To those fretting about the very real budget problems of U.S. cities and states, their difficulty in fulfilling financial promises they made and the implications of all that for the market in tax-free bonds, here’s a number that might offer a measure of reassurance. 72. Or, if you like, 77.
These numbers represent the percentages, respectively, of the number of polled New Yorkers who support the tough budget proposal of the state’s new Democratic governor, Andrew Cuomo, and the percentage who have a favorable view of him. (The source is the Siena Research Institute.)
That’s New York, the fabled liberal state. Across the river in New Jersey, the controversial Republican governor, Chris Christie, is lighting into government worker benefit and retirement plans that threaten the state’s fiscal future.
