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Politics : Liberalism: Do You Agree We've Had Enough of It? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (136097)	6/25/2012 5:27:56 AM
From: tonto	4 Recommendations Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 224757

Kenneth, it is you who does not know what you are talking about. Washington state has serious financial problems. By Howard Buck Columbian staff writer Originally published March 17, 2011 at 2:05 p.m., updated March 17, 2011 at 7:43 p.m. 0digg 0 points on reddit The wait is finally over. Now the cutting begins in earnest. Washington state’s chief economist on Thursday tacked another $698 million to the state’s expected revenue shortfall for the 2011-13 budget cycle, pushing that biennium’s total spending deficit to about $5.1 billion. State legislators also must act soon just to patch a $201 million funding gap through June 30, now $80 million higher. On the Web: • Read the council’s news release, explaining the “geopolitical uncertainties” that are hampering economic recovery in Washington, here. • The full council report is available here. Despite optimism engendered by upticks in job hiring and consumer spending, the double jolts of Mideast unrest and Japan’s devastating earthquake and tsunami have rattled the economic outlook. The near future “remains clouded, with a great amount of uncertainty,” said Arun Raha, executive director of the Washington State Economic and Revenue Forecast Council, which issued its quarterly update. Volatile oil prices in the wake of spreading Mideast turmoil and threats to Japan’s manufacturing and its trade in agricultural goods with Washington state drove down Raha’s draft estimate from only two weeks ago, he said. “To quote Yogi Berra, ‘The future ain’t what it used to be,’?” Raha said. He doesn’t expect Washington housing prices will rebound before 2012. It will be October 2013, months after the next two-year budget cycle ends, before the state will regain the number of jobs lost during the harrowing 2008-09 recession, he said. Until then, state tax revenues will slowly inch higher — unless more shocks arrive, Raha warned. “The downside risks are still elevated, and twice as high as the upside,” he said. Foremost, he worries that soaring fuel prices could undercut consumer confidence and spending that has bounced back of late. The sobering revised estimate heightens the pressure on state legislators to further cut spending for critical Washington programs: from K-12 schools and higher education, to the Basic Health Plan and other social services support for low-income, aging or disabled residents, to state parks, highway funding and other infrastructure needs. “The problem has become more daunting,” said Rep. Ross Hunter, D-Medina, chairman of the House Ways & Means Committee, which is due to issue a budget plan soon.