Mr. Paterson predicted that the budget shortfall for the next fiscal year, starting April 1, would be $6.4 billion — much higher than the $5 billion projected when he took office unexpectedly in March, replacing Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who resigned.
“When I travel across the state, I see communities suffering,” Mr. Paterson said in his address, from the Red Room of the State Capitol in Albany. “Everywhere I go, I meet people who are losing their jobs and their homes. I meet families who are forced to pay more for gasoline and for food while their paychecks stay the same. Next winter, some of these families will have to choose between heating their homes and feeding their children. The rising cost of health care means that they cannot afford to get sick.”
“Revenues are dropping dramatically,” the governor added. At the start of May, the state budget office projected a cumulative deficit of $21.5 billion over the next three years. Now, just two months later, that estimate has risen to $26.2 billion — “a staggering 22 percent increase in less than 90 days.”
Mr. Paterson offered another example of the rapid deterioration in the state’s finances. In June 2007, he said, the 16 banks that pay the most on their business profits remitted $173 million to the state treasury. “This June, just a month ago, they sent us $5 million — a 97 percent decrease,” he said.
Emphasis added by me.
The kill shot:
“Our economic woes are so severe that I wanted to talk to you personally this evening about where we stand,” he said. “The fact is we confront harsh times. Let me be honest, this situation will get worse before it gets better but the time to act is now.”
Emphasis added by me.
Oh it's going to get gloriously painfully riotously worse before it gets better.
I know this isn't the only state going through this, but it happens to be the state I live in.
Soon, we'll all be living in one big state. Called Despair.
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