-Here is the real story, courtesy of the Washington Times:
-”Dallas, TX, Apr. 14 (UPI) — The revenue picture has improved for most state governments this fiscal year, but they are still struggling to balance their budgets due to rising education and healthcare costs, a nationwide survey said Thursday….
-”‘States are barely keeping their heads above the rising tide of new costs,’ said Maryland Delegate John Hurson, president of the NCSL. ‘Medicaid and other healthcare expenses in addition to demands from corrections, state parks, employee health insurance and K-12 education are making it tough for states to do anything but tread water.’….
-”The NCSL, a bipartisan group that serves the nation’s legislators and staffs, has also recently expressed concerns about the budget deficit at the national level and how it might affect their own finances. The group recently identified at least $30 billion in cost-shifts from the federal government to the states in fiscal 2006.
-”‘Persistent budget gaps and longer-term structural concerns are evidence of ongoing state fiscal problems,” said NCSL Executive Director William Pound. ‘States could easily be pushed into more dire circumstances if federal cost-shifts to the states continue.’”
-And this courtesy of the Washington Post:
-Saturday, May 28, 2005
“Income and spending in the United States climbed at healthy rates last month, but not much faster than consumer prices, the Commerce Department reported yesterday….
-”Wages and salaries rose 0.7 percent in April, the fastest monthly gain this year. But a large share of such income growth has been going to a small share of the workforce, analysts have noted. Supervisors, therefore, “are enjoying wage gains that outpace production workers….
-”Economists say many middle- and lower-income workers are making up for sluggish wage growth and low savings by borrowing against their homes, whose values have been boosted in recent years by rapid price appreciation….
-”Falling real wages, rising prices and interest rates, record low current savings and near record-high debt levels have left households dangerously reliant on spending down home equity and other borrowing.”
-There is no such thing as a free lunch. Some of us may not like “tax and spend”, but “borrow and spend” (which is what we are actually doing both nationally and individually) is a house of cards.
-No “recovery” lasts forever, no investment continues to rise in price indefinitely. This recovery will be obliterated with the housing bubble bursts.
isn’t it interesting how quick people will grab hold of an isolated fact without any regard for its context and slap it up on a post and use it as rooting material for their side? if you *make* more money but have more expenses, what good is that? i genuinely favor less taxes but why can’t bush backers be honest with the way this cut is skewed to the upper crust of citizens? i’m not saying vote for howard dean, support moore or register with PETA; all i’m saying is let’s be honest with ourselves instead of behaving like children who can’t see anything wrong with their side and everything wrong with the other - and for that matter, why is everyone on one side or the other? do we really all fall so evenly into two distinct political camps? how scary is that?
May 28th, 2005 at 7:13 am
This is just horrible news … if you’re a tax-and-spend liberal, that is.
May 28th, 2005 at 9:55 am
-Here is the real story, courtesy of the Washington Times:
-”Dallas, TX, Apr. 14 (UPI) — The revenue picture has improved for most state governments this fiscal year, but they are still struggling to balance their budgets due to rising education and healthcare costs, a nationwide survey said Thursday….
-”‘States are barely keeping their heads above the rising tide of new costs,’ said Maryland Delegate John Hurson, president of the NCSL. ‘Medicaid and other healthcare expenses in addition to demands from corrections, state parks, employee health insurance and K-12 education are making it tough for states to do anything but tread water.’….
-”The NCSL, a bipartisan group that serves the nation’s legislators and staffs, has also recently expressed concerns about the budget deficit at the national level and how it might affect their own finances. The group recently identified at least $30 billion in cost-shifts from the federal government to the states in fiscal 2006.
-”‘Persistent budget gaps and longer-term structural concerns are evidence of ongoing state fiscal problems,” said NCSL Executive Director William Pound. ‘States could easily be pushed into more dire circumstances if federal cost-shifts to the states continue.’”
-And this courtesy of the Washington Post:
-Saturday, May 28, 2005
“Income and spending in the United States climbed at healthy rates last month, but not much faster than consumer prices, the Commerce Department reported yesterday….
-”Wages and salaries rose 0.7 percent in April, the fastest monthly gain this year. But a large share of such income growth has been going to a small share of the workforce, analysts have noted. Supervisors, therefore, “are enjoying wage gains that outpace production workers….
-”Economists say many middle- and lower-income workers are making up for sluggish wage growth and low savings by borrowing against their homes, whose values have been boosted in recent years by rapid price appreciation….
-”Falling real wages, rising prices and interest rates, record low current savings and near record-high debt levels have left households dangerously reliant on spending down home equity and other borrowing.”
-There is no such thing as a free lunch. Some of us may not like “tax and spend”, but “borrow and spend” (which is what we are actually doing both nationally and individually) is a house of cards.
-No “recovery” lasts forever, no investment continues to rise in price indefinitely. This recovery will be obliterated with the housing bubble bursts.
July 7th, 2005 at 11:28 pm
isn’t it interesting how quick people will grab hold of an isolated fact without any regard for its context and slap it up on a post and use it as rooting material for their side? if you *make* more money but have more expenses, what good is that? i genuinely favor less taxes but why can’t bush backers be honest with the way this cut is skewed to the upper crust of citizens? i’m not saying vote for howard dean, support moore or register with PETA; all i’m saying is let’s be honest with ourselves instead of behaving like children who can’t see anything wrong with their side and everything wrong with the other - and for that matter, why is everyone on one side or the other? do we really all fall so evenly into two distinct political camps? how scary is that?