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Thurs: Magic Numbers
posted at 2009-02-12 23:26 | Last modified 2009-02-12 23:26
The good news: WUNC’s Valentine’s Fundraiser is over Friday. The bad news: there’s still a long way to go to make our goal.
Luckily, we’ve got a couple of blandishments hidden up our collective sleeve. First, there’s another trip to Italy. Second, we’re giving away an iPod Nano every hour till we wrap it up at 7pm.
Go on, admit it. You know you want (another) one. So call 1-800-962-9862 – I’ll be on air from 3 to 7pm – or pledge online here.
Pick a number
We’ve all heard ad nauseum about the stimulus bill “deal, ” but on the eve of the vote, no one seems to know exactly what the deal entails. The Sunlight Foundation says the bill’s been given what amounts to a get-out-of-committee-free card. As a reporter, I have to agree. If this thing’s really going to fix our economy, don’t you think your elected leaders would want to show it off?
Details at the state level aren't just murky -- they’re largely nonexistent. Greensboro’s Mark Binker scored an advance PR cheatsheet from a sympathetic congressional staffer, but it doesn’t offer much aside from spin. What’s clear between the lines of recent reports is that the chunk of change allocated to “stabilize” state budgets will be much smaller in the final deal than the House first proposed.
In most cases, no one counts on imaginary numbers coming out of Congress till the ink is dry. But with the economic stakes higher than ever, leaders of states across the country have taken to triangulating from early versions, and NC is no exception.
The 7% “reversion” cuts announced by Governor Bev Perdue only add up to $1.1B toward the $2B shortfall in the current year’s budget. The remaining $900M was to come from the Feds, much of it from the House’s proposed $79B earmark for state stabilization. The compromise (rumor has it) pares that back to $54B. How that’ll impact NC’s share isn’t yet clear, but it’s a safe bet it’ll be smaller – and that means deeper state cuts will be needed to balance this year’s budget.
Here’s hoping more solid state numbers emerge over the next few days. In the meantime, you can catch up on the currently available details over at NCSL.
Comments? Drop me a line.
