[Vision2020] The Best and Worst Run States in America: A Survey of All 50

[Don Coombs]

Idaho's pinchpenny approach to the education of its young people and the
welfare of all of its people just naturally makes it look half-decent in an
index based primarily on financials.

Or maybe the index explains why everyone wants to live in North Dakota and
nobody wants to live in California.

Don Coombs


On Fri, Nov 22, 2013 at 7:51 AM, Kenneth Marcy <kmmos1 at frontier.com> wrote:

>  The Best and Worst Run States in America: A Survey of All 50
>
> *http://tinyurl.com/ln65lae <http://tinyurl.com/ln65lae> *
>
> How well run is your state? It can be difficult to objectively assess the
> quality of a state’s management. The economy and standard of living can be
> affected by decisions made decades ago, forces outside the control of the
> state’s government and administrators, as well as the government’s own
> actions.
>
> Every year, 24/7 Wall St. tries to answer this question by conducting an
> extensive survey of every state. To determine how well states are managed,
> we examined their financial data, as well as the services they provide and
> their residents’ standard of living. This year, North Dakota is the
> best-run state in the country for the second year in a row, while
> California is the worst-run for the third year in a row.
>
> *20. Idaho*
> *> Debt per capita:* $2,489 (16th lowest)
> *> Budget deficit:* 3.6% (39th largest)
> *> Unemployment:* 7.1% (tied-23rd lowest)
> *> Median household income:* $45,489 (15th lowest)
> *> Pct. below poverty line:* 15.9% (tied-22nd highest)
>
> Idaho’s government has relatively conservative spending habits, if the
> last few years are any indication. The state spent just $5,510 per resident
> in fiscal 2011, putting it just outside of the 10 lowest spenders. Revenue
> was roughly $6,600 per resident that year. The state had just a 3.6% budget
> shortfall as of fiscal 2012, one of the smallest in the country. As of the
> end of that year, the state had funded nearly 85% of its aggregate pension
> obligations. While Idaho may be doing a better-than-average job managing
> limited resources, the state’s economy appears to be struggling. Idaho’s
> GDP grew just 0.4% last year, worse than all but a handful of states. The
> state was one of the hardest hit in the region during the housing price
> collapse, the effects of which could be still seen in the high foreclosure
> rate last year.
>
> The Methodology by which the survey was done:
>
>
> http://247wallst.com/special-report/2013/11/21/the-best-and-worst-run-states-in-america-a-survey-of-all-50-2/7/
>
> Ken
>
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