Professor Elam

Monday March 8 2010

 That was the opening to the Beverly Hillbillies, all social trends in the US tend to start on the West Coast, so let's head west to see what is happening. I commented in class a couple of weeks ago that we would see riots before this financial crisis ends, well we did not have to wait long. 

California raised state tuition a whopping 32% in November, now schools are facing cuts as the government has to juggle demands for prison guard raises versus university expenditures. And sure enough that reliable canary in the coal mine, the students at Berkeley are our early warning sign things are not well on the Left Coast. Bu the way tuition at UT Austin has gone from $2500 a semester to over $4,000 the last few years….

Now, remember, and it is impossible to ignore the politics of this, that CA and NY are both broke, read the article. And both states delivered this administration to the White House. So like the brokers who believed they were too big to fail, I am sure the states of CA and NY believe that the Federal Govt will eventually backstop their failures. And by backstop I mean, send money….. My question, at what point will the fiscally responsible states who are supporting all this say, wait a minute….