The State of the States. This Associated Press story reports that state budget woes are improving, though not by much:
An Associated Press analysis of tax revenue in all 50 states found clear evidence of economic improvement, though everywhere officials warn that the positive signs aren't robust enough to ease the pain of three years of budget cuts, tax increases and huge deficits.
In the first three months of the new fiscal year -- July, August and September -- revenues came in on target with budget projections, or better, in 33 states. Revenue grew from last year in all but six states.
By comparison, in each of the previous two years more than 40 states found the opposite when the year began -- they had been too optimistic, and their revenues failed to meet expectations.
Read Reason's October story, "Why the States Are Broke," for insight into why the states are where they're at--and likely to stay there.
And you can check out a plan by Reason Public Policy Institute for easing the woes of California, the state in the deepest doo-doo, here. [Hit & Run]
California is hardly alone in its budget problems; most states, whether they have Republican or Democrat governors are in sorry shape, and as this piece says, it doesn't look like it's going to change soon. It looks to me like Gray Davis took a bullet for all governors and maybe that could turn out to be a good thing. I still don't understand why a deficit at the state level is a bad thing, while we're supposed to be sanguine about the monstrous deficits we're building on the national level. It's going to get worse, as the federal government, covering its ass on the national deficit, pushes more and more stuff down to the states.
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