Business Week reports that, "California is going to Washington, D.C., to ask for $7 billion to cover its budget shortfall. Otherwise it won't be able to pay for its teachers, cops, firemen, and other essential services. Unfortunately, California won't be alone. A number of other states are experiencing a huge dive in tax revenue and could be going cap in hand to Uncle Sam alarmingly soon. How bad could it get? The potential cost for all the 31 states facing both major and minor shortfalls could be as much as $53.4 billion."And what will Uncle Sam say to these states? Does the uncle in DC have any $$$ to bail these states out?
Notice it's always the 'essential services' that politicians threaten when budget shortfalls happen. It's as if there's no 'nonessential services' to cut first - no, they hold the citizens hostage, instead.
ReplyDeleteSurely there is something somewhere in the budget the state of California is paying for that they don't need to be. Subsidies. Corporate welfare. Perks for politicians. Same goes for the federal government. If they stuck to what they're supposed to be doing instead of meddling in people's lives and throwing money to cronies in business and buying votes with this or that pork payoff, maybe they'd not be spending quite so much.