economic woes

The States Are Out of Money, Too

While Washington’s debt crisis and its not-so-super committees have taken up most of the media attention, it turns out state budgets are taking a walloping as well. According to a national report to be released Tuesday, the end of the federal stimulus has shifted a huge burden to the states: Their Medicaid spending alone will skyrocket 29 percent this year. State and local governments have cut almost half a million jobs since 2010, and according to the Washington Post, will face even bigger costs when Obamacare goes into effect in 2014.