{"id":3417,"date":"2010-12-20T12:03:26","date_gmt":"2010-12-20T17:03:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/?p=3417"},"modified":"2010-12-20T16:25:32","modified_gmt":"2010-12-20T21:25:32","slug":"the-coming-albany-apocalypse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/2010\/12\/20\/the-coming-albany-apocalypse\/","title":{"rendered":"The coming Albany apocalypse"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the weekend, the CBS news magazine 60 Minutes<\/a> wrestled with the wave of budget woes sweeping state capitals from Albany to Sacramento.<\/p>\n

As part of the story, they interviewed financial analyst Meredith Whitney, one of the few financial experts to predict the meltdown in the finance sector.<\/p>\n

Talking about the huge debts that states like New York have taken on — to pay for current operations and to cover unfunded pension and health care obligations — Whitney said this:<\/p>\n

“It has tentacles as wide as anything I’ve seen.\u00a0 I think next to housing this is the single most important issue in the United States, and certainly the largest threat to the U.S. economy.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Some context.\u00a0 California’s budget deficit next year is $19 billion.\u00a0 New York’s stands currently at around $10 billion.<\/p>\n

When you watch this CBS segment, it’s hard not to think that one figure comes out looking very good in all this:\u00a0 outgoing Governor David Paterson.<\/p>\n

Paterson’s often clumsy fight to shrink the deficit, and to pay New York’s bills on time, makes him something of a canary in a coal mine in national politics.<\/p>\n

(In Illinois, by contrast, gas stations sometimes turn away state troopers because vendors don’t believe that politicians will cover their gas bills.)<\/p>\n

But the other take-away here is that the North Country still hasn’t grasped the freight train that’s rumbling straight at us.<\/p>\n

Our government-jobs-heavy economy sits smack in the crosshairs of this trend. Put another way, those tentacles that Whitney described reach into all of our lives.<\/p>\n

Even if this region’s lawmakers win some big battles next year, it’s hard to imagine that we won’t see painful cuts in state prisons, tourism spending, pensions, healthcare, aid to counties, forest preserve property tax payments, and on and on.<\/p>\n

It’s hard to imagine that any sacred cow will be safe in this economic climate.\u00a0 Lt. Governor Richard Ravitch told CBS the following:<\/p>\n

I think the consequences of doing this [eliminating Albany’s deficits] means probably very substantial reductions in public expenditures or increases in taxation…<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I think Ravitch is wrong.\u00a0 I think we’ll see both at the same time, higher taxes and fewer services.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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