Things are tough all over.

   Breaking on The Buffalo News Web site today:
- Deficit grows to $3 billion as Paterson asks for ideas - Tom Precious/The Buffalo News
   ALBANY -- Fiscal officials in the Paterson administration and Legislature believe the state's deficit is at least $3 billion -- $900 million more than estimated in July.
   In a letter today to his negotiation counterparts in the Legislature, Robert Megna, the governor's budget director, said the Paterson administration needs the help of lawmakers to close the red ink.
   The request came a couple days after Paterson ordered $500 million worth of savings in state agencies -- which is about as much as he can do on his own, officials say, without approval from the Legislature.
   Hours later, Paterson rejected -- before it was even made public -- a five-year capital program for roads and bridges work around the state, saying the state's precarious fiscal condition will imperil the projects.

   Elsewhere:
- State's budget faces $415 million shortfall - The Des Moines (Iowa) Register
   State officials must ax $415 million in state spending over the next nine months, the most severe midyear cut in more than 40 years.
   It will mean trims and elimination of some government services, and some state employees will face layoffs.
   A projected nose dive in tax collections prompted Iowa Gov. Chet Culver on Wednesday to vow to cut at least 8.4 percent from the current budget, if not more.

- Heineman calls special session of Legislature to cut budget - The Lincoln (Neb.) Journal-Star
   The Legislature will meet in special session, possibly beginning Nov. 4, to deal with declining state tax receipts and revise the state budget, Gov. Dave Heineman announced Wednesday....
   General fund tax receipts through Sept. 30, the end of the first quarter of the two-year budget, are below projections for the quarter by $56.8 million, Heineman said. Gross general fund receipts for the month were $358 million, 9 percent below the forecast of $393 million.

- House approves state budget, accompanying tax bill - Pittsburgh (Pa.) Post-Gazette
   HARRISBURG -- It looks like 100 may be the General Assembly's lucky number, as legislators near the end of arduous work on a long-overdue state budget.
   In a 107-93 vote tonight, the state House approved a state spending plan along with a tax code bill, which includes $1.7 billion in new revenue to fund it...
   The revenue bill raises the cigarette tax by 25 cents per pack, delays the phaseout of a tax on business assets, authorizes leasing of more state forest land for natural gas drilling, depletes the state's "rainy day" emergency fund and starts a tax amnesty program aimed at getting scofflaws to pay up.
   The new taxes, which accompany $2 billion in federal stimulus aid and $25 billion from the sales tax, income tax, corporate taxes and other state revenues, will pay for a fiscal year 2009-10 budget of nearly $27.8 billion. The fiscal year started July 1 -- 99 days ago.

-- George Pyle/The Buffalo News

Comments

[Templar X]

An excellent place to drastically cut back is the New York State Prisons. All prisoners convicted of non-violent crimes should be phased out of the prison system permanently. At the same time, violent criminals convicted of crimes such as murder, rape, child molestation, kidnapping, armed robbery, etc., should be executed under new laws targeting them for being the menaces to civilization that they are!

After implementing the above outlined changes, New York State could likely close more than half of its prisons and eliminate half of its prison employees, whose salaries, wages, and benefits constitute the bulk of the costs in the NYS Prisons.

[Buffalo Libertarian]

Templar X, let the non-violent criminals finish their sentences (phase them out through attrition) but don't send any more non-violent criminals to prison. I'd be in favor of instituting the Singaporean practice of caning for some non-violent crimes and extensive community service for others (there are plenty of sidewalks to shovel in the winter and there's plenty of trash to pick up off the streets the rest of the year).

It's time to take a close look at exactly what services we want our state to provide, what things we want it to have power over, etc. There's simply too much government and it seemingly keeps growing, requiring more taxes just to keep the beast fed.

[Comino Reality]

SAVE BIG RIGHT NOW:

Eliminate government authorities such as the Niagara Power Authority and the the Buffalo and Fort Erie Peace Bridge Authority. Or drastically downsize and cut these boards, drastically cut their wages and benefits to reflect what private sector workers now are getting paid.

At least have a state wide control board freeze authority CEO wages.

Build a new truck crossing bridge between the U.S. and Canada in Lewiston/Queenston instead of this boon doggle proposal for a second Peace Bridge on the West Side of Buffalo, and the other nonsensical Ambassador Bridge in Blackrock.

Get the New York State Attorney General to sue the oil companies for over charging WNY'ers for gasoline.

[RKT]

If I remember correctloy, Buffalo went big for Eliot Spitzer who picked this guy Patterson as Lt. Governor. The Bills and Sabres are in Buffalo too. Looks like high taxes and misery share a common bond in Buffalo. The easy answewr is to cut state spending on personnel, benefits, and pensions being non-taxed. However, the NY answer will be higher hidden fees, more mediocre government service, and higher taxes driving more productive people to greener pastures. You can bank on it.

[Hank]

Money, Money, Money. Remember that all this debt will be paid back with a lot of cheaper dollars. Oil is nearly $80 a barrel again, and gold is at a new high near $1,060 (for one tiny ounce!).
The story(ies) about government debt and deficits above are not non-fiction. It is as fictional as a Stephen King novel because the financial system is broken, and commodities owners know it and will keep raising prices (check your utility bills lately?) and adding taxes onto them.
The Federal Reserve is the largest pawn shop in the world and can't get rid of the toxic assets it bought and are on its balance sheet.
There is another state governmental path taht will be taken. It's called default. A future chapter in this fictional novel everybody thinks is fact.

[Hank]

New York is following which state? You can read Troy Senik's "Who Killed California?" in National Affairs' inaugural issue.
http://nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/who-killed-california

[Hank]

Governor Paterson just looked ahead in the chapter titles of this work of fiction that is pulling the wool over the public's eyes:
"It is the only way to keep this state from going into default."
Oh, really, Governor?
It's about a broken financial system that must be replaced with one that has real standards. This morning Mark Haynes on CNBC cynically questioned the fact that a year in there has been no financial system reform. Of course not! That would mean Government Sachs would have to rescind the many millions in bonuses for executives. Today, Bank of America reported greater thna expected loan losses, and departing CEO Lewis must pay back this year's salary.
Governor, default is coming as long as this financial fiction story is believed.

[Hank]

Is Elizabeth Warren, Chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel, sufficient for a warning of a "Clear and Present Danger"? Yes, she is:
http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/article/355739/Wall-St.-Is-Winning-Elizabeth-Warren-%22Speechless%22-About-Record-Bonuses?tickers=XLF,FAS,FAZ,JPM,GS,BAC,C

[Buffalo Libertarian]

Hank wrote: "Governor, default is coming as long as this financial fiction story is believed."

Maybe that's not such a bad thing if it forces the New York State legislature to make some of the politically difficult decisions everyone knows they need to make.

[dd]

TESOR is an ISO9001 certified professional manufacturer of car alarm, security alarms and immobillisers.We can help you to prevent thiefs.You don't worry about your car. We accept OEM orders for nearly all products, including car alarm, security alarms, immobilizers,central lock actuators, sirens and switches.

[ho hummmmm]

Hey Buff News...HOT TOPIC of the DAY...doesn't that mean every day.
You update this every few months...why bother with it.
How about a blog that invites real hot stories that are happening to everyday people in this area...that the news has no idea about...spice up this blog setup to fit the changing times...make us want to write and tell everyone the truth about our Buffalo experiences!
You never know who might have a lead to a great topic.

[Hank]

The Buffalo News edition (Monday 11/9) focuses laser-like on the state government and especially the NYS legislature. It is greatly informative for the remaining citizens to see the folly of state hiring practices, raised taxes and fees, and basically unreformed spending practices, along with the lobbyist-influence peddling groups as unions and Wall Street bankers.
But this effort is hardly the answer by itself.
You have to read the CNBC remarks by Peter Brown, partner from MM&K, that "Bankers are like Domino's Pizza Franchises."
Ergo, where Domino's franchises fail when they do poorly, Washington uses taxpayer funds to prop up failed risk and insurance business schemes.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/33784537
This financial system failure kept alive by Geithner-Bernanke-Summers is acid eating away at the nation's entreprenurial yield side of the ROA (Return on Assets) equation.
The ROA is made up of two factors, i.e. Yield and Cost Control. The News editorial, like other "cost saving" recommendations, attacks one side, but leaves the more important Yield factor to be eaten away continually. Like businesses, you can always "save" by budgeting, but if there is no Revenue form Yield programs, your "seed corn" is being depleted faster and faster.
Being "thrifty" may just keep you from starving altogether, but won't produce "abundance." Yet, this is the Dawn of Abundance. It may be a Google-icious World, a Bank of Cisco World, a Rio Tinto-ized Commodity World. But it "ain't" here. Those IDA's are fish out of water, draining funds and taxes and producing nothing. Merge them and focus the effort on the real Yield factor. The Authorities in the State are another patronage laden sock-it-to-the-residents enclave.
Gold is rocketing as the dollar falls. Get the accountants ready to re-write the books.

[Hank]

SNL had the most biting comment this weekend. Amy Poehler, in talking about an announcement that the Goldman Sachs CEO, Lloyd Blankfein, had gotten "swine flu vaccination", said many thought it would be good news if the "vaccination" part were left off.
Of course, Lloyd Blankfein did not have swine flue, but caught foot-in-mouth disease instead, when he told us he "was doing God's work."
We do know he is "blessed" by the Secretary of the Treasury, Timothy Geithner.
Which gets to a less pithy and more to the point article by Dylan Ratigan of Huffington Post: "Why Keep Geithner?" You didn't know how the banking ponzi scheme works? Read on.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dylan-ratigan/why-keep-geithner_b_341908.html

[Hank]

Timothy Geithner is getting savaged by conservatives up on the Hill today. Financial reform means one thing to him, another to those who understand a strong dollar is in the nation's best interests.
Last night, Larry Kudlow wore a black tie to signal the falling fortunes of what was once King Dollar.
Andy Busch, on CNBC, says a key amendment is being voted on today. A "No" vote is a signal to sell the dollar. If you are worried, you should be.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/34040173
Then, there are the teams of financial forensic experts going over failed banks. It all comes back to toxic loans, failed regulation, mismanaged banks. Hello, there Congress, anybody home?
http://www.cnbc.com/id/34034961

[Hank]

Societe General has been quietly advising its wealth clients on preparing for the worst.
http://www.businessinsider.com/socgen-prepare-yourself-for-the-worst-case-scenario-2009-11