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[bacasper]

Like empires before it, the U.S.A. is collapsing.

I guess we should all move to North Dakota!

New Study Shows Ten States Face Fiscal Crisis

Posted: 2009/11/25
From: Mathaba

by Stephen Lendman

The Pew Center on the States (PCS) "works to advance state policies that serve the public interest," through "credible research (to) advance nonpartisan, pragmatic solutions for pressing problems affecting Americans." Its new report titled, "Beyond California: States in Fiscal Peril," says:

"Many are optimistic that America's Great Recession may be ending. States, however, aren�t celebrating. Plagued by record revenue losses, the housing bust, credit crisis, high unemployment, and a host of other challenges, (they've) struggled through nearly two years of budgetary pain - and are bracing for more."

California is worst, but hardly alone. Others include Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island and Wisconsin. Pew's Managing Director says:

"America's economic recovery and prosperity hinge in key ways on how quickly and to what degree states emerge from the Great Recession." For many, their "fiscal health hangs in the balance."

Economic, money-management, and political factors "pushed California to the brink of insolvency," but other states face the same pressures. As a result, their residents can expect higher taxes, more layoffs, reduced social services, longer waits for them, over-crowded classrooms, fewer teachers, higher tuitions, and less help for the unemployed and most needy.

The above 10 states account for over 1/3 of the nation's population and output. Pressures on them portend new ones nationwide. Pew scored all 50 by six factors:

-- high foreclosure rates;

-- growing unemployment;

-- budget gaps;

-- legal obstacles to balanced budgets; and

-- poor money-management practices.

Excluded were issues of long-term debt and public employee pension liabilities that darken the outlook further.

The 10 worst off states are examined, but close behind are Colorado, Georgia, Kentucky, New York and Hawaii. Only two, Montana and North Dakota, are fiscally solvent and expect to meet their 2010 budgets, the latter because it alone has what the others don't - its own bank able to create credit for state businesses and residents at an affordable cost. As a result, with the lowest unemployment rate in the country at 4%, it's created jobs at a time they're vanishing in the other 49 DC.

According to financial writer Ellen Brown, "In this dark firmament....one bright star shines" - in terms of GDP and personal income growth and the state's largest ever $1.3 billion budget surplus when other states face deficits.

For fiscal 2010, some are coping with their largest ever budget shortfalls. Nationwide it's about $162 billion because of rising unemployment and lower tax revenues.

Individual state descriptions at link

[Olivencia]

Wonder why Florida is so bad...Oregon always seems to be an economic disaster

[bucheon bum]

[Reggie]

Montana and North Dakota should seriously start thinking about seceding from the Union and just leave the rest of us to wallow in the financial ruin we bring on ourselves.