Stalin
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Apr 4, 2008
- Messages
- 1,810
No bailout for working folks. They are reserved for the wealthy.
"...Two reports made public Wednesday underscore the colossal dimensions of the social and financial crisis in the United States. One study warns that California and nine other US states face near-term budget crises that will force mass layoffs of public employees and cuts in schools and other services. The other forecasts that as many as one million jobs will be at risk when the full impact of the economic crisis hits state governments early next year.
The study released by the Pew Center on the States is entitled, “Beyond California: States in Fiscal Peril.” It examines nine states that face California-style budget crises, including Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island and Wisconsin.
The ten states, counting California, are in every region of the country: the Northeast, the South, the Midwest, the Pacific Northwest, and nearly the entire Southwest. They have a combined population of more than 100 million people and account for one-third of total US economic output.
According to the study, the same pressures—the worldwide recession and the collapse of the housing bubble—that forced California to issue IOUs to state employees and suppliers during the summer “are wreaking havoc in a number of states, with potentially damaging consequences for the entire country.”
In four of the states, California, Nevada, Arizona and Florida, the housing collapse has had the biggest impact. New Jersey’s budget deficit is largely a byproduct of the 2008 collapse on Wall Street, which accounts for one-third of the state’s economic activity. The other five states have been devastated primarily by the collapse of manufacturing industries.
Pew reviewed state statistics available July 31, 2009, so that further economic deterioration, particularly in industrial states like Michigan and Illinois, is not accounted for. Overall, the combined budget deficits for all 50 states were $162 billion in July, and that figure is estimated to have since risen by another $16 billion.
The study ranked the 50 states based on the change in state government revenues, the size of the state budget gap, the change in the unemployment rate, the foreclosure rate, and political obstacles like the requirement of a supermajority in the state legislature to approve budgets or tax increases. The study did not include such factors as long-term debt or pension liabilities for public employees, which would produce an even darker picture.
While California’s gargantuan $46 billion deficit exceeds those of the other nine states combined, these states face shortfalls equally substantial considering their size and population. Among the findings of the Pew study is that Michigan, with the bankruptcy of two of the three big auto makers and an unemployment rate over 15 percent, is “trying to deal with today’s problems on a 1960s-sized budget.”
Oregon has been hit by the combined collapse of both low-tech and hi-tech industries—lumber and computer-chip manufacturing. Florida’s population is actually shrinking for the first time since World War II. Illinois has the second largest state budget deficit, some $13.2 billion, and has been forced to borrow money to cover pension obligations.
The second study, by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, warned that the fiscal crisis of the states will become even worse next year.
For fiscal year 2010, which in most states began last July 1, 48 of 50 states faced deficits, all but Montana and North Dakota, but the severity of the crisis was partially alleviated by federal aid under the stimulus program enacted last March. This aid is to terminate in most cases by December 31, 2010, so the new fiscal 2011 state budgets will face the double impact of the deepening recession and the withdrawal of federal support.
The CBPP report declared: “The federal assistance that states received for their Medicaid programs under this year’s economic recovery legislation is scheduled to end with a ‘cliff’ on December 31, 2010, and the assistance states received for education and other services also will be largely exhausted by then. Although that date is more than a year away, the problem is coming to a head now.”
more at http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/nov2009/stat-n12.shtml
Comrade Stalin of Gori
"...Two reports made public Wednesday underscore the colossal dimensions of the social and financial crisis in the United States. One study warns that California and nine other US states face near-term budget crises that will force mass layoffs of public employees and cuts in schools and other services. The other forecasts that as many as one million jobs will be at risk when the full impact of the economic crisis hits state governments early next year.
The study released by the Pew Center on the States is entitled, “Beyond California: States in Fiscal Peril.” It examines nine states that face California-style budget crises, including Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island and Wisconsin.
The ten states, counting California, are in every region of the country: the Northeast, the South, the Midwest, the Pacific Northwest, and nearly the entire Southwest. They have a combined population of more than 100 million people and account for one-third of total US economic output.
According to the study, the same pressures—the worldwide recession and the collapse of the housing bubble—that forced California to issue IOUs to state employees and suppliers during the summer “are wreaking havoc in a number of states, with potentially damaging consequences for the entire country.”
In four of the states, California, Nevada, Arizona and Florida, the housing collapse has had the biggest impact. New Jersey’s budget deficit is largely a byproduct of the 2008 collapse on Wall Street, which accounts for one-third of the state’s economic activity. The other five states have been devastated primarily by the collapse of manufacturing industries.
Pew reviewed state statistics available July 31, 2009, so that further economic deterioration, particularly in industrial states like Michigan and Illinois, is not accounted for. Overall, the combined budget deficits for all 50 states were $162 billion in July, and that figure is estimated to have since risen by another $16 billion.
The study ranked the 50 states based on the change in state government revenues, the size of the state budget gap, the change in the unemployment rate, the foreclosure rate, and political obstacles like the requirement of a supermajority in the state legislature to approve budgets or tax increases. The study did not include such factors as long-term debt or pension liabilities for public employees, which would produce an even darker picture.
While California’s gargantuan $46 billion deficit exceeds those of the other nine states combined, these states face shortfalls equally substantial considering their size and population. Among the findings of the Pew study is that Michigan, with the bankruptcy of two of the three big auto makers and an unemployment rate over 15 percent, is “trying to deal with today’s problems on a 1960s-sized budget.”
Oregon has been hit by the combined collapse of both low-tech and hi-tech industries—lumber and computer-chip manufacturing. Florida’s population is actually shrinking for the first time since World War II. Illinois has the second largest state budget deficit, some $13.2 billion, and has been forced to borrow money to cover pension obligations.
The second study, by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, warned that the fiscal crisis of the states will become even worse next year.
For fiscal year 2010, which in most states began last July 1, 48 of 50 states faced deficits, all but Montana and North Dakota, but the severity of the crisis was partially alleviated by federal aid under the stimulus program enacted last March. This aid is to terminate in most cases by December 31, 2010, so the new fiscal 2011 state budgets will face the double impact of the deepening recession and the withdrawal of federal support.
The CBPP report declared: “The federal assistance that states received for their Medicaid programs under this year’s economic recovery legislation is scheduled to end with a ‘cliff’ on December 31, 2010, and the assistance states received for education and other services also will be largely exhausted by then. Although that date is more than a year away, the problem is coming to a head now.”
more at http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/nov2009/stat-n12.shtml
Comrade Stalin of Gori
