Free Republic

Our nation's leaders are demanding that American children pay for this crisis through debt-financed spending, while depriving them of the education they need to make that even remotely possible. One of the many significant but underappreciated effects of U.S. politicians’ response to coronavirus is their pre-emptive mass school shutdowns. It is likely these shutdowns will harm the next generation far beyond the trillions in government spending these children will someday be forced to pay off for previous generations.For one thing, the school shutdowns will cripple children’s economic future by depriving them of up to an entire year of learning. That’s...

The Supreme Court has opened the floodgates to sports betting by overturning a federal law restricting legal betting on games. More than a dozen states are likely to join New Jersey, which brought the suit challenging the1992 federal law, in instituting legalized betting on the NFL, NBA, and other leagues. Other states, under pressure to balance their budgets without raising taxes, will surely follow. Don’t bet, however, that this is good news for taxpayers. Since states began instituting lotteries six decades ago, legalized gambling has spread throughout the United States. Advocates have often touted gambling as a magic bullet to...

Which of these new governors, since taking office, have reduced the size of their state bureaucracy? Less than half of them have, despite hard economic times that have hit state budgets. And you might also be surprised at which ones did...

<p>With a $500 million budget surplus and $2 billion in reserves, Indiana Governor-elect Mike Pence has pledged to give back some of that money when he takes office next week by cutting personal income taxes.</p> <p>“An across-the-board tax cut for all Hoosiers would send a strong signal that we are managing our funds wisely and also reducing the tax burden on our taxpayers and businesses,” the former U.S. Congressman said while campaigning to replace outgoing fellow Republican Mitch Daniels as governor.</p>

PHOENIX (AP) -- A federal judge ruled Wednesday that Arizona authorities can enforce the most contentious section of the state's immigration law, which critics have dubbed the "show me your papers" provision. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton clears the way for police to carry out the 2010 law's requirement that officers, while enforcing other laws, question the immigration status of those they suspect are in the country illegally. The requirement has been at the center of a two-year legal battle that culminated in a U.S. Supreme Court decision in June upholding the requirement. Opponents then asked Bolton...

Frustrated union and Democratic Party leaders from Madison,Wisconsin, to Washington,D.C., while wiping the Badger State recall election bloodbath from their shoes, are bombarding the nation with excuses, mitigating circumstances, and outright denial of their own declining reality. A leading excuse emanating from Democrats everywhere, not least from the Wisconsin Democratic Party which is still stinging from President Barack Obama's refusal to campaign for their man, is that the campaign of the past and future governor, Scott Walker, substantially outraised and outspent his Democrat challenger, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett. It is true that Walker received more financial support, including from outside...

As another day passes, we get another confirmation that that racist, unpatriotic, communist traitor Meredith Whitney is absolutely right in claiming that US states are beyond rescue. Illinois, which was supposed to deny all the naysayers, by successfully issuing $3.7 billion in bonds and purchase a few months of breathing space for its insolvent pension funds, courtesy of an underwriting syndicate that includes Morgan Stanley, Goldman, Sachs & Co and Loop Capital Markets on Thursday, has just announced this, uh, isn't going to happen. Reuters notes: "Illinois' sale of $3.7 billion of pension bonds has been delayed until next week...

The Obama administration is proposing short-term relief to states saddled with unemployment insurance debt, coupled with a delayed increase in the income level used to tax employers for the aid to the jobless. The administration plans to include the proposal in its budget plan next week. The plan was confirmed to Fox News late Monday by a person familiar with the discussions on the condition of anonymity because the budget plan is still being completed. Rising unemployment has placed such a burden on states that 30 of them owe the federal government $42 billion in money borrowed to meet their...

The dam has a huge hole and gushing leak. Plugging only a part of the hole will not stop the dam from collapsing. It may slow down the collapse but as long as the water is pouring through, the dam will continue to collapse. That is the situation our Federal, State and Local law makers find themselves in as they start their legislative sessions this week. If they try to patch the problems, they will only get worse. Bold moves are needed and they will be initially painful. That was the message I gave when I met with a number...

Total state government revenue dropped to $1.1 trillion in 2009, a decline of 30.8 percent from $1.6 trillion in 2008, according to the latest findings from the U.S. Census Bureau. The large decrease in total revenue was mainly caused by the substantial decrease in social insurance trust revenue. Social insurance trust revenue is made up of four categories — public employee retirement, unemployment compensation, workers compensation and other insurance trusts (i.e., Social Security, Medicare, veteran's life insurance). More details on the social insurance trust revenue will be available from the 2009 Annual Survey of State Government Employee Retirement Systems data...

While you’re watching this excellent 60 Minutes story on the coming implosion in state governments, remember one key statement about halfway through this from Steve Kroft: the Great Recession didn’t cause this budget insanity, it merely exposed it. The overspending has been going on for decades, especially in places like Illinois, California, and New Jersey, as well as ridiculous union contracts that have California spending more on its public employees than it does on the entire state-owned public university systems it operates. Illinois has gotten so bad that landlords are evicting legislators from their business offices and police officers attempting...

In April, the New York State Comptroller, Thomas DiNapoli, issued a damning report on the Empire State’s financial practices. Albany’s budgets, he observed, increasingly employ “fiscal manipulations” to present a “distorted view of the State’s finances.” Money shuffled among accounts to hide deficits, loans made by the state to itself, and other maneuvers Mr. DiNapoli called a “fiscal shell game” are meant to “mask the true magnitude of the State’s structural budget deficit.” The comptroller’s report produced yawns. Last week, however, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed fraud charges against New Jersey for misrepresenting its financial obligations, particularly its...

CHICAGO/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Election politics is hobbling the budget process in states like Illinois more than usual this year, as lawmakers try to square dire government balance sheets with voter resistance to spending cuts and tax increases. The outcome of this fine balancing act could shift control of more state legislatures to the Republicans after the November 2 vote, dealing a major setback to President Barack Obama and his once-resurgent Democratic Party. The stakes are no higher than in Obama's home state of Illinois, a political bellwether and the industrial and financial heart of the U.S. Midwest. The state,...

While many eyes have been turned and rightfully so towards the federal government, states seem to have suffered far less scrutiny in their budgeting and it shows. I thought the federal budget was a mess, but wow, the story at the state level is just a kick in the elbow. Getting an accurate story on state budgets is a challenge. I plugged in New Jersey and California into my budgeting application and you can go through the work of cutting budget items online to try and balance it. New Jersey for all of its faults is at least somewhat organized...

... The National Governors' Association recently reported that the states had faced budget gaps of $108.7 billion in fiscal 2010 -- 16% of their total general-fund spending of $664 billion in 2009. They closed $89.8 billion of their gaps, using tax and fee increases of $23.9 billion, and budget cuts of $55.7 billion. For 2011 and 2012, the states already expect budget gaps of $55.4 billion and $61.8 billion. Such sums are chump change compared with the federal government's current $1.6 trillion budget deficit, but states have been the biggest beneficiaries of that deficit spending, to the tune of more...

State governments face a trillion-dollar gap between the pension, health-care and other retirement benefits promised to public employees and the money set aside to pay for them, according to a new report from the Pew Center on the States. States promised current and retired workers a total of $3.35 trillion in benefits through June 30, 2008, said the report from the nonprofit research group, a division of Pew Charitable Trusts. But state governments had contributed only $2.35 trillion to their benefit plans to pay current and future bills, the report said. The Pew report said its estimate of the funding...

Gov. Jay Nixon is cutting an additional $200 million from Missouri's budget and eliminating nearly 700 state employee jobs.

Americans are unlikely to face major tax increases this year as their state governments emerge from three years of financial trouble by controlling spending and bypassing major new initiatives. Many states are still weeks or months away from finalizing their spending and tax plans, but early indications are that most governors and legislators will avoid significant tax increases, in part because many are running for re-election. Some states continue to raise college tuition and other fees, but the fee increases are likely to be smaller than last year's record $4.3 billion. And millions of Americans will face higher property tax...

PHILLIP BROWNLEE: CAN I TRY SOME 'CREATIVE ACCOUNTING'? Imagine if you or I could handle our personal finances the same way the Kansas Legislature deals with its money problems."Sorry, electric company, but I've decided not to pay my bill until next fiscal year.""Yes, mortgage company, I promised to repay my home loan, but I've changed my mind -- and there's nothing you can do about it.""Too bad, business customer. You overpaid me, but I'm going to wait two months before refunding your money."The possibilities are endless. Or so it seems in Topeka.Consider some of the "creative" ways the state has...

<p>Minnesota's budget deficit claimed its first victims today -- students.</p> <p>When Gov. Tim Pawlenty made his emergency budget cuts this morning to resolve the state's immediate $356 million deficit, schools were at the top of the list. K-12 schools will take a $27 million hit, while state colleges and universities will be cut $50 million.</p>