Is Massachusetts really making a robust recovery from the recession like the Patrick-Murray Administration keeps saying we are? We’d like to believe it, but all signs seem to indicate otherwise.
Just take a look at this week's headlines. Our 9 percent unemployment rate is the second-highest in the New England region, home foreclosures were up 80 percent in July (a direct result of the state’s high unemployment rate, according to Banker and Tradesman), and consumer confidence is down so much that retailers experienced a disappointing back to school season in August.
As If all this wasn’t bad enough, the State House News Service is now reporting that the state’s budget deficit has grown even more than originally anticipated, with a $2 billion deficit projected for Fiscal Year 2011.
Clearly, things aren’t as rosy as the Patrick-Murray Administration would like everyone to believe. But what’s really disappointing is that Beacon Hill decided to resort to its old “tax and spend” ways to try to bail the state out of its mess, rather than pursuing meaningful government reforms and cost-saving measures to help create new jobs and reduce the deficit.
