Wall Street Journal: The Albany-Trenton-Sacramento Disease

Posted by Kendall Harmon

President Obama has bet the economy on his program to grow the government and finance it with a more progressive tax system. It's hard to miss the irony that he's pitching this change in Washington even as the same governance model is imploding in three of the largest American states where it has been dominant for years -- California, New Jersey and New York.

A decade ago all three states were among America's most prosperous. California was the unrivaled technology center of the globe. New York was its financial capital. New Jersey is the third wealthiest state in the nation after Connecticut and Massachusetts. All three are now suffering from devastating budget deficits as the bills for years of tax-and-spend governance come due.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Economics, Politics • Economy • Taxes • The U.S. Government • Budget • The National Deficit • Politics in General • Office of the President • President Barack Obama • State Government

7 Comments
Posted June 30, 2009 at 12:06 pm [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]



1. John Wilkins wrote:

I’m glad this is in “opinion.”  There are plenty of other reasons to explain the challenges the WSJ mentions.  These three states receive far less in federal income than they give.

June 30, 12:37 pm | [comment link]
2. Jeffersonian wrote:

The problem with that theory is that the calculation you refer to doesn’t distinguish between the federal government’s direct subsidies transferred to the state budget and other remissions such as payments to military personnel, federal workers, etc.  Under no circumstance would these remissions directly impact the states’ budgets.

Futhermore, CA, NY and NJ once were able to balance their budgets with the same supposed lack of federal funds.  So why are they drowning in red ink now?

June 30, 1:17 pm | [comment link]
3. Brian of Maryland wrote:

Why indeed?  At least in the case of California, can you say open borders ....  ?

June 30, 2:36 pm | [comment link]
4. Jeffersonian wrote:

Furthermore, if one state isn’t going to subsidize another via the round-robin purse-snatching that is the federal government, what’s the point of sending the swag to DC in the first place?

June 30, 3:46 pm | [comment link]
5. RalphM wrote:

But the Annointed One knows he is right….

Hatred of Bush is not a reason to destroy America.

June 30, 4:23 pm | [comment link]
6. tired wrote:

I found the collection of statistics and facts in this piece to be rather informative, and justifying considerable investigation and analysis.

June 30, 5:58 pm | [comment link]
7. Sick & Tired of Nuance wrote:

Just a bye-the-bye…CT is facing an eight billion dollar deficit over the next two years and leads the nation in sending the most to Uncle Sam and getting the least return.

We have a RINO governor and have had a democrat controlled legislature for decades.  The liberals are ruining our state.

June 30, 6:38 pm | [comment link]
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