Thirty-one states are facing budget shortfalls totaling $53.4 billion, according to a report released at the end of September by the Center on Budget Policy and Priorities.
California – which leads the pack with a $7 billion shortfall – recently announced that it was requesting a bailout from the federal government, and we have no doubt other states will follow suit. New York and Florida, for example, each have shortfalls larger than $5 billion.
You can access Business Week’s breakdown of the report by clicking here. South Carolina’s state profile is here.
We wrote two months ago about the increasingly gloomy picture for state budget writers, who are either going to have to start cutting the special interest fat or begging Uncle Sam for the cash they need to sustain their unsustainable spending.
Hmmmm … what we want to know is, “What Would McBama Do?”
Our guess is that both presidential candidates will support extending the failed socialist approach of the current Oval Idiot, particularly now that there’s an opportunity to approve a multi-billion bailout AND pander for electoral votes at the same time.
What “maverick” or “change agent” could resist that dual temptation?
By rick October 9, 2008 at 1:47 pm
How about neither of the above, how about the people that own their respective states beginning to hold their elected representatives accountable to the point of tar and feathers along with a ride on a rail.
By dave October 9, 2008 at 7:49 pm
How did they miss the mark by 390 million? That doesn’t seem very conservative.
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