Many States Need Bailouts (or, Where Did the Money Go?)

Please help. Tell me the answer. I sure dont know what it is. I thought if you voted, your voice would be heard. This country is turned into a herd of lemmings.Look at all the corrupt people put back into office by the uneducated idiot voters of this nation. I am a republican but would never vote for a known corrupt individual. People keep voting time and time again for the same slimebags that have held the position for ever. When will someone or some group come forward with a plan to even the playing field and stop this insanity. T Boone pickens has done a good job on his energy plan. We need someone like that to step up and get the true voice of the people heard. We dont need better voter turnout, we need smarter voter turnout and if you dont know the policies and background of the candidate do us all a favor and stay home and watch the results on TV. That is if that doesnt interfere with your reality or gossip show.

Unfortunately I'm from Illinois... things are so bad here that our Governor tried to sell a senate seat among other things... we must not have been in line for a bailout. Kidding aside, the I think the public servants of the entire country have gone f*&$*ing crazy ... to use Gov. Blago's favorite word.

BADBYE LOSS OF JOBS: People elect governments which promise more money in their hands to spend.In other words governments are forced by the people to cause inflation.People require money for growth of their existence through developing human babies,increasing their activities through machines and tools and extension in space eg. by acquiring new land & constructing new dwellings.But whenever inflation occured it was invariably followed by a depression or deflation with loss of jobs.When jobs were lost the - loosers tended to diversify into new functions becoming elements of novel economic entities. Historically inflation of immense energy deflated in to elementary particles.The inflating clouds of elementary particles de- flated into clouds of hydrogen atoms.Expanding Hydrogen clouds deflated into galaxies of superstars which through a further series of contractions & explosions (nova's) produced elements of the periodic table.The inflating cosmic dust from nova's was contracted to form earth.The diversification of the original mass into newer entities of existence continued on earth because the earth went through a series of hot's(inflations) and cools(depressions).The living systems were formed which diversified quickly into newer forms whenever their was a depression (i.e cooling) and inflated to huge populations during warmer periods on earth.Depression was therefore obligatory for differentiation or diversification and inflation was obligatory for growth and both the actions were necessary for each other. Inflationary activities of man have now come to a critical point because of globalization of economy.When a company faces monetary (energy) shortage the safest way for it to survive is first to cut down extravagant activities and then to cut down salaries and jobs of human employees because human resources can be regenrated quickly on return of good times.The non human resources such as land, building and machines are very difficult to regenrate and so if they are lost the company dies. Cosumption surplus money saved by people or taxed from them is collected by institutions and provided for enterprises which build infrastructure substratum to culture the increasing human resource.But the amount of energy convertible into money per day on earth is limited by factors such as the amount of recieved sunlight(eg.by limiting photosynthesis & hydroelectricity),amount of extracted fossil fuels per day & the amount of nuclear energy produced per day.When we feed our enterprises false money (overdrafts not based on real collection base) at a rate more than we are obtaining from nature then we head for depression & are liable to continue loosing jobs.

Are you saying that politicians should actually be accountable? That will be the day. And they wonder why we do not like taxes. They only go to enrich politicians or their families. How many millionares have come from Washington,or any state capital, after they "serve" their county?

Face reality gang....were broke....it will be interesting to see what the states will do beginning with California....

The unemployment money was diverted to Obama's campaign; I like how they give every reason under the sun why he won except the amount of money he raised and spent: Obama Raised $741,653,908. Surely some of that is our unemployment money. McCain Raised $367,080,671. Some of that is for sure our money (taxpayers). Obama didn't need matching funds, he got enough from overseas Muslims and didn't want the limits matching funds imposed. Isn't it funny how it is all working out, Obama puts the entire Clinton gang back to work except Bill, his time is coming I am sure. Change? Change back to 8 years ago. Princess Kennedy will now be given a Senator seat for free. She would barely be a good PTA chapter president. The people of New York are such fools to take this - but, after all, why have an election - they voted in the carpetbagger Hillary Clinton after all. They have proven they will vote for whomever they are told to.

Can the guy's name really be Madoff, like in "Made Off"? Like Made Off with your case? It is almost like a really, really bad joke... Why would anyone, but the taxpayer, ask where the money went? Everyone else knows, in to their pockets. Shame on these people. Instant Karma's gonna get you Gonna knock you off your feet Better recognize your brothers Ev'ryone you meet Why in the world are we here? Surely not to live in pain and fear Why on earth are you there? When you're ev'rywhere Come and get your share -John Lennon

The states who are in fiscal trouble are the ones who have continued to expand government programs without any means to pay for them. Look at Hawaii; just a quick view of what Nationalized Health Care will look like; it bankrupted the state in 7 MONTHS! Califonia expanded it's government without rendering additions to it. It also has a wonderful ability to cook its books as well. Anyone look at what Orange County did; finance short term obligations with long term bonds? What was that result? California also will not charge its consumers the real cost of utilities. There is typically a huge shortage on what the consumer pays for electricity from what it actually costs. When was the last time California built a Nuclear power plant of its own? There is really no need to even bring up Illinois --- That is not even a bad joke. How can all of the other politicians in this state be corrupt and we are to believe that Obama has not had his hands just as dirty the same as the rest? The reporters and attorneys swarmed Alaska looking for one shred of dirty laundry on Palin; where are those sharks now looking for the dirt on Obama... I better not get started here ... way too much to get into. States like Texas have a surplus. Texas can also pull out of the Union Legally. Maybe we should consider letting Obama have is way with the other 49 states; though he believes there are 58; so I guess he would not miss Texas being gone.

Government will never be transparent, that's not how it is managed today, the bigger the government grows, the more money it needs, the more secret it needs and the more bureaucracy it needs. If you can not manage a budget, you should not have authority over it. Its funny how the government expects we the citizens to just pay to help their well connected buddies.

Re: the Indiana comments: Beg to differ but the highway that was 'leased' (not sold) is not our major highway. It's a toll-road that runs across the very top of Indiana (east to west) to Chicago. Leasing company doubled the toll rates; there are other highways that run parallel to the toll road and people are supposedly using them a lot more to avoid tolls. The state has a budget surplus of 1.2 Billion, but the governor (who I didn't vote for), is sitting on it because he expects things to get a lot worse. In addition to manufacturing losses, if you look at where the state gets it's money: income tax (less people working so less $$), property tax (has been reduced and falling house prices reduce it more), sales tax (increased by 1% to offset property taxes, but less spending means less $$), then it's not hard to see why the state is in trouble.

Watching your show this a.m., you asked the question, "can some states go broke?" The California legislature has been trying to do that for 40 years. Their present debacle is the third financial crisis in that time frame. My question is, if the Congress decides to help California, will they be bringing the Calif. Speaker of the Assembly, and the Senate majority leader before them to chastise them for irresponsible spending? Or, is that privilege reserved just for auto. execs. and other CEOs?

I love hearing interviews with elected officials (city and state) saying they must be bailed out because they simply can not cut back any more....um yes you can. It's either put money away when times are good and then spend it to keep the bloated levels going when times are bad or spend every dime when times are good and then cut back deeply when times are bad to match expenses to revenues. Politicians think you must match revenues to expenses it doesn't always work that way...some times you must cut expenses to match revenues.

Just keep paying your taxes and don't ask questions....oh and keep your own fisical house in ordere because unless you are a multibillion business then you are on your own in this mess.

Harry Truman became a Senator in 1934. During World War II he headed the Senate war investigating committee, checking into waste and corruption; perhaps as much as 15 billion dollars was missing. Things will never change and it is all about the bleeping money. They all stuff their pockets with gold every chance they get. As President, Truman made some of the most crucial decisions in history, after consultations with his advisers, ordered atomic bombs dropped on cities devoted to war. Two were Hiroshima and Nagasaki. By 1946 the first shipments of ceramics marked occupied Japan arrived through the child slave shops opened in Japan developed by the Chicago elite. Copyright infringement battles were won on copied designs and they used overseas labor to reproduce them. Not one dime was paid on those infringments and American companies closed. Things never change and unemployment money went on other pork projects. My guess is relatives of those in charge.

The states can't manage their budgets.(Led by CA, NY, MA) The Fed's can't manage theirs. (Where did all the Social Security trust fund money go?) But if you or I don't manage ours we lose our house, our cars, everything. Truly a case of do as I say, not as I do. What a mess. 15% (True calculation, not that crap reported by Washington) Unemployment by March. The next "good" year will be 2015, so hang on.

Well some of the money is being requested by our small MS town to improve storm drains because of some recent heavy rain that flooded a few yards. And to upgrade a couple parks. Sounds like a good use of federal money to me. Of course these are the same folks who bitched about federal money going to other states and communities for the same problems last year. Everyone wants their turn at the trough.

Quote from the Trumann show to all corporate media: (and from a scene in the movie when his faux wife stands up and advertises a product in the middle of dialog) "Who are you talking to ? "

Are you in any way suggesting that both federal and state governments be held accountable through transparency and fiscal responsibility for the billions of taxpayer dollars that they spend each day? The government at all levels operate just like Mr. Madoff. The government takes the taxpayer's dollars and blow this money on whatever suits their fancy. There is always the "blame game" so no one person actually takes responsibility. It is easier to place the blame on the entire "group" -- the democrats, the republicans, the White House, etc. Individuals within the Government are immune to the laws that apply to Madoff. (Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Nancy Pelosi -- even Newt Gingrich to name a few who game the system). Government held accountable? Nah, don't expect to see these politicians "do the right thing".

This is ridiculous. What about California where they were never able to balance their budget even during their boom years? There is no responsibility, no fear of taking unnecessary risks, because similar to Fannie and Freddie, they just assume that the federal government will come to the rescue. If states are not prepared to cut benefits, they must run surpluses during good economic periods. The federal government is no different, certainly not under Bush, building up record deficits during non-recession years.

We know where the money went. Why do you think our leaders can strut around town in fancy cars with drivers or Take trips to far away lands in the guise of doing business. We should all be throwing our shoes at our state capitals and Washington.