both TonyRo76 and LasVegasDave.
Posted on 12/15/2008 2:09:21 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
It may not be the next Great Depression -- yet -- but Gov. Ted Strickland said today that he and the nation's governors are facing the worst economic conditions since the 1930s.
“I contend that no governor has faced the same circumstances that I’m facing since the 1930s," Strickland told reporters after an event at the Mid-Ohio Foodbank in Columbus. "These are very unusual circumstances.”
Strickland said he wasn't singling out himself or Ohio, but that the convergence of problems in the housing market, the collapse on Wall Street and other issues has every state but Alaska in or near recession.
The comments are part of an ongoing effort by the Strickland administration to publicize the state's economic struggles in advance of the the next two-year budget that the governor must introduce by February and the legislature must pass by June 30.
Last week, Strickland released a 13-page document detailing prison closings, mass layoffs and other actions possible if state agencies had to cut a quarter of their budgets to fill a projected $7.3 billion budget gap without federal financial help.
Some political analysts say Strickland is softening the political ground for painful budget cuts that may be ahead, or even other unpopular moves that may be necessary such as raising taxes.
Strickland said he's merely trying to be open and honest about the extent of the budget problem and has been making his case to anyone who will listen. Yesterday, he met with 15 Ohio business leaders at the Governor's Residence for about two hours, he said.
As for higher taxes, the governor continued to say today that he thinks tax hikes would be counter-productive in the current recession but made it clear he will do what he has to.
"I will deal with the circumstances as they unfold and will make whatever decisions are necessary to see that we have a balanced budget while maintaining essential services for our people,” he said.
Strickland expects President-elect Barack Obama to be able to sign a massive economic stimulus plan with help for states on or shortly after he takes office Jan. 20. But he cautioned that it likely won't solve all of the state's budget woes.
"I think help will be forthcoming," Strickland said. "Will it be sufficient to prevent us from having to make very, very difficult decisions and perhaps huge reductions in the operation of this state’s government? I doubt it. I think it’s going to be necessary for me as governor and for us as Ohioans to confront difficult choices in difficult times.”
Everything was fine for six years then the dems.took over congress;didn’t take them long did it?
Responding to the title: If you think this is bad, it was much worse under FDR.
It’s a ruse; by March 1, the Democrats will be declaring “morning in America” AGAIN!
And they buy take-out food to avoid cooking.
How many States are in economic trouble and how many of them are GOP controlled. I would guess the Dems are running a whole lot more red ink than the GOP.
Just so. In Ohio we had the pleasure of 16 years of idiot Rino governors, 8 each for Voinovich and Taft, who each spent freely and acted like the good times would roll forever. Now we have a 'rat governor who likewise has no clue. My bet is he raises taxes rather than cut pork, and in so doing drives another nail into Ohio's coffin.
This is true. Remember his campaign? How he was going to “TurnAround Ohio”?
Some turn around!
Is anyone going to point out that Hoover stopped being President in 1933 and the economy got much worse under Roosevelt?
"The worst economy since Hoover" is a historical illiteracy perpetuated by the stupid.
Some other Freeper posted this awhile back:
THE ANT STORY
TRADITIONAL VERSION
The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long,
building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.
The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and
dances and plays the summer away.
Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.
MORAL OF THE STORY:
Be responsible for yourself!
MODERN VERSION
The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long,
building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.
The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.
Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving.
CBS, NBC, PBS, CNN, and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food.
America is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?
Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper, and everybody cries when they sing, ‘It’s Not Easy Being Green.’
Jesse Jackson stages a demonstration in front of the ant’s house where the news stations film the group singing, ‘We shall overcome. Jesse then has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper’s
sake.
Nancy Pelosi, Barack Obama, John Kerry & Harry Reid exclaim in an interview with Larry King that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to
make him pay his fair share.
Finally, the EEOC drafts the Economic Equity and Anti-Grasshopper Act retroactive to the beginning of the summer! The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing
left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the government.
Hillary Clinton gets her old law firm to represent the grasshopper in a defamation suit against the ant, and the case is tried before a panel of federal judges that Bill Clinton appointed from a list of single-parent welfare recipients.
The ant loses the case.
The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of the ant’s food while the government house he is in, which just happens to be the ant’s old house, crumbles around him because he doesn’t maintain it.
The ant has disappeared in the snow. The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the once peaceful neighborhood.
Moral of the Story: Be a Grasshopper - Vote Obama!
I don’t know whether to call that parody or prophesy!
Strickland, Sherrod Brown, Charlie Wilson, Tim Ryan, John Bocceri, Capri Cafaro and Bob Hagan-what a line up. All worthless, all brain dead.
woo hoo! Start that off with the I have a dream speech,end it with a piece of pie, and I’m votin obama! I am going to suffer the fate of the ant this year, good thing my extended family built a deep nest....
Strickland could have just said "I'm a lying idiot" and saved himself 17 words.
“Strickland, Sherrod Brown, Charlie Wilson, Tim Ryan, John Bocceri, Capri Cafaro and Bob Hagan-what a line up. All worthless, all brain dead.”
Don’t forget our own Jennifer Brunner!
And we will soon call it the “Obama Depression.”
I have watched the libs/lefties/DemocRats working diligently on destroying this country for going on two decades now. I’ve been predicting another civil war since the Clintonista regime. But I must confess, even I am amazed at how rapidly things escalated (one year) into an ultra-surreal Twilight Zone version of fresh hell.
We’re screwed.
now that we have a 6 BILLION dollar budget shortfall, its all Bush's fault donchaknow?
not one cut to teachers and other govt employees...just expand and expand and hope that you don't get caught....
meanwhile, our property taxes approach unsustainable for the average working person...
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