Housing Slump Pinches States in Pocketbook

[Demeter]

Source: NYTimes

April 8, 2007
Housing Slump Pinches States in Pocketbook
By ABBY GOODNOUGH

MIAMI, April 7 — State tax revenues around the country are growing far more slowly this year and in some cases falling below projections, a result of the housing market slowdown that has curbed voracious spending on real estate, building materials, furniture and other items.

Nowhere is the downturn more apparent than in Florida, where tax revenue is projected to drop this year for the first time since the energy crisis of the 1970s.

But other states, especially those where housing prices soared in recent years, are also seeing their collections slow, especially in the sales and real estate transfer tax categories. While the economy remains generally strong and it is too early to predict whether the housing slump will have long-term effects, some states will have to adjust their wish lists.

For example, New Jersey could face a $2.5 billion shortfall by mid-2008, Gov. Jon S. Corzine has said, and may lease its turnpike or its lottery to a private company to raise money. In California, where income tax receipts in January were $1 billion less than forecast, a nonpartisan legislative analyst has urged budget cuts and warned that the state could have about $2 billion less in revenue this year and next than Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has projected....New home sales nationally fell in February to the lowest rate in seven years, and homeowners who tapped into plentiful home equity and spent extravagantly during the real estate boom have started to cut back.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/08/us/08housing.html?hp

[Heywood J]

1. And so it begins...

You can't keep buying on credit forever, the subprimes were just the first to go.

[cliss]

2. Memo from CLiss to Jon Corzine:

"You can't squeeze blood from a turnip".

He's planning to lease the turnpike or lottery to raise money.
Good Luck Cuz you're gonna need it.

[Gregorian]

3. The baby boom is bust.

It's a culture that thrives on growth. There isn't much else to say. The planet is only so big. Let reality reign.

[Demeter]

4. The Baby Boom Isn't a Culture

and as a life-long Boomer (2nd half) I can attest that we've gotten the short end of the stick: 30 years of wage stagnation while CEOs robbed companies blind and drove them into the ground; GOP Crooks All the Time, from Nixon to Reagan to Bush to Bush Redux, while Carter and Clinton were abused continuously, the destruction of everything that made America the magnet for people looking for a better life. And war, war, unceasing war. Can't blame any of that on Boomers.

[sam sarrha]

5. and now they are taking the pensions..and retirement funds, just looting them with a big OK from *