If you live in the United States, there is a good chance the crisis in California is going to affect you. And if you own municipal bonds — either directly or indirectly through other investments — what’s happening in California could have a major impact on your finances.For years, state government budgets have been expanding as the economy grew and the rising housing market swelled property tax coffers. But the severe recession that has brought rising unemployment and a collapse in property values has drastically cut revenues from income, property, sales and corporate taxes.

And state governments are feeling the pinch. According to the National Conference of State Legislators, there are only three states (Arkansas, Wyoming, and North Dakota) that do not face budget shortfalls for fiscal years 2009 or 2010. In other words, 47 states are currently projected to run short on cash in the near future.

And California – the

...

Correction: BAC and other banks may not accept California ’s IOUs, or individual registered warrants starting on Jul 10. The previous edition of this post said the banks were "no long intending" to accept California ’s IOUs. Corrected version below. Some of the largest U.S. banks, including Bank of America (BAC), Citigroup (C), Wells Fargo (WFC) and JP Morgan Chase (JPM), may not accept California ’s IOUs, or individual registered warrants beyond Jul 10. (Bank of America confirmed they will accept California registered warrants through Jul 10.) On July 6, Fitch Ratings downgraded California 's bond debt rating to "BBB" from "A-minus." The new rating which is still investment-grade is just two notches away from junk status. We believe that the incoherent structure of the IOUs may invite further downgrades from Fitch Ratings in the coming days. A weak rating is ...

Some of the largest U.S. banks, including Bank of America (BAC), Citigroup (C), Wells Fargo (WFC) and JP Morgan Chase (JPM), are no longer intending to accept California ’s IOUs, or individual registered warrants. The banks had previously committed to accepting state IOUs as payment. On July 6, Fitch Ratings downgraded California 's bond debt rating to "BBB" from "A-minus." The new rating which is still investment-grade is just two notches away from junk status. We believe that the incoherent structure of the IOUs may invite further downgrades from Fitch Ratings in the coming days. A weak rating is keeping banks away from this issue. Moreover, the weak economic outlook is adding to the woes. The state began issuing IOUs, which are informal debt instruments, to several creditors in an effort to plug a $26.3 billion budget deficit and stave off a ...

Coming back to the latest statistics released by ComScore in mid of April. It shows the biggest growth in searching for Google among heavily used engines. Month on month the change is +12%. But total winner is Craigslist with 16%. This is very good result for Craigslist. It generates now almost one third of search queries on AOL. Company Mar 08 (MM) MOM growth Google Sites 8,267 12% Yahoo! Sites ...