States Continue To Implode, Due To Financial Meltdown

While most states in the Union are busy cutting their own throats with budget cuts and personnel furloughs, two remain with no budgets at all—Connecticut and Pennsylvania.

In Connecticut, the Republican Governor M. Jodi Rell is keeping the state going by executive orders, although this will become more and more difficult going into the fall. She is insisting on more cuts than the legislature is prepared to give, and opposes tax hikes on the wealthy. Both the legislature and the governor agree, however, on a $290 million cut in Medicaid.

In Pennsylvania, there is still a stalemate between Gov. Ed Rendell and the Republican-controlled legislature. Besides putting localities into desperate conditions (including the city of Philadelphia), the lack of a budget means that the state cannot receive $3.8 billion in Federal stimulus money, which is earmarked for education, prisons, and housing programs.