Outside the Beltway: California’s Nightmare the Future for Other States?
Mike Brownfield /
The budget shortfalls, plunging revenue, and economic woes plaguing near-broke California could foretell the future of other cash-strapped states.
A new study by The Pew Center on the States found that the economic pressures that pushed California to the brink of a total economic meltdown are also found in nine other states across the country, all of which could face a financial disaster just like the one in the Golden State.
Those states with economic conditions most like California’s include Oregon, Nevada, Arizona, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Florida, New Jersey and Rhode Island. What do they all have in common? Major drops in revenue, growing budget gaps, increasing unemployment, high foreclosure rates, a supermajority requirement for state legislatures to pass budget bills (which includes making budget cuts or raising taxes), and similar troubles managing long-term fiscal matters and budgetary processes.