Greg predicts the state will financially collapse sometime around the end of September:
My best guess is that the state finally runs out of cash, gimmicks and borrowing capacity on September 30th of this year. That’s the date of a major payment to schools and at our current pace, it seems unlikely that we will be able to make that payment.
Hmm. That’s about one week before early voting starts in the Nov. 2 election.
This article appears in Jan 28 – Feb 3, 2010.
Sept. 29 is B-day. What an awesome gift!
Why is it taking so long?
Because they still have a few final tricks to play. It’s kinda like if you were going broke but hadn’t yet reached the point of floating payday loans to give you another six months of life.
Arizona’s financial situation is the scariest economic story in the country, the worst fiscal mess any state has fallen into in American history and, notwithstanding Nintzel, it’s getting little press in these parts. This will certainly change, but the present lack of public awareness and public interest is stunning. I am reminded of the familiar anecdote about how the musicians kept playing on the deck of the Titanic.
Nobody knows exactly what happens when the State Treasury literally runs out of money, although a brave have begun to wonder what it means to approach such a situation without a budget. But the situation couldn’t be more serious, and now would be a nice time to start thinking about it. A legislature interested in payday loans, Presidential birth certificates and above all, tax cuts will solve nothing, and that’s the legislature we happen to have. How it got to be that way is an interesting question, and one that would likely prompt some helpful debate about clean elections, but now’s probably not the time. Now’s the time to realize we’re really, truly fucked, and in dire need of a sober look at our politics.