Great Recession took deep toll across U.S. states

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rockin'robin

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The nation's recent recession had a "broad and deep" impact across the United States, but certain states such as Florida and California were particularly hard-hit, according to a report released on Thursday.

The study, led by Yale University political science professor Jacob Hacker, found that while the U.S. Northeast was largely spared from the economic fallout in the years after the Great Recession, the U.S. South and West were hit harder.

Researchers said their study is the first state-by-state look at the how the downturn affected economic security and household incomes. It was paid for by the Rockefeller Foundation, a global nonprofit organization focused on relieving economic inequality.

States in the Midwest, a large industrial hub, saw a slower economic erosion from 2008 to 2010, the findings showed. The recession officially ran from late 2007 to mid-2009.

"No part of the nation was spared. Nonetheless, some states were hit particularly hard," the report said.

Hacker's team ranked the recession's impact on states by developing a measurement tool based on government economic data, called the Economic Security Index.

The index represents the percentage of the population who experienced a substantial financial loss from one year to the next. Specifically, it shows the share of Americans who experienced a financial loss of 25 percent or greater due to either a decline in income, an increase in medical spending or both.

States with the worst economic losses from 2008 to 2010 were Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas and California. Among the states with the least impact were Vermont, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Maine.

Researchers found several factors linked to a state's hardship, including poverty rates, the number of college graduates and unemployment rates, although the role of employment was somewhat murky.

Some states such as Mississippi and Arkansas saw higher levels of insecurity even though they had "relatively modest declines in employment," according to the report. Other states, including Michigan and Utah, had lower levels of insecurity despite higher unemployment.

While the recession hit many states hard, the problem has been growing for decades, researchers said. Their data looked back as far as 1986 and found a substantial rise in economic insecurity since then.

The longer-term findings indicate "the broad vulnerability of Americans of all walks of life and in all parts of the nation to large income losses," Hacker and his team wrote.

Although some states fared better than others, "residents of all states are facing very high levels of insecurity," they said. "The relatively better performance of a few regions does not diminish the need for an effective federal response."

Great Recession took deep toll across U.S. states - Yahoo! News
 
It hardly affected North Dakota. That's due in large part to the oil boom here (expected to draw enough workers to raise the state population from 600k to over a million by 2020). And due in part to the state's constitutional requirement of a balanced budget each year. The state never got into the red like many states did. It wasn't legal to do so.
 
It hardly affected North Dakota. That's due in large part to the oil boom here (expected to draw enough workers to raise the state population from 600k to over a million by 2020). And due in part to the state's constitutional requirement of a balanced budget each year. The state never got into the red like many states did. It wasn't legal to do so.

Sure but I don't want live in cold winter that insanely affect my anxiety.

I prefer California and Florida.
 
Who says it is illegal to balance the budget? Im lost with it, it was never ok not to balance the budget.

I'm talking about the North Dakota State Constitution. It is constitutionally specified that the legislative budget be balanced before it is passed, each and every year. This is why North Dakota does not have problems with government debt like many states do.

This is what I said, "The state never got into the red [meaning, to go into debt] like many states did. It wasn't legal to do so."

The national budget and debt is a whole other matter. The U.S. Constitution does not require a balanced budget.
 
I'm talking about the North Dakota State Constitution. It is constitutionally specified that the legislative budget be balanced before it is passed, each and every year. This is why North Dakota does not have problems with government debt like many states do.

The national budget and debt is a whole other matter.

The constitution in California require balanced budget but they are in red right now.
 
The constitution in California require balanced budget but they are in red right now.

Checked around a bit. It looks like several states have balanced budget amendments. There is some variety in what conditions allow them to ignore the requirement and in actually adhering to it.

ND's requirement is very tight, I'm not sure there are any allowed cases where it can be ignored, and in any case, it is always balanced from year to year. This has been the case for decades.

Having balanced budgets forces the state to make sure the expenses match the revenue, or are less than the revenue. It's a good policy for anybody. Certainly makes it easier to weather recessions.

It helps that ND also has a multi-billion dollar surplus from oil taxes, but the no-state-debt, balanced-budget regime would have put the state in a good position anyway.
 
Checked around a bit. It looks like several states have balanced budget amendments. There is some variety in what conditions allow them to ignore the requirement and in actually adhering to it.

ND's requirement is very tight, I'm not sure there are any allowed cases where it can be ignored, and in any case, it is always balanced from year to year. This has been the case for decades.

Having balanced budgets forces the state to make sure the expenses match the revenue, or are less than the revenue. It's a good policy for anybody. Certainly makes it easier to weather recessions.

It helps that ND also has a multi-billion dollar surplus from oil taxes, but the no-state-debt, balanced-budget regime would have put the state in a good position anyway.

Oh I see, 49 states have constitution that require balanced budget, except for Vermont.

The unemployment rate in ND is impressed low.
 
Oh I see, 49 states have constitution that require balanced budget, except for Vermont.

The unemployment rate in ND is impressed low.

Well, it looks like I'm wrong that a Constitutional requirement of a balanced budget is the magic pill to ensuring a balanced budget. :D It works for ND, but apparently, it doesn't work for other states.

ND unemployment is low due to the oil drilling boom. Oil has become huge here. If it wasn't for oil, I'm sure we would have employment issues like the rest of the country.
 
Well, it looks like I'm wrong that a Constitutional requirement of a balanced budget is the magic pill to ensuring a balanced budget. :D It works for ND, but apparently, it doesn't work for other states.

ND unemployment is low due to the oil drilling boom. Oil has become huge here. If it wasn't for oil, I'm sure we would have employment issues like the rest of the country.

Yup, seems like that.

I don't have problem with oil drilling to grow the job, however just long as pollution reach safe or acceptable level, or try to find way to reduce the pollution without disrupt the oil drilling.
 
Yup, seems like that.

I don't have problem with oil drilling to grow the job, however just long as pollution reach safe or acceptable level, or try to find way to reduce the pollution without disrupt the oil drilling.

There are definitely growing pains and pollution occurring due to the oil drilling. ND wasn't really prepared for the boom. Hopefully, the inspectors can ramp up and get on the ball.
 
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