State Budget Troubles Worsen — This can’t be good.
States are facing a great fiscal crisis. At least 44 states faced or are facing shortfalls in their budgets for this and/or next year, and severe fiscal problems are highly likely to continue into the following year as well. Combined budget gaps for the remainder of this fiscal year and state fiscal years 2010 and 2011 are estimated to total more than $350 billion.
Found by John Ligums.
Wow, so surprising — governors and assemblies that won’t cut spending OR increase taxes and expect “someone else” to make up the difference. And we wonder why the country is falling apart.
I’m all for the feds backing the states — if the states that get fed funds enact MANDATORY budget balancing for the next 10 years.
Oh, that’s right, nobody does that any more. I guess I shouldn’t have paid all my debt off four years ago, I could have been bailed out and saved myself thousands!!!
Ow! I’ve got the solution. OUTSOURCE! Well, that worked for everything else, including most of US citizens’ jobs. And our elected officials did nothing to save those jobs, except when it benefited the largest corporate paychecks. Usually corporations that depend on tax dollars, thru defense contracts. There will always be money for space exploration, even when the 44 states are officially broke. Where in the freakin US Constitution does it say that the Space Program must be funded before all else? It’s all gravy for Lockheed and Boeing. They don’t have to prove they’re producing anything useful, and on time. Space gets a blank check, merely to exist. And if it goes away, the aerospace giants won’t be “in the black” with a major war, to create a heightened demand for their planes. But now, the near lack of concern about protecting most of its tax base, has states scrambling to get paid what they’re use to. But why shouldn’t they take a pay cut (and job cuts) like the rest of us?
One budget item that costs so much is Medicaid. This is another argument for mandatory health care, like the German system. I think most in the US could swallow that easier than the more Socialist UK plan.
It’s time to cut more trees and print more bonds. Then hope some idiot will buy them.
Some day there will be no idiot. That’s when the shit hits the fan.
#2,
YEP, and we cut off Mexico and canada..
MOSt of the problems STARTED with Clinton cutting EVERYTHING to balance the budget…HE GOT CLOSE..
Then BUSH got in, and went to war and cut EVERYTHING ELSE Even MORE.
they cant even protect out IMPORT locations and scan them for ANYTHING..Imports from CLANDESTINE locations can only be scanned and checked 10%, for GET the imports from FRIENDLY locations.
THEN we took the RESERVES and USA internal protections away and SHIPPED them to WAR, BECAUSE we couldnt afford RAISEING MILITARY PAY.
THEN we pay BLACK WATER MERCS, to protect SPECIAL INTERESTS..
THEN they tell us the OIL from IRAQ, will pay for the war? SO, they raise International OIL PRICES..
1. IT STILL COMES OUT OF YOUR POCKET..
2. IF the STATE cant raise the money, the FEDS will..IT STILL COMES OUT OF YOUR POCKET..
3. for some AWFUL REASONING they are treating the GOV. as a CORP..THEY DONT PAY NOTHING, IT STIL COMES OUT OF YOUR POCKET..
4. RAISE the min wage so we can TAX more people, $1 in 2 years..IT STILL COMES OUT OF YOUR POCKET.
5. CORP HIGHER wages, CUT the lower person, WIPE out 200 jobs for 1 CEO to get paid…Prices dont change, COST of goods DIDNT..IT STILL COMES OUT OF YOUR POCKET..
6. Oil gets to our BEACHES, from 1 corp. Is sold around 3-4 times, then BOUGHT BACK by the same corp and SOLD to you, at an EXAGGERATED PRICE..IT STILL COMES OUT OF YOUR POCKET..
7. Iphone makes a phone that OTHERS can also make for LESS and charges DOUBLE what ANYONE ELSE WOULD…
8. A GOV that is SUPPOSED to put up ALL contracts to an OPEN bid…ISNT. They just HAND it to 1 contractor AT ANY PRICE HE WANTS..
9. Military goods that ARE PAID FOR, for the LAST 20 years…ARNT THERE, or are CHEAP KNOCK OFFS..
10. a GOV that cant keep a Standing army of 1% of USA citizens…CAN give MONEY to BANKS, CARS CORPS, and any one they WANT..but CANT/WONT pay a DECENT military wage/education/training..
11. Congress and representatives GET HOW MUCH?? time to SCARE THE HELL out of them and vote for the OLD STIPEND SYSTEM..
The only way to fix this problem is either to spin the wheel of monetary inflation, or to increase state fees, taxes and levies. Of course, that money, one way or another, comes out of the pockets of the shell-shocked American consumer, which will only reinforce our downward spiral.
It is not a revenue problem.
Classic economic problem. The state and local governments raise taxes and fees but refuse to cut expenses.
Check out the two biggest culprits:
California (refuses to cut expenses due to their liberal hands-off attitude toward border control)
and
New York (refuses to cut expenses due to their liberal sleep-in-the-same-bed attitude with state and local unions).
Up in North Dakota here. Nice to have extra cash. We make up for it in bitter cold and ass loads of snow though.
Civil war! Civil war!
There is no crisis. All these morons have to do is cut spending down to revenue levels. CA, which has had growing revenue levels over the last decade but has just decided to spend more.
Oh yes, cutting spending by >50% is so damn easy, I don’t know why we didn’t think of that. I’m glad we have you around to enlighten us, Paddy-O.
# 11 Li said, “Oh yes, cutting spending by >50% is so damn easy…”
Why 50%? 10% on an annual basis would have sufficed. You don’t track these budgets, do you?
Paddy-O is right.
Spending should never exceed revenue. How hard is that to understand?
for a huge chunk of these states ther isnt much left to cut..
ohio already has one of the highest tax rates.
a large portion of the manufacturing jobs took off to china and mexico… Thank you NAFTA…
more jobs are going away, most of the countries autos are made in the region…
businesses here are closing at an alrming rate, in the company i work for we’ve lost quite a few customers… some are on the edge…
it isnt looking good here… it hasnt been looking good here for some time…
# 14 AdmFubar said, “for a huge chunk of these states ther isnt much left to cut.. ohio already has one of the highest tax rates.”
CA 2005/2006 tax revenue: $62,900,000,000, 2007/2008: $71,256,000,000.
Pure incompetence…
Intresting …
Texas and West Va not facing budget crunch.
Texas has OIL
WV has COAL
Energy rich states seem to have done good.
The others? Maybe cattle and wheat. Smaller population densities.
45% of the Ohio budget is spent on “Health and Human Services”. You can’t tell me there is no fat in this $12 billion that can’t be cut.
The 09 expense budget increased by 6% from 08. How about putting a freeze on the incrase?
Perhaps we could stop funding people like Hernandez & Nunez:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92592545
# 16 scadragon said, “Intresting …
… Energy rich states seem to have done good.”
Actually, all save W.V. have either a Repub Gov and/or one or more branches of the leg controlled by Repubs.
It’s all about controlling spending…
Cow-Paddy,
Interesting that you want to just slash spending across the board. So which programs would you cut?
*
The problem has been getting super serious over the past eight years. More and more manufacturing has moved to China. Those were well paying jobs that created wealth. They, and the money they created, are gone yet the States still have the same requirements,: education, Medicaid / Medicare, transit and transportation, cities, police, justice, etc.
Of course, the right wing nuts that helped get us into this situation still want to support large corporations and hammer the people. Fucktards!
#18, Of course, the right wing nuts that helped get us into this situation still want to support large corporations and hammer the people. Fucktards!
Yeah, all those senators and representatives that voted for the bailout and the stimulus package should have been fired.