A round-up of public finance news stories from the US & Canada you might have missed this week (June 17–21).
California pension crisis about to get worse
A growing number of key California cities are a lot worse off than previously thought, thanks to new changes coming in the way state and local governments must account for their pension costs. (FoxBusiness.com)
Bank of Canada in uncharted territory, says new chief Poloz
The Bank of Canada cannot rely on its usual models to assess the economy because of unexpectedly high levels of uncertainty, with the biggest risks coming from abroad, the new central bank chief, Stephen Poloz, said this week. (Reuters)
How US government uses accounting tricks to hide the student-loan swindle
With interest rates on US federal student loans set to double on July 1, Congress is considering new legislation that would prevent the increase. But there’s a problem—no one seems to know how much the student loan programme costs in the first place. (Forbes)
Overhauling US immigration laws ‘would trim $1trn from deficit'
Congressional budget analysts, providing a positive economic assessment of proposed immigration law changes, have said that legislation to overhaul the nation’s immigration system would cut close to $1 trillion from the federal deficit over the next two decades and lead to more than 10 million new legal residents in the country. (New York Times)
Ontario slashes green energy deal
Ontario is scaling back its grand experiment with green energy, slashing $3.7bn worth of electricity that was to have been produced from wind or solar projects. (The Globe and Mail, Canada)
