Description: This is
a VOA Special English Economics Report.
See text below
Text:
The recession may be easing, but American states are
still feeling the pain. Most of
the fifty states began their budget year July first.
Almost all states require balanced budgets. Already,
some predict new deficits.
Congress included state aid in the two-year stimulus
plan approved in February. But states
have had to find other ways to fill budget holes.
The recession has hit especially hard in California,
home of the world's eighth largest economy and one
out of eight Americans. In August, Governor Arnold
Schwarzenegger signed a new budget to solve his
state's deficit. The budget included around fifteen
billion dollars in spending cuts. That was in
addition to fifteen billion dollars in cuts passed
in February. But spending cuts in the eighty-five
billion dollar budget might still not be enough to
solve long-term problems.
The Republican governor angered some Democrats when
he vetoed several additional spending items before
he signed the budget. The money will be held as an
emergency reserve. The governor himself compared the
budget to the old Western movie "The Good, the Bad
and the Ugly."
Education faces the biggest reductions. Prisons and
health care also face big cuts. Californias finances
have become so bad, the state began to buy goods and
services with promises to pay later. Now, California
has a budget. The state can seek loans to pay its
bills until more tax money comes in later this year.
But California also has the lowest credit rating of
any state. All of the rating agencies still rate
California as worthy of investment. However,
downgrades have increased its borrowing costs.
Some people blame Californians themselves for the
current troubles of the Golden State. There is
debate over "budget by ballot" -- putting tax
questions to popular votes. Voters in the last few
years, and most recently in May, have rejected
several ballot measures that would have raised
taxes.
California may rewrite its tax system. The state
depends heavily on income tax. But those revenues
fall sharply in bad economic times.
Critics say even with the budget agreement,
California is still in trouble. They say some of the
cost cuts are simply accounting tricks that cannot
be repeated next year.
And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report.
You can find more economic news on our Web site,
voaspecialenglish.com. You can also find transcripts
and podcasts of our reports.
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personally reviewed this video and found it appropriate for
the news section of English Global Group. This
is a Voice of America video which covers an interesting
topic in Special English. I would appreciate some feedback from both
students and teachers about this video. You can comment in
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