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Morning Money Links: In California, raise taxes, cut services or file for bankruptcy? Greek bond sale eases Europe’s credit fears; Detroit bets on van comeback

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--- What to do about California’s financial mess? A new Rasmussen poll of Californians finds that 43% favor cutting back on services to close the state’s budget gap, while 28% want to raise taxes. By contrast, in a poll a year ago 45% of Californians wanted to raise taxes. This time around, the poll gave respondents another answer option: whether the state should file for bankruptcy. A total of 15% favor that idea. But that’s not really an option: U.S. law doesn’t allow for states to seek bankruptcy court protection.

--- Greece finds buyers for big bond sale -- at a price. Greece’s budget woes, which have raised fears that the country might default on its debt and open a new chapter in the global credit crisis, eased a bit today after the government was able to float a five-year bond deal to raise about $11.3 billion. But the price was high, with five-year Greek government debt yields in the marketplace at 5.88% compared with 2.30% on German five-year bonds and 2.35% on U.S. Treasury five-year notes. Paul Kedrosky posts a scary chart on the 20-year surge in debt levels in the developed world.

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--- Forget the truck -- the van is back! Or so hope Ford Motor and Nissan, among other automakers. Ford’s Transit Connect van is ‘leading a new wave of delivery vans that may help replace profits lost when Americans fell out of love with pickups,’ according to Bloomberg News.

-- Tom Petruno

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