In 2000, state and local governments collectively owed $1.5 trillion (adjusted for inflation to 2009 dollars). Today, they owe $2.3 trillion, a 53 percent increase.
Over the same time period, American consumers and homeowners hiked their own debt by 55 percent, and pretty much bankrupted the world’s economy doing it. (OK, it wasn’t all their fault.)
Data source: Federal Reserve.
You may also like
New York’s Post-Pandemic State Budget Picture Is Looking Worse
Governor Cuomo continues to burn while pols in Washington fiddle around the issue of providing more aid to states and localities in yet another federal stimulus bill. Meanwhile, New York State's plummeting revenues still haven't hit their post-pandemic bottom, according to the First Quarterly Update to the state's FY 2021 Financial Plan. Read More
Take the A train – updated
The good news is that despite increasing pressure on both revenues and expenses, Standard and Poor’s has affirmed the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s “A” rating, with a stable outlook.
Read More
DiNapoli’s limited “vision”
State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli appeared at the New School in Manhattan last night to present what his office billed as “A Vision for the Future of Retirement Security in New York. Read More
The Tier 6 pension loophole for cops, firefighters
The Tier 6 pension “reform” enacted by New York last year applies to all state and local employees who join the state Employee Retirement System or the Police and Fire Retirement System after April 1, 2012 Read More
Will that IOU from California buy you a cup of coffee?
California, with no budget and with its cold, hard cash quickly leaving the building, could soon resort to drafting taxpayers as less-than-volunteer lenders to the state, or worse. Read More
For muni bonds, a Treasury rescue could hurt
In recent months, states and cities have lobbied for their piece of the bailout pie. Among other requests, they've asked the federal government to support municipal bond markets by directly buying municipal bonds through the new programs that the Treasur Read More
Macquarie’s toll-road pothole
States and cities hoping to fill in budget gaps with cash-outs of future toll-road revenues and the like by handing revenue-generating assets over to private operators for up-front money may be sobered up by a report out yesterday from Australia-bas Read More
Higher federal taxes = cheaper muni bond debt?
The analysts at Municipal Market Advisors think that should Sen. Barack Obama win tonight, President Obama's planned income-tax hike on individual households earning over $250k could push up demand for tax-exempt municipal bonds. Read More