Why I Hope We Won't Get Into Another War

Good lord, I had no idea the current slump in the economy has such a huge impact on the state budgets.

The states are desperate, struggling with their worst financial crises since World War II. They have tapped rainy day funds, raided tobacco money that was supposed to have provided health care for children and taxed every possible vice.
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In Pleasant Ridge, Mich., the police are considering a deal to allow companies to advertise on the sides of patrol cars in exchange for cheap vehicle leases.
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In Ms. Monson's home state, Oklahoma, teachers have driven buses, mopped the floors and even cooked cafeteria food, as support staffs for major school districts have been sharply reduced or eliminated.
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But for Jonathan Bradley, a disabled father of two, the cuts mean the end of medication that has kept him alive, said his wife, Mary. She works as a paralegal in Omaha, but the job offers no health insurance. The family had been eligible for Medicaid, the state-federal program for the poor and disabled. But to balance its budget, Nebraska raised the eligibility threshold by more than 30 percent.

"We even considered getting a divorce just so one of us would qualify," Ms. Bradley said. "What are we supposed to do, live in a tent?"
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Oregon has been hit particularly hard. In Portland, in a last-minute effort to keep schools open for the full school year, teachers agreed to work two weeks without pay the equivalent of a 5 percent pay cut.