More grim news for the states…all 57 of them

On Tuesday, the State Budget Crisis Task Force issued its report.  The task force was chaired by by Paul Volker, and Richard Ravitch.  Those of you who live in New York will remember Mr. Ravitch, a Democrat, as the person who helped New York City avert bankruptcy in the mid 70’s.  The task force was funded by the Blackstone Group and George Soros’s Open Society Foundation.

Much to no one’s surprise, their report isn’t pretty.

…growing gaps between entitlement spending and available revenue are becoming unsustainable.  Such challenges are squeezing spending on education, infrastructure and other services.

Just what are those entitlements identified in the report?  No surprise here…Medicaid and underfunded government pensions.

The report, released Tuesday, identified six major threats to states’ fiscal health, including Medicaid spending, underfunded retirement promises, budgetary ‘gimmicks’ designed to solve short-term cash needs and increasingly volatile tax revenue.  It urges state officials to regularly replenish their rainy-day funds and criticizes states for using one-time revenue sources, such as asset sales to balance budgets.

Does any of this sound like your state?

How will your state cope with this?

There really are only two choices…pull harder taxpayers, or reduce state spending on entitlements.

But, more to the point, why do we need a task force to tell us this?  Doesn’t anyone that we elect to public office anywhere understand this?

If they don’t they should be thrown out, and if they do, but are doing nothing, they should be thrown out as well.

 

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SoundOffSister

The Sound Off Sister was an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and special trial attorney for the Department of Justice, Criminal Division; a partner in the Florida law firm of Shutts & Bowen, and an adjunct professor at the University of Miami, School of Law. The Sound Off Sister offers frequent commentary concerning legislation making its way through Congress, including the health reform legislation passed in early 2010.

11 Comments

  1. Dimsdale on July 18, 2012 at 9:44 pm

    Here’s the formula: Dems overspend and expand gov’t, voters realize (belatedly) that they don’t know what they are doing, as a result, Republicans get elected, make (some of) the necessary tough decisions, Dems jump on the resultant voter unhappiness to get reelected.? Rinse, repeat, ad infinitum.
    ?
    As for the states that never get to have this cycle, i.e. Cali, CT, MA, NY etc., they go into the economic toilet and drag the rest of the country after them.



  2. JollyRoger on July 19, 2012 at 2:47 am

    Was there was no mention of:? “Tax the rich!”? or? “It’s all Bush’s fault!”???



  3. stinkfoot on July 19, 2012 at 4:56 am

    We’ve had the tech bubble, housing bubble, stock market bubble… we now have the entitlement bubble.? With most imbalances there is the inevitable burst which precipitates a market correction and while almost everyone feels it in one way or another, tho worst hit are those who chose to engage.? This bubble we have no choice but to feed… it’s basically a mandatory ponzi scheme.? My hunch is that the liberals know what they are doing and don’t care.? Their rhetoric reflects contempt for the working class and it’s not reasonable to expect libs to care about an economy that sustains them.? It is as though they have declared war against the US and are using economic weaponry to destroy her.? We are conscripts in the war because we are forced to pay into what is inevitably a void- by law we must flush more and more of our hard earned money down the entitlement toilet all the while propagandized with the notion that there will be something for us when the numbers scream differently.
    ?



  4. Jeff S on July 19, 2012 at 8:21 am

    Even though he said that he had visited 57 states but he also said with one to go….so it’s actually 58 states.



  5. Murphy on July 19, 2012 at 9:01 am

    If those last 8 darn states would just pay their fair share!



  6. JBS on July 19, 2012 at 6:44 pm

    The Blackstone Group is a large asset management, private-equity L.P. (NYSE: BX).
    Soros is a billionaire who funds dozens of uber- left-wing groups and organizations. His world views are rooted in the “open society“. Soros is described alternately as a philanthropist and as evil and dangerous.
    That these two entities are combining to effect public policy, particularly concerning funding, only means to me that they want a bigger piece of the tax revenue.
    ?



  7. Benjamin Less on July 19, 2012 at 9:57 pm

    I don’t get it.? If businesses were booming, employment was low and the population was earning a living there should be ample amounts of tax revenue being produced for a state to balance its budget.
    ?
    Aren’t times good?? Didn’t we pull out of this recession in 2009 during the summer of recovery?? Am I missing something?



  8. ricbee on July 19, 2012 at 11:12 pm

    Times will never be good enough to give out those State Golden Handshakes. The USA can continue to print money but the rest of the world will find a solution to the cheapened dollar sooner or later. Lucky for us the Euro is falling faster than the dollar.



    • Lynn on July 21, 2012 at 8:32 am

      It’s time for all of us to go back to a tried and true economic plan…….bartering. At least you get real “goods” for your trades! Instead of ?getting or giving funny money, you can do away with most of the govt.



    • Dimsdale on July 21, 2012 at 11:16 pm

      Ya mean like buying your own health insurance instead of letting the gov’t do it?? 😉



  9. JBS on July 22, 2012 at 7:27 am

    There has to be big profits in directing those funds for entitlements — retirements, welfare, etc.? Soros and company don’t involve themselves in low-budget operations nor? ones that don’t have a definite lefty identity.
    That Soros is involved in anything is a warning sign. He funds such “democratic” causes as: ACORN, SEIU, dozens of politicians, the Occupy garbage, and numerous anti-gun initiatives.
    He certainly in not a supporter of the Republic. All while enriching himself with government, our, money. He truly is the elite of the international elites.



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