This threadabout California’s financial crisis got me wondering about other states. Is your state facing a crisis? Why or why not?
Wisconsin has a $1.6 billion deficit for the 2007-2009 cycle (ending at the end of this month) and an anticipated $7 billion + deficit for the upcoming 2009-2011 budget cycle (representing nearly 1/4 of the budget).
State employees such as myself have had our 2% pay raise, slated to arrive this month, eliminated, with no raises in the next two years, and a requirement to take 8 unpaid days off each of the next two years (essentially a 3% pay cut).
In addition, other state agencies are getting budgets cut by 5% or more, aid to schools is being cut by over 2%, state Medicaid is being cut by over 2.5%, and shared revenues will also be cut by 2.5%. In addition, several highly-anticipated tax deductions for state taxes which were being phased in will be frozen at their current level.
Net result: Making up $1.6 billion. Not sure where the other $7 Billion will come from yet. Layoffs of state workers are expected, among other measures.
I don’t have the numbers handy, but FLA is still in the crapper. But we seem to be bottomed out on a local level down here in Fort Myers. Lots or folks are snapping up homes at low, low prices.
Illinois is pretty fucked, and has been for some time.
Of course we deserve it, having voted Blago in twice…
And when you get one party occupying the governorship and controlling both houses, and they STILL can’t agree to get anything done… :rolleyes:
In Illinois they are ALWAYS crying poor. Ex-Governor G-Rod was hardly to blame, his criminal activites amounted to lining his pockets to the tune of what a million bucks? Hardly a dent in the mess in Illinois has.
We have bad politicians. And no one cares, they keep electing them over and over. And the excuse is always “I didn’t know.” Or “Don’t blame me I didn’t vote for that.” And of course the public buys that time after time.
But Illinois is always crying poor. The hospitals will close, the poor people will be thrown out of public housing, all the bus routes that no one uses will be shut down. Think of the old people. Yet in Chicago and Cook County we have one of the highest tax rates in the nation.
Illinois’s issues are corruption, laziness and voter apathy, not “not enough money.”
The much easier and much shorter question to answer is “is your state not facing a crisis?”
And the answer to that is “no.” Every state is in the same boat. Some may be leaking a bit faster, that’s all.
Pretty impressive, tho, when crying poor to simply give all senior citizens free rides on public transit, no? :rolleyes: Just one example…
Moved from General Questions to In My Humble Opinion.
Gfactor
General Questions Moderator
Michigan is completely fucked.
North Carolina is not in as bad a shape as CA, IL, FL or MI, but it’s still pretty craptastic.
I’m a state employee and we’ve had our pay cut to balance this fiscal year’s budget, which ends June 30. We’re looking at a shortfall of $4.6 billion for the next fiscal year, and there is talk of cutting the education budget as much as 11 percent, de-funding some health and welfare programs for the disabled and mentally ill, and closing some prisons.
There’s already pressure by some factions to raise taxes to make up part of the shortfall, and I expect that will probably happen - no one wants to see thousands of teachers get laid off and for vulnerable people lose vital services. Even so, there will be many layoffs and possibly furloughs of state employees. I’m also expecting the state assembly to be unable to come up with a finished budget by the 30th, so I’m sure we’ll waste some more $ on a continuation bill to keep the gubmint going while they figure out what to do.
I’ve heard that Montana is one of five states that isn’t in the crapper. Apparently, coal is keeping us (and a few other western states) afloat.
I believe that the only states that are not suffering during this economy are those which have natural resource assets to sell off: Alaska with oil, Montana & Wyoming with coal, and possibly Texas & Oklahoma with oil (though I think Texas has outgrown or outspent its’ oil resources). There used to be more (like Appalachian coal, Dakota gold, Montana copper) but I think those states have pretty much used that all up.
My state of Oregon, which has enormous natural resources but also powerful land use laws (that will, and some will argue are paying major dividends) is #2 in unemployment and has seen some of the sharpest construction industry declines in the country.
For a while there was an initiative to cram high-tech jobs into the state, many of them surrounding our state universities. These are drying up quickly on both R&D and fabrication fronts.
Fortunately Oregonians have a strong libertarian, DYI culture. So we’re boned, but - hey man, it’s cool.
Oregon is California ‘Lite’. Unemployment over 12%. Was 3rd highest in the nation a month or so ago, I think it’s second now.
Legislature focusing on the *really tough *issues, like banning cell phone use while driving and making fast food restaurants put nutritional info on their menus.
Just raised the income tax rate and are raising all fees while avoiding making any hard decisions that might cut someone’s pet project out of the budget. Combine that with a very anti-business attitude and we can expect to be right behind CA in a year or two.
It’s Retired Hippy Heaven, but a sorry state if you still need to work.
I’m not sure about the details but I’m under the impression that Virginia is doing fairly well in a relative sense. The primary reason for this is that so many federal employees, military officers, and government contractors live here. The federal government is the only permanent growth industry. No matter what the economy does, it just keeps growing.
Of course these folks live mainly in the suburbs around D.C. The general vibe is that things in the rest of the state aren’t going very well.
Apparently North Dakota is doing great, and is expecting a budget surplus. They are benefiting from rising commodity prices (oil and crops) and were not hit by the housing bubble.
(Takes notes on where to move to)
Connecticut is projected to have an 8.7 billion dollar deficit over the next 2 years. Unemployment is at 7.9%.
Well, seeing as WV never had a boom, I guess we can’t really go bust, right?
Massachusetts has turned to shit rather quickly. There are very few professional jobs available outside of health care and houses simply aren’t selling. The picture is bleak at the moment.