Blue States’ Fiscal Woes Test Obama

[xchrom]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-09/why-state-budgets-could-reshape-u-s-politics.html



The electoral map, the demographics behind President Barack Obama’s re-election and the high-end tax increases that were just wrung from the Republicans give Democrats reason to believe that long-term political trends are on their side in budget negotiations. This view, however, ignores what is happening at the state level.

The fiscal outlook for many states is unsustainable. This eventually may influence the politics of the national budget, both directly (through battles over federal measures to help troubled states) and indirectly (through voters’ attitudes toward government).

It may take a decade or more for this dynamic to take hold, but as leaders of both parties bargain over the debt ceiling and assess their strategies for deficit talks during Obama’s second term, they should also think about the path of state finances. The prospects should unnerve Democrats, in particular: The 26 states that Obama carried in November tended overwhelmingly to have lower credit ratings than the 24 where he lost.

The most obvious examples are California and Illinois, two big states that are deep-blue politically and deep in the red fiscally. The pattern holds much more broadly, however, across the states that broke for Obama rather than the Republican nominee, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. To see this, imagine an electoral college in which each state’s worth, rather than being dependent on its population, was instead determined by the soundness of its Standard & Poor’s credit rating.


*** dear states: stop giving away the cookie jar to corporations.
you might find your balance sheets in better shape.

[cali]

1. one of the very worst articles I've ever read. the contortions of the author

are breathtaking.

wanna explain just why you felt compelled to post this piece of shit?

[xchrom]

2. i've posted several articles about the cities going bankrupt and states fiscal woes.

it's a problem -- and revenues are going uncollected-- not just by the federal government -- but by states and locales through tax, breaks, give aways, etc.

[union_maid]

3. Didn't CA get there by way of an anti-tax movement?

I'm no economist, but CA has been fascinating to watch with their unusual system of government by proposition. The recession has hit all the states hard, but CA's woes in particular seem to some extent self-inflicted. Of course, here in NY, Governor Cuomo didn't want to make up shortfalls by increasing taxes on the rich, so there's that, too.

[xchrom]

5. absolutely.

thankfully -- cali voters seem to be coming around -- and are willing to go after revenues from people who can afford it.

i think they still need to do better getting revenues from corporations.

[JoePhilly]

4. Blue states also get less for their tax dollar than the red ones do.

Blue states should stop subsidizing the red ones.

[xchrom]

6. i'd love for that to happen.

a most excellent moment of schadenfreude.

[krispos42]

7. Connecticut gets $2 for every $3 it pays to the federal treasury

That loss goes to support states that use the money to to suck businesses out of Connecticut with promises of no unions and tax breaks to corporate giants. States like Alabama. Because GOD FORBID that Alabama uses the free Connecticut money to educate their children and build infrastructure and stuff.

[xchrom]

8. +1