Word: transitions
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...when easing the burden we put on the environment is a major priority, it is an inopportune moment to cut back on service. Many major cities today still lack robust public transportation, and to benefit its citizens and lower energy usage we need to increase, rather than curtail, mass-transit programs. It is understandable that in these tough economic times money has to come from somewhere, but alternative sources do exist. A legislative proposal that is still pending approval by the Massachusetts State Legislature calls for increasing the tax on gasoline sold in the state, a measure that could eliminate...
...scheme seemed a bit convoluted from the start, but it offered oodles of money to the participants. An American investor agreed to lease tram and subway cars from BVG, Berlin's mass-transit company. And BVG, in turn, leased them back for terms ranging from 12 to 30 years. Under U.S. tax law at the time, the American investor was able to take a depreciation tax benefit on the equipment because it was held on a long-term lease - a financial benefit the investor shared with BVG. (Read about Paris' public bicycle system...
...part, BVG used the money it derived from the deals to pay down debt, which has saved it €35 million ($46 million) in interest payments. It was a shell game of sorts, but everyone made out - except, of course, the U.S. taxpayers, who were unwittingly subsidizing Germany's transit system...
...Berlin (LBB) and Credit Suisse. The LBB was privatized in 2007. Expecting that LBB would be downgraded by ratings agencies, BVG was planning to insure its assets through another state-owned bank in Germany, the Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg. But city officials say BVG's advisor, J.P. Morgan, suggested the transit company spread the risk by insuring the deal through a collateralized debt obligation, or CDO, backed by a consortium of some 150 banks and insurers that included AIG and Lehman Brothers...
With the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the uncertain future of AIG, BVG fears that the U.S. investors could demand as much as $200 million in additional collateral. As a precaution, the transit company has taken a risk provision of €157 million ($208 million) on its balance sheet. BVG says that when the deal was done, J.P. Morgan assured that it would not be liable unless the majority of its CDO backers became insolvent. "But they misled us," says Reetz. "It now appears that we could be made liable even if just one of the backers becomes insolvent...