The best of times, the worst of times
Law and Rights

The best of times, the worst of times



Think you live in the state with the worst economy? Think again.

Everyone seems to know that California is in the biggest economic trouble, with an economy in the dumpster, high unemployment, and no easy way to fix any of it. What may surprise many is not California. It?s the other states that are so very close to their own economic abyss.

There?s a new study out that has looked at the economy of all 50 states and ranked them.

The PEW Charitable Trusts has crunched state numbers for more than a decade, with a goal of making state governments stronger in order to improve the services we all get for our tax dollars. Part of that includes reporting on the bad times and, as we all know, we are now in a blockbuster bad time.

They looked at numerous factors to come up with a scorecard for each state: foreclosures, budget gaps, loss of revenue, unemployment, how easy or hard it is for each state to raise its taxes in order to cover shortfalls, etc.

With a ?30" score being the worst and a lower score being better, here?s the ?top 10" of the worst state economies, in order: California, Arizona, Rhode Island, Michigan, Oregon, Nevada, Florida, New Jersey, Illinois, and Wisconsin.

Wyoming, Nebraska and Iowa scored the best.

So where does your state fit? Ohio is almost the center of the list while Georgia?s budget gap put it just a hair behind the auto belt states of Michigan-Wisconsin-Illinois by one point.

The worst ten states account for nearly a third of the US population and economy, which is why those states in particular matter to all of us.

What the study shows is just how much farther the US economy has to go, although there are bright spots of how hard some states are trying. Wyoming, for instance, had a 19.7% drop in revenue but managed to come with 2% of balancing its budget.

We?ll all get through this as the economy starts to get better and better, but if history has shown anything, it?ll be a longer road than anyone wants it to be.

Burdge Law Office
www.OhioConsumerLaw.com
Helping people protect themselves everyday. Since 1978.




- Now, Let's Turn The Page
With GM having finally filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy, maybe the auto industry and our whole economy can finally stop the dreading and nay-saying and move on. It's about time. 6,000 GM dealers received one of two letters from GM this week, the good...

- Who Owes The Most?
There's a new study out that tells what area of the country is in hock the most and who owes the least Analysts at Experian (one of the 3 national credit reporting agencies) conducted a nationwide study of consumers debt habits and turned up some...

- Consumer Reports Top 5 Vehicles To Avoid
A short while back, Consumer Reports recently published its annual "Best & Worst Cars" issue. Perusing the best car models is always fun, but it is equally important to pay attention to models that received the lowest scores. Consumer Reports rates...

- Top 5 Vehicles To Avoid
Today we do something unusual for us: we present an article from a guest writer. We may do this from time to time when we find someone that provides interesting and car-related thoughts that we can all benefit from. That's the case with Heather Johnson's...

- Recall Roundup
The new Chrysler is still busy cleaning up the old Chrysler's problems it seems. Federal safety investigators have announced that Chrysler is recalling nearly 300,000 SUV vehicles because of brake problems. The recall involves the 2006 and 2007 model...



Law and Rights








.