Quote:
Originally posted by gomarlins3
..... Amazing how this budget problem materialized AFTER the election.......
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I'm going from memory here, so probably not accurate on the numbers, but close. I read in the paper the other day that the budget was shored up before the election by "selling" the states future "share" of the tobacco "settlement", worth around $12 billion, for a one time payment of around $4 billion. Now, the state relies even more heavily on tobacco taxes, and it is in the states best interest if people continue to smoke. Whenever I read about this group or that fighting over how to spend the ill gotten tobacco "settlement" money, it seems like a bunch of crooks in an alley fighting over a freshly stolen wallet. I guess if someone steals from you at gunpoint, but lets you live after you give up your money, you could call that a settlement.
joe kennedy