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Thursday, December 10, 2009

State of New Jersey is screwed

I remember in high school being told one of the better things about New Jersey is it's bonds where AAA, and debt low. New Jersey has a high per capita income on average compared to other states. Plenty of corporate headquarters are in New Jersey.

I knew New Jersey had strayed and was piling on the debt, but I didn't realize how much.

New Jersey has $36.5 billion of gross tax-supported debt.
New Jersey has a population of 8,682,661.
That is $4,203 for every person in New Jersey, employed or not.

Compared to California
California has $75.2 billion of gross tax-supported debt.
California has a population of 36,756,666.
That is $2,045 for every person in California, employed or not.

Considering that California's economy dwarfs NJ, this is a little disturbing. What really disturbs me is if this economic downturn lasts through 2012, as I expect, NJ's options will be limited due to the debt burden it has already created.

To read more, see Mish's Blog post "Coming Collapse of Municipal Bonds; States, Cities Dig Deeper Holes"

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