#246. An “Unexpectedly Rosy Budget”
Posted on | The Agurban| An “Unexpectedly Rosy Budget” That title is sure to get some attention. But when you see the entire title, “State has unexpectedly rosy budget”, then you just have to read on. Such was the case in a story out of Helena, MT. According to the report, “The state ended the budget year in mid-2009 with a preliminary general fund budget surplus of $392 million, or nearly $23 million more than the Legislature had projected.” So we were curious, how many other states presently have a budget surplus. As it turns out, exactly one other state has a surplus, Montana’s neighbor to the east, North Dakota. The website,www.statehealthfacts.org provides a wealth of data on all 50 states on more than 500 health topics. Back in June, we reported that 19 states were hammering out their fiscal 2010 budgets, to the tune of a $121 billion shortfall. Now that gap has grown to $167 billion. Not surprising, California tops the list of states with the largest shortfall, followed by New York, Illinois, New Jersey and Florida. For the record, it is estimated that the federal fiscal 2009 deficit will reach $1.6 trillion ($1,600,000,000,000!). As we said in June, let’s hope our children and grandchildren don’t end of “working for the government” their entire lives. Our government leaders, all of them, federal, state and local, need to diligently focus on the harm these deficits are doing to the future of America. It won’t be easy, but our country is worth it! |