Editor’s Note: We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again; our people, of European descent, MUST consider alternative ways to survive and prosper in a steadily unreliable financial world.
With all eyes on Japan, the news in the US is getting suddenly darker. Stories of falling unemployment and rising home sales are giving way to reports of budget cuts and funding shortfalls and personal desperation. I’m only up to page A7 in today’s Wall Street Journal, and have already seen the following:
BOISE, Idaho—Before the recession hit, Idaho, Nevada and Utah had some of the lowest rates of food stamp use in the nation. It was a boom time in a region that has always prided itself on self-reliance and a disdain for government handouts.
Illinois Pension Crisis Eludes Easy Solutions
Lawmakers in Illinois say they may try to fix the state’s ailing pension system by asking current workers to pay more into the plan, though the approach faces substantial legal and political obstacles.
Transit Agencies Rebuffed On Request for More Funds
Officials from more than 30 public transit systems came to Washington this week to tell Congress that most of them don’t have the money to keep up with demand as rising gas prices boost ridership.
Ohio Governor Poses Steep Cuts to Trim Deficit
Ohio Gov. John Kasich, mirroring the moves of other newly elected Republicans, proposed a two-year budget Tuesday that would close an $8 billion gap by selling prisons, reshaping Medicaid and sharply cutting aid to cities.
…Living standards will have to fall to a level not just consistent with our current income, but with our income minus debt service. The transit story is a good example: more people are riding buses and subways because they can’t afford to drive. But the president’s attempt to double funding for mass transit is pure fantasy. Federal spending on this and most other things will fall, not rise, in the coming decade, so the quality of buses and subways will deteriorate as ridership continues to increase. Meanwhile, pensions will shrink and entry level public sector jobs will pay less and less. We’re becoming a Third World country, with no one to blame but ourselves.