information on the cost of incentives, -institute mechanisms to limit or cap the costs of incentives, and hold businesses accountable for performing pursuant to incentive agreements

Cut - and That\u27s a Wrap - The Film Industry\u27s Fleecing of State Tax Incentive Programs

When film production costs in California skyrocketed in the 1990s, states began creating tax incentive programs to attract film industry production. Currently, thirty-seven states have some type of film industry incentives and twenty-two states offer film tax credits. The 2014 movie Divergent, based on a science fiction book trilogy that takes place in a future post-apocalypse Chicago, cost $85 million to create,$30 million of which was spent in Illinois. The film producers promised to produce 1,000 jobs and in return received over $5 million in Illinois film tax credits. Did the reduction of tax revenue collected by the state of Illinois result in net economic growth? Recent economic studies suggest that tax incentive programs for the film industry often do not produce the promised economic returns. Nonetheless, state film industry tax incentives remain popular with state economic-development departments. The program costs are increasing and represent significant expenditures in state budgets with the potential for negative effects on state economies. States cannot continue to afford lost tax revenue that does not produce net economic growth. Most state tax incentive programs are focused on four major industries: manufacturing, agriculture, energy (oil, gas, and mining), and the film industry. The film industry shares the same issues of accountability as other industries. However, unique to the film industry is the difficulty in measuring economic growth from the temporary jobs generated and less public scrutiny of net economic growth due to the novelty and allure of film production to the public. States have limited resources and cannot afford costly multi-million-dollar tax-incentive programs for the film industry that do not produce the promised results. This Article examines the effectiveness of state tax incentives for the film industry and proposes solutions for more effective and efficient use of state tax revenue to promote economic development

Cut—And That\u27s a Wrap —The Film Industry\u27s Fleecing of State Tax Incentive Programs

State tax incentives for the film industry will remain part of the economic development program of many states despite recent troubled programs and calls by public advocacy groups to reign in or eliminate such programs. Some states have reduced or eliminated their film industry incentive programs, but accountability remains an issue for the forty-five percent of states with film incentive programs that do not require audit verification or substantiation of the benefits gained from the programs. The U.S. film industry continues to grow and there is opportunity for states with well-developed programs and rigorous compliance standards to be successful—providing net economic growth from the granting of tax incentives to retain or attract film production. To truly account for economic growth from these programs, states must adopt standardized methods to measure the expenditures of film production companies and jobs created by their activities. If all states with these programs adopt these standards, state legislatures and the public will be able to more easily determine the success of such programs. These standards will also help create more reliable and accurate data to measure the success of a program. Linking the funding of these programs to a state’s budget process and limiting the appropriation of the funds for the programs to an annual basis will also help in managing the amount of incentives granted. Finally, states must be proactive in enforcing the covenants and promises made by film production companies and be willing to institute legal action to retrieve lost funds due to the failure to meet such covenants. For these proposals to be truly effective, all states granting tax incentives for the film industry must be willing to accept the standardized definitions and measurements. If only a few states agree to such provisions, they will be at a disadvantage as compared to other states who continue the “race to the bottom” to attract film production to their state. Adoption of these proposals will help prevent future “fleecing” of state economies

MOBILE and the provision of total joint replacement

Modern joint replacements have been available for 45 years, but we still do not have clear indications for these interventions, and we do not know how to optimize the outcome for patients who agree to have them done. The MOBILE programme has been investigating these issues in relation to primary total hip and knee joint replacements, using mixed methods research

Preliminary investigation of pressure influence on multiphase heat transfer report no. ii

Pressure and surface condition in multiphase boiling heat transfe