From CNBC: Housing industry urges Powell to stop raising interest rates or risk an economic hard landing Top real estate and banking officials are calling on the Federal Reserve to stop raising interest rates as the industry suffers through surging housing costs and a “historic shortage” of available homes for sale. In a letter Monday addressed to the Fed Board of Governors and Chair Jerome Powell, the officials voiced their worries about the direction of monetary policy and the impact it is having on the beleaguered real estate market. The National Association of Home Builders ..read more

From CNN: The Fed holds rates steady, pausing its rate-hiking campaign The Federal Reserve said Wednesday it would pause its historic rate-hiking campaign as it waits for the effects to trickle further through the economy, but signaled that additional rate hikes are likely this year. The vote to skip a rate increase this meeting was unanimous. Since March 2022, Fed officials have raised the central bank’s benchmark interest rate 10 times in a row in an attempt to cool the US economy and battle inflation that is still double the Fed’s target. The Fed’s post-meeting statement conf ..read more

From the Jersey Journal: Jersey City considers allowing ‘cottage’ industry that could ease city’s housing dilemma Need a little extra income? Looking to move an aging relative or out-of-work college grad back home, but just don’t have the room? Jersey City feels your pain, and at the same time can ease its housing shortage — so the city is proposing to allow homeowners to add accessory dwelling units on their property under new zoning amendments. The city planning board is expected to review and discuss proposed zoning amendments to the city’s zoning map and land development as part of the cit ..read more

From Insider NJ: Murphy Unlocks the Nuclear Launch Codes Skipping over the preliminaries — meetings, discussions, negotiations or compromises with legislative leaders — Gov. Phil Murphy went directly to the nuclear option— shutting down state government on July 1 if the Legislature sends him a fiscal 2024 budget that includes extending the corporate tax surcharge to finance a new broad property tax reduction program targeted at senior citizens. Within 24 hours of Senate President Nick Scutari’s (D-Union) favorable comments in support of a proposal floated by Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin (D ..read more

From the NJ Monitor: State ‘well prepared’ to handle $2B dip in tax revenue, treasurer says New Jersey will collect roughly $2 billion less in taxes in the current and coming fiscal years, but the years of booming revenue will let the state weather the shortfall without much trouble, state budget experts told lawmakers Wednesday. Despite the looming shortfalls, officials said New Jersey is well prepared to meet the funding shortfall, which could do little more than cut the state’s surplus from a healthy $10 billion to a still healthy $8 billion. “We are well prepared to handle this April surpr ..read more

From the Star Ledger: N.J. credit rating gets two more upgrades from Wall Street as state coffers overflow  New Jersey’s credit rating has won two more upgrades from Wall Street’s major rating agencies, bringing the number of upgrades to three in just the past week and six since March 2022. Moody’s Investor Service lifted the state’s rating one notch on April 6, and that was followed by upgrades from Fitch on Tuesday and S&P Global a day later. In statements announcing the upgrades, the three agencies cited full pension payments over the past two years, as well as record sur ..read more

From CSPAN ..read more

From WalletHub: 2023’s Most & Least Federally Dependent States Rank State Total Score State Residents’ Dependency State Government’s Dependency 1 Alaska 83.18 3 2 2 West Virginia 76.02 1 9 3 Mississippi 71.31 7 5 4 Kentucky 70.95 5 10 5 New Mexico 69.73 2 17 6 Wyoming 64.23 24 1 7 South Carolina 59.86 6 27 8 Arizona 58.86 13 6 9 Montana 57.77 14 7 10 Louisiana 57.46 22 3 11 North Dakota 55.91 4 35 12 Indiana 55.34 9 19 13 Maine 54.25 11 12 14 Alabama 53.48 10 16 15 South Dakota 52.22 29 4 16 Vermont 50.13 19 11 17 Missouri 44.13 28 8 18 Oklahoma 41 ..read more

From CNBC: Bill Ackman says U.S. did the ‘right thing’ in protecting SVB depositors. Not everyone agrees Billionaire investor Bill Ackman said the U.S. government’s action to protect depositors after the implosion of Silicon Valley Bank is “not a bailout” and helps restore confidence in the banking system. In his latest tweet on SVB’s collapse, the hedge fund investor said the U.S. government did the “right thing.” “This was not a bailout in any form. The people who screwed up will bear the consequences,” wrote the CEO of Pershing Square. “Importantly, our gov’t has sent a message that de ..read more

From Politico: Murphy outlines $53B plan for ‘Next New Jersey’ in budget speech Gov. Phil Murphy on Tuesday outlined a $53.1 billion budget that supports what he calls the “Next New Jersey” as the state faces the prospect of a recession after recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic. Loaded with billions to cut another round of rebate checks to taxpayers, stockpile savings and pay down debt, the spending plan is once again the biggest in state history, but does not include new taxes or fare increases for NJ Transit riders. It doesn’t include any notable new programs, either, but instead ..read more