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August 19, 2009 (LPAC)—"At least half the states already" are in the red "less than a month after their new budgets began July 1," according to Stateline.org, a project of the Pew Center on the States, which yesterday posted its state-by-state annual review of all 50 states.

Already, just six weeks into the new fiscal year, there are crises and calls for legislative emergency sessions cross country. For instance, on Aug. 11, Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons said—given his state's plunge in gaming tax revenue, which funds 27% of Nevada's spending—"If it gets to a point where we no longer can make adjustments [cuts—ed.], we will have to consider a special session and the Legislature's help." In Maryland, Gov. Martin O'Malley must identify, by September, where $700 million must be cut from "new budget" spending, because the legislature is out of session. He has found $250 million, and told the Maryland Association of Counties Aug. 15 that he has "trouble sleeping," over the prospect of $470 million more in cuts ahead.

Three states have not yet even managed to come up with a pretense of an FY 2010 budget at all because of their impossible revenue-to-spending gap—Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Arizona.

Various think tanks put the states' two-year (FY 2009 and 2010) revenue losses between $215 billion to $275 billion—but that involves a linear projection forward in a situation which is actually a total meltdown. Only the LaRouche HBPA and related emergency measures can end the collapse-process.

According to the Stateline.org study, cuts made to "balance" the 2009 FY budgets were:

* 35 states cut higher education or increased tuition;

* 26 slashed prison funding, with 7 states closing prisons;

* 17 states forced state workers to take furloughs or unpaid leave, affecting 850,000 people;

* 4 states required Medicaid patients to pay more for care; and

* 8 states cut optional Medicaid benefits such as dental care.

But it gets worse. To enact their new, failing, FY 2010 budgets, 15 states incorporated further cuts to Medicaid programs. "Some 40,000 poor people were cut from Washington state's basic health care plan, and another 29,500 poor adults lost coverage when Minnesota eliminated a program for individuals who don't qualify for Medicaid," the report states. These individuals are the poor people who are too non-elderly, childless, or otherwise make a bit too much income to qualify for any medical aid at all; so, now they are supposed to fend for themselves and die.