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State Budgets

The Approaching Muni Bond Collapse

Garrett Johnson | Posted 11.05.2009 | Business

Read More: State Budgets, Municipal Bonds, Economy Bonds, Muni Bonds, Economy, Muni Bond Collapse, Recession, Economic Collapse, Business News
Garrett Johnson

Monoline insurance companies got greedy and wanted a piece of the sub-prime action. They started backing sub-prime mortgage-backed securities. Soon the mortgages blew up.

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Some States Respond to Recession with Work-Family Policies

Julie Schwartz Weber | Posted 10.28.2009 | Politics

Read More: State Budgets, Economic Downturn, Economic Assistance, New America Foundation, Policy Changes, Economic Crisis, State Legislators, Family, Politics News
Julie Schwartz Weber

In 2009, state legislators across the country have been instrumental in trying to help American families regain their footing. There is some good news.

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Recession's Latest Casualty Is Shortened School Year In Hawaii

AP | MARK NIESSE | Posted 10.21.2009 | Business

Read More: State Budgets, Hawaii, Economic Stimulus Package, Teaching-Jobs, Obama Hawaii, Economy, Business News

HONOLULU — At a time when President Barack Obama is pushing for more time in the classroom, his home state has created the nation's shortest sch...

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Why Colorado Needs a Special Session

Scott Downes | Posted 09.21.2009 | Denver

Read More: Fiscal Crisis, Denver-News, State Budgets, Colorado, Poverty, Tabor, Colorado-Taxes, Special Session, Bill Ritter, Shawn Mitchell, Colorado General Assembly, Denver News
Scott Downes

What was a bad situation in August has turned into a downright scary one now. But I'm told that freaking out and assuming the fetal position is not a sound fiscal strategy.

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A Beautiful State With an Ugly Fiscal Landscape

Scott Downes | Posted 09.17.2009 | Denver

Read More: Fiscal Crisis, State Budgets, Colorado, Tabor, Poverty, Colorado-Education-Reform, Colorado Democrats, Colorado-Taxes, Labor Unions, Colorado Unions, Denver News
Scott Downes

We're 47th in the country in investing in key areas like education, health care, higher education, and transportation. Why? Probably because we're 49th in taxation.

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Where's Our City and State Government?

David Sirota | Posted 11.15.2009 | Denver

Read More: State Budgets, Republic Airlines, Bill Ritter, Tax Breaks, John Hickenlooper, Frontier Airlines, Denver, Denver News
David Sirota

Republic Airways is threatening to take jobs out of the city unless it gets new tax breaks. In response, Denver leaders like Mayor Hickenlooper have agreed to quickly put together a package of such favors.

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States Face Drop In Casino And Lottery Revenues For First Time

nytimes.com | IAN URBINA | Posted 11.09.2009 | Business

Read More: Gambling, Casinos, State Budgets, Lottery, Economic Downturn, Economic Crisis, American Casinos, Business News

Casinos and lotteries in most states are reporting a downturn in revenue for the first time, resulting in a drop in the money collected by state and l...

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Cash-Strapped States Shut Down Hundreds Of Offices

wsj.com | LESLIE EATON, RYAN KNUTSON and PHILIP SHISHKIN | Posted 10.20.2009 | Business

Read More: State Worker Furloughs, State Budgets, Georgia, National Association of State Budget Officers, California, Business News

California drivers can't line up to renew their licenses Friday. Wisconsin natives can't order copies of their birth certificates. Georgia consumers w...

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The Nexus and the Fiscal Crisis

Harry Moroz | Posted 09.26.2009 | Business

Read More: Health Care, State Budgets, Medicaid, Stimulus, Budget, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Local Budgets, Fiscal Responsibility, Business News
Harry Moroz

It is not the current recession that has put the fiscal condition of state governments at risk. The primary driver of these fiscal challenges is "the growth in health-related expenditures."

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Chicago Shuts Down City Government On Monday To Save Money

CBS 2 | Posted 09.15.2009 | Chicago

Read More: State Budget Constraints, State Budgets, Economic Crisis, Chicago Closed, Recesession, Chicago, Chicago City Goverment, Chicago-Illinois, Chicago City Goverment Closed, Chicago Budget, Chicago News

If you planned to check out a library book, visit a city clinic or have your garbage picked up on Monday, you're out of luck. The City of Chicago wil...

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Ailing States Face Bleak Outlook For Next Fiscal Year

Washington Post | Keith B. Richburg and Ashley Surdin | Posted 09.10.2009 | Business

Read More: State Budgets, US Economy, State Funds, States, Economy, Recession, Stimulus Funds, Business News

As states across the country grapple with the worst economy in decades, most have cut services, forced workers to take unpaid days off, shut offices s...

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Stimulus Cash Lifts States, Localities: Has Offset Major Drop In Tax Collections

usatoday.com | Posted 09.03.2009 | Politics

Read More: State Budgets, Economic Stimulus Package, Politics News

A huge influx of federal stimulus money to state and local governments more than offset a sharp drop in tax collections, helping to put the brakes on ...

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States Forced to Cut Services to the Bone: The Opportunity Cost of the Bank Bailout

Arianna Huffington | Posted 08.23.2009 | Home

Read More: State Budgets, Goldman Sachs, Wall Street Bailout, Bailout, Budget Cuts, Senate Banking Committee, Economy, Economic Crisis, Fiscal Crisis, Aig, Neil Barofsky, Ben Bernanke, Chris Dodd, Health Care, Citigroup, Home News
Arianna Huffington

Reading about the huge budget cuts almost every state in the country is being forced to make quickly puts the $4.7 trillion we have pumped into the financial sector into perspective, and leaves us pondering: what else we could have done with that money?

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Federal Stimulus Helped States Plug Budgets: Govs

AP | EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS | Posted 08.18.2009 | Politics

Read More: State Budgets, Economic Stimulus Package, Economic Crisis, Federal Stimulus, Stimulus, Governors, Recession, Politics News

BILOXI, Miss. — A bipartisan group of governors said Saturday that the federal stimulus package helped states avoid deep budget cuts during the ...

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Suffering in El Centro: Cigars in Sacramento

Ann Pettifor | Posted 08.14.2009 | Business

Read More: Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, California Budget Crisis, Deficit, State Budgets, Unemployment, Budget Cuts, Green New Deal, Economic Stimulus, Sales Tax, Business News
Ann Pettifor

California's economy is in free fall. This appears to be of little concern to Governor Schwarzenegger, who instead prefers to focus his energy, attention and political capital on the ballooning state budget.

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Cash-Strapped States Cut Prison Sentences To Save

washingtonpost.com | Keith B. Richburg | Posted 08.13.2009 | Business

Read More: State Budgets, Alternative Sentencing, Prison, Prison Inmates, Prison Populations, Business News

NEW YORK Cash-strapped states are increasingly turning to alternative sentencing methods and to streamlined probation and parole as a way to keep low-...

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The 10 States With The Worst Budget Shortfalls

ABC News | Scott Mayerowitz and Nathalie Tadena | Posted 08.08.2009 | Business

Read More: State Budgets, California, Indiana, Illinois Budget, Illionis Budget, Nevada Budget, Alaska Budget, Business News

The economic problems of American families are now pounding many state governments which are in turn slashing services to balance their budgets in one...

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Three Reasons We Need an Economic Wake Up Call

Robert Kuttner | Posted 08.05.2009 | Politics

Read More: State Budgets, Unemployment, Unemployment Rate, Economy, Economic Recovery, Foreclosure, Recession, Politics News
Robert Kuttner

Several events of the past week should be a wake-up call to the Obama administration. The bottom line: the medicine isn't working. Stronger stuff is needed.

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California Budget Squabbling: Schwarzenegger 'Broke' The Budget, He 'Should Fix It'

AP/Huffington Post | Posted 08.02.2009 | Politics

Read More: Ious, State Budgets, Schwarzenegger, California-Assembly-Speaker-Karen-Bass, California, California in Crisis, Financial Crisis, Recession, Sacramento-California, Politics News

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- California's controller will start paying many of the state's bills with IOUs as soon as Thursday after lawmakers failed to clos...

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California Misses Deadline, May Now Have To Issue IOUs

AP | JUDY LIN | Posted 08.01.2009 | Politics

Read More: State Budgets, Economic Stimulus Package, IOUs, California, Shwarzenegger, Stimulus, Recession, Politics News

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — States from coast to coast began a new fiscal year Wednesday with no budget plans and with cash quickly running out, sendin...

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States Resorting To Extreme Measures In Budget Crisis

The New York Times | Posted 07.23.2009 | Politics

Read More: Public Schools, Taxes, State Budgets, California, Economic Crisis, Maine Budget Crisis, Hawaii, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Budget Crisis, California Budget Crisis, Hawaii Budget Crisis, Stimulus, Maine, Politics News

In Hawaii, state employees are bracing for furloughs of three days a month over the next two years, the equivalent of a 14 percent pay cut. In Idaho, ...

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State Budgets: Times Are Tough All Over

Susan J. Demas | Posted 07.20.2009 | Business

Read More: Taxes, Mitch Bean, Michigan Budget, State Budgets, National Conference of State Legislatures, New-York-State-Budget, Gov. Jon Corzine, Stimulus, California Budget Problems, House Fiscal Agency, Corina Eckl, Recovery Act, Arra, Michigan, Raising Taxes, Furloughs, Ncsl, Business News
Susan J. Demas

When we're taxing candy, brothels and pot, we know our states are having difficulty balancing the budget.

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States Look To Tobacco Tax To Balance The Budget

New York Times | SHAILA DEWAN | Posted 04.21.2009 | Business

Read More: State Budgets, Tobacco Tax, Cigarettes, Tobacco Taxes, Business News

Mississippi's tax on cigarettes, at 18 cents a pack the nation's third-lowest, has not been raised since 1985. Gov. Haley Barbour, a former tobacco l...

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Storms Wipe Out Utilities, States Rethinking Budgets

Wall Street Journal | REBECCA SMITH | Posted 03.02.2009 | Business

Read More: Storms, State Budgets, Utilities, State Maintenance Budgets, Public Utilities, Business News

A winter storm that knocked out power to more than 1.3 million homes and businesses from Arkansas to Ohio is likely to increase state inquiries into u...

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The Traffic of Pay-to-Play Politics

Monica Youn | Posted 02.27.2009 | Politics

Read More: State Budgets, Money, National Infrastructure, Budget, Secretary of Transportation, Clintons, Federal Highway Administration, Federal Budget, Transportation, Infrastructure, Kennedys, Illinois Senate, Bush Administration, John Fritchey, Rod Blagojevich, Transportation Department, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, Federal Highway Fund, Illinois, Blagojevich Corruption, Ray Lahood Obama, Transportration Secretary Ray LaHood, Ray Lahood, Ray Lahood Department of Transportation, Politics News
Monica Youn

The Bush Administration's DOT succeeded in knocking a sizeable hole in Illinois' ban on pay-to-play deals that the state Senate had attempted to pass in the wake of the Blagojevich scandal.

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