I will gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger, in a cartoon this was cute. For a state in the 21st Century it’s not. California’s budget woes will make the state start handing out IOUs. This is a very dire situation. People who depend on that money can’t give their creditors IOUs. What can they tell their creditors or utilities? We can’t pay you because we’re not getting my money. Even though the money isn’t directly for government salaries the vendors who deal with the state won’t receive payments which are used for salaries and their own business expenses.
Some states are notoriously slow in making payments to vendors but regular workers always had priority. Who will be next if the state won’t be able to pay its creditors? Furlough days for government workers is the pejorative buzzword that has been going around. The small vendors and businesses that aren’t getting money from the state will contribute to the further decline in the money problems.
If an agreement is reached before 4 p.m. CST then the IOU would just be nothing more than a bad dream. Otherwise, those who deal with the state of California as a customer may have to face some budget woes of their own.
The state’s long-term bond rating is in jeopardy, as well. It already has the worst credit rating in the nation.
Fitch Ratings last week downgraded the state’s long-term general obligation bonds to A-, from A, and placed them on a negative ratings watch, signaling the company’s concern about California’s ability to solve its liquidity crisis.
Just like individuals, those with the worst credit ratings have to pay more to borrow money which will cost the taxpayers more in the long run.
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