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According to the Student Loan Debt Clock, cumulative principle and interest owed is nearly $900 billion, rising by $2,854 per second, a shocking indictment of a Washington-sanctioned scam, affecting students and families alike. For many, lifetime debt bondage results, including in default, requiring payments and late penalties continue, or have them garnished from wages or other compensation. Once hooked, there's no escape under a system as ruthless as loan-sharking. Pay up or get knee-capped.
National Public Worker Cuts
According to a February Center on Budget and Policy Priority (CBPP) study, state governors face daunting fiscal challenges, saying:
"State tax collections, adjusted for inflation, are now 12 percent below pre-recession levels, while the need for state-funded services has not declined. As a result, even after making very deep spending cuts over the last several years, states continue to face large budget gaps."
Currently, 45 states and the District of Columbia expect FY 2012 deficits. As a result, hundreds of thousands of jobs and public services are affected. FY "2012 (beginning July 1 in most states) is shaping up as (their) most difficult budget year on record." Yet options for addressing them are dwindling. Past federal aid is largely gone. Deep cuts are coming, affecting public workers and other residents alike, hitting poor and low-income ones hardest.
Total state spending on average will be 10% less than in 2008. Only North Dakota and Alaska aren't affected. North Dakota's state owned bank (the nation's only one) helped create the largest ever budget surplus during the height of the economic crisis. The governor and legislature are looking for ways to spend it, including by increasing public services, not cutting them. Alaska benefits from its oil revenue.
CBPP said that "(d)espite modest signs of improvement, states continue to face a long road to recovery." As a result, "significant state shortfalls are expected to persist into the future." Moreover, the more staff and compensations packages are cut, the less revenue is produced that, in turn, means further reductions ahead as part of a continuing race to the bottom cycle, hammering ordinary people most. For them, greater deprivation and despair are coming, not relief when they most need it.
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