A roundup of this morning’s must-read budget and economic stories.

Michigan will begin a new initiative to demolish thousands of vacant and abandoned homes in Detroit. The city lost a quarter of its population between 2000 and 2010 and has an estimated 40,000 vacant structures.

As Greece comes under scrutiny by regulators and Spain shows signs of cracking under bond market pressure, it may take more than a little faith from the ECB to keep the euro intact.

In Stockton, California, citizens are suffering from overspending and mismanagement of funds by city leaders. As a result, Stockton cannot pay $417 million in retiree benefits.

Detroit has been in such a dire financial position that it had to turn over control of its budget to an outside board. Under the terms of a consent agreement with the state of Michigan, this outside board controls much of Detroit’s finances. So it comes as no surprise that the estimated $700-900,000 being spent on fireworks recently was met with some criticism.

In New York, the state legislature is refusing pleas from local governments to honor “home rule” requests, used to grant permissions on handling of local debt and passing of new taxes.

Stockton, California will surpass the city of Vallejo California as one of the largest U.S. cities to file for bankruptcy. The city has 300,000 residents and is $700 million in debt.

As countries from around the world gathered for the international Organization Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) meeting yesterday, one topic in particular seemed to dominate the conversation: what to do with Greece.

A roundup of this morning’s must-read budget and economic stories.

The State reports that South Carolina’s retirement system has now run a deficit of $1.4 billion dollars in just one year. Currently covering almost500,000 people, the system includes state employees, local government workers and teachers.