03/05/11 Buenos Aires, Argentina – Poor Mr. Obama. The man who ran on a campaign promise of “change,” is striving to achieve his stated goal by implementing a slew of conspicuously “same” policies, one after the other.
Admittedly, your editor doesn’t know much about drafting empty campaign promises, but he suspects that two sames don’t make a change. We’ll see.
When Captain Obama first took over at the helm of The Republic, there were plenty of leaks assailing his once-formidable ship. There was an Iraq-sized hole on the starboard side, an Afghanistan-sized breach port side. Both were taking on water…fast. Up on the quarterdeck weighed a budget deficit that seemed to grow larger every time the vessel sank beneath the wavelengths. And on the main deck, unfunded liabilities piled up, reaching higher even than the poop. Needless to say, it doesn’t take a sailor to know what that means.
Now, barely half way through his maiden voyage, Captain Obama sees the ocean cascading in from starboard and port, the quarter deck sinking below the horizon and unfunded liabilities, now towering above the main mast, threatening to capsize the entire vessel.
Meanwhile, down in the galleys, the captain’s “best” oarsmen are busy drilling their own holes in the ship’s hull.
“States from coast to coast are facing budget shortfalls of a magnitude heretofore unseen, unfathomable, even,” your editor observed in a recent reckoning.
“More than 40 states are in the red for a combined budget shortfall of $125 billion for fiscal year 2012. California is the worst, with a $25.4 billion hole to fill, more than seven times Wisconsin’s gap. Illinois comes in next with a $15 billion shortfall, followed by Texas with $13.4 billion, New Jersey at $10.5 billion and New York at $9 billion.”
It is no surprise then, that talk of mutiny can be heard from bow to stern. Some folks are even beginning to wonder if they will ever see land again.
With so many leaks to plug, trying to determine which state budget hole deserves the biggest finger is a tough call. As far as total debt goes, California and New York remain by far the biggest problems. But when it comes to debt/GDP ratios, Rhode Island and Massachusetts begin to look more ominous. Then there’s debt per capita, unfunded liability rankings, projected 2012 budget shortfalls and a slew of other factors to consider.
Your editors have no idea which state will be the first to take a long walk off a short plank…but that won’t stop us from taking a few guesses. We’ve been testing the waters by asking readers to submit their own anecdotal observations of governmental waste in their own state. It’s all part of this year’s Daily Reckoning Dodo Derby Awards: The State Edition.
In short, we wanted to know which state has taken the most earnest steps toward insolvency during the past year. Which states are nearing financial extinction? Which among them are already walking dead? After carefully considering the nominations, we’ve (naturally) selected a list of ten finalists.
In alphabetical order, the contenders for this year’s Daily Reckoning Dodo Derby Award champion are (drum roll please…):
California, Connecticut, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, Ohio and Wisconsin.
Five of these tar pit-bound states will be lucky enough to earn a featured spot in next week’s Daily Reckonings. We’ll begin with fifth place on Monday and count down, through runners-up and special mentions, to the grand champion on Friday.
Meanwhile, if you happen to reside in one of the above states and would like to share with us a comment or two about money-wasting policies and idiocies going on in your own backyard, you can do so here.
Joel Bowman
for The Daily Reckoning
Joel Bowman
Joel Bowman is managing editor of The Daily Reckoning. After completing his degree in media communications and journalism in his home country of Australia, Joel moved to Baltimore to join the Agora Financial team. His keen interest in travel and macroeconomics first took him to New York where he regularly reported from Wall Street, and he now writes from and lives all over the world.
The Daily Reckoning is your premier source for making sense of the news Washington and Wall Street generate. Each business day, The Daily Reckoning calls on its stable of world-class writers and thinkers to show you how to get ahead.
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Now is the time to buy a house or two
(just joking, of course)
Even worse, the GOPers who keep punching new holes in the hull for their favorite corporate interests.
And how about that Scott Walker in Wisconsin. The first week of January he is giving corporate tax breaks to his supporters, and a couple of weeks later he is crying that “the state is broke”.
Problem is, Pres. O, is that you’re running the ship now, with all the power at your fingertips.
Same old change: blame everyone else but your own sorry arse.
which states get fed help? bno rainer- lib controlled states- ie cauli-fornia, ny, mass…they have the most useless entitlement/welfare scumbags out there. time for secession
$22 billion wasted on illegal aliens per year. Nuff said.
American corporations are taxed on average at a rate putting them at the second highest in the world (behind only Japan).
Corporations keeping the money they EARN is different than public labor union employees who take their wages from OTHER CITIZENS by FORCE – that is, try not paying your tax bill and see what happens to you…
Citizens don’t get to “collectively bargain” on our taxes. The bill comes and we pay it – or else. So why should public labor unions be able to collectively bargain for a piece of my wages?
Think of it this way: The labor unions ARE corporations who get paid by YOUR tax dollars. If if you hate corporations so much, stop supporting the union corporation which have been profoundly corrupt since the beginning. Where do you think the phrase “union thug” comes from?
Corporations are the ones who hire people and make things to export. They are the foundation of the economy.
Public union employees are OVERHEAD!
Corporations should be RECIEIVING money from the Government, but that is not the same as corporations keeping what they have earned.
Meant “should not be receiving”.
Do you actually believe a State will default on their debt thus keeping them out of the debt market for a decade or more? I know States are in terrible shape, but they’ll throw their retirees under the bus first before they default on their municipal bonds.
To Obama said: How else do you think a state can attract companies and corporations to establish business in their state if not to tell them I’m not going to steal from you to give to the government workers?
Let’s see…with the reverse socialism of saving the banks, the insurance companies and automakers, somebody’s got to pay for it…and the lucky winners here? The workers, the poor, the middle class and the retirees. But hey, the banks are doing great, which is what counts.
one analysis that concludes the Federal Reserve is a Ponzi scheme that profited the Fed $8.4 trillion last year from the auctions of T-securities is posted at http://www.synapticsparks.info/dialog/index.php?topic=32.msg192