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Road Rage at New York Spendocrats!

In trying to weasel $129 million from the public, the New York Legislature wanted to force people to get new license plates. People got pissed off. Let's hope more comes down the pike.

N.Y. 'Road Rage' Puts Kibosh On License Plates

Paterson, Legislature Admit Hitting People Up For $129 Million Worth Of Plates They Don't Need Is Not Way To Go

That's Because 100,000 Angry Motorists Signed Petitions Against Move

And Because Republicans Planned To Use It As Platform In Next Election Against Incumbent Democrats

Worse Expected State Budget Gaps - Beware!

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State Budget Deficits are Getting Worse!

States are wrestling - no make that virtual cage fighting - with Deficits that are so massive in scope that politicians are simply paralyzed. Most political hacks simply want to push off the bad news i.e., cuts, layoffs, reductions, etc., to the next politician rather than face the music and make the cuts. Legislatures are the ones that push the budget through its various stages and then it is signed by the Governor. At least that's the way that I think most states handle the budget.

It's based on a report from the National Conference of State Legislatures. And it's not good.

Here's the news report:

CNBC Report on State Budget Gaps

European Crisis Meltdown

European Meltdown in Progress

Mervyn King, the Bank of England Governor, summed it up best: "Dealing with a banking crisis was difficult enough," he said the other week, "but at least there were public-sector balance sheets on to which the problems could be moved. Once you move into sovereign debt, there is no answer; there's no backstop."

In other words, were this a computer game, the politicians would be down to their last life. Any mistake now and it really is Game Over. Or to pick a slightly more traditional game, it is rather like a session of pass-the-parcel which is fast approaching the end of the line.

Wait Grows for Rhode Island Refunds

Wait grows longer for R.I. tax refunds

PROVIDENCE — Thousands of Rhode Island income-tax refunds are being delayed longer than previously reported because of state cash-flow problems.

Overall, the state has delayed payment of about 53,000 individual income-tax refunds — totaling about $36.3 million — to make sure it has enough money to pay off state borrowings that come due in June, said Paul L. Dion, chief of the state Office of Revenue Analysis.

Calif Dems Want to Increase Taxes

California Democrats unveil tax-increase package

Mon, May 24 2010

SAN FRANCISCO, May 24 (Reuters) - Democratic lawmakers in California unveiled a plan on Monday for nearly $5 billion of tax and fee increases to help fill the state government's $19.1 billion budget gap.

The plan by state Senate Democrats would raise $4.9 billion by raising California's vehicle registration fee, suspending corporate tax breaks scheduled to begin next year and boosting the state's tax on alcoholic beverages.

Europe's Crisi is in Full Tilt

Europe's Crisis is in Full Bloom as these ardent state employees reconsider their government's 'social model'. Welcome to reality, folks.

The reaction so far to government efforts to cut spending has been pessimism and anger, with an understanding that the current system is unsustainable.

In Athens, Aris Iordanidis, 25, an economics graduate working in a bookstore, resents paying high taxes to finance Greece’s bloated state sector and its employees. “They sit there for years drinking coffee and chatting on the telephone and then retire at 50 with nice fat pensions,” he said. “As for us, the way things are going we’ll have to work until we’re 70.”

In Rome, Aldo Cimaglia is 52 and teaches photography, and he is deeply pessimistic about his pension. “It’s going to go belly-up because no one will be around to fill the pension coffers,” he said. “It’s not just me; this country has no future.”

Changes have now become urgent. Europe’s population is aging quickly as birthrates decline. Unemployment has risen as traditional industries have shifted to Asia. And the region lacks competitiveness in world markets.

According to the European Commission, by 2050 the percentage of Europeans older than 65 will nearly double. In the 1950s there were seven workers for every retiree in advanced economies. By 2050, the ratio in the European Union will drop to 1.3 to 1.

Figures show the severity of the problem. Gross public social expenditures in the European Union increased from 16 percent of gross domestic product in 1980 to 21 percent in 2005, compared with 15.9 percent in the United States. In France, the figure now is 31 percent, the highest in Europe, with state pensions making up more than 44 percent of the total and health care, 30 percent.

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