Even Mississippi And Arkansas Are Better Off Financially Than Louisiana

Wednesday, 27 July 2011 15:53

Even Mississippi And Arkansas Are Better Off Financially Than Louisiana

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Louisiana Economy

While some Louisiana politiicians are likely to claim that the state is in good financial shape, that unemployment is lower than its neighbors and that the economy is robust and the best in the South, according to the Institute For Truth in Accounting, Louisiana is at the bottom of the Deep South States in its “Financial State of the Economy as of Fiscal 2009”.

This report bodes poorly for Louisiana as federal monies dry up even more due to the national debt and an uncertain economy. The state ranks 43^rd, with the honors of the state sinking in the deepest of debt being Connecticut while the best, Wyoming lofting an incredible surplus of over 15 billion dollars. All but four of the 50 states have negative balances, with some much worse than others.

According to the Institute, Louisiana is one of a majority of states which has been pushing the current compensation costs onto future taxpayers. The Institute claims the actual national debt is over 70 trillion dollars which underscores the difficulty for the federal government to help the states and Louisiana, financially.

Historically, Louisiana has always been compared with Arkansas and Mississippi as one of the three states in the U.S. on the bottom of most lists.

But, how bad off is the state compared to those neighbors?

Here is a comparative chart in millions which reflects that Louisiana has an amazing 45.4 billion dollars in assets compared to Mississippi’s 23.8 billion dollars and Arkansas’s 22 billion dollars. Despite those assets, Louisiana needs a whopping 21.1 billion dollars to pay its bills while Mississippi needs 10.3 billion and Arkansas only requires 700 million dollars.

Why is Louisiana so broke compared to its neighbors?

In short, the state has 36.3 billion dollars in bills compared to Mississippi’s 16.8 billion and Arkansas’s 8.5 billion dollars.

	Assets	Less Capital Assets	Less assets restricted by law or contract	Assets available to pay bills	Bills	Money Needed To Pay Bills	Each Taxpayer’s Burden
Louisiana	45.4	21.7	8.5	15	36.3	21.1	16,800
Mississippi	23.8	15	2.3	6.5	16.8	10.3	14,300
Arkansas	22	12.4	1.6	8	8.5	700	700

Here are also the list of Louisiana’s liabilities in billions

State bonds $10.3B

Other liabilities $11.0B

Less Debt Related to Capital Asset $4.5B

Net reported liabilities $16.8B

Less Reported Retirement Liabilities $1.8B
Unfunded Pension Benefits Due $7B
Unfunded Retirees' Health Care Benefits Due $14.3B
Total Liabilities $36.3B

So, when our politicians tell us how good Louisiana is doing compared to the rest of the country or compared to those in the Deep South or even compared to our closest neighbors, perhaps we should ask them to tell us the rest of the story.

by Stephen Sabludowsky, Publisher of Bayoubuzz.com

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Click here to download the full report.

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