We All Take The Hit
Dec 31st, 2007 at 7:53 am by Susie
It’s important that people understand this subprime crisis has wide-reaching effects on everyone. This isn’t a matter of “just poor people with shitty credit.” The corporate greed behind this sustained economic pillage has resulted in a train wreck that will affect us for decades (and of course, somehow the Republicans will manage to blame it all on the Democrats):
DENVER — Dozens of states, counties and cities across the nation will enter the new year facing deep and unexpected budget holes as the widening mortgage crisis cuts sharply into tax revenue.
Elected officials, scrambling to adjust, are trimming money for public schools, reducing grants to help the homeless, even asking police to dry-clean their uniforms less often.
“We’re talking about a pretty tough fiscal environment for the next four or five years,” said Christopher W. Hoene, the director of policy and research for the National League of Cities. “Libraries, parks, after-school programs . . . you’ll see lots of questions raised about cities’ abilities to fund them.”
What makes this all so painful is that up until a few months ago, many government officials felt certain they could weather the storm. They knew property values wouldn’t soar forever. So they factored a downturn into budget calculations. They built up sizable emergency funds.
But the rainy day they prepared for turned out to be a monsoon.
Trickle down economics, indeed.