It’s been an interesting week for news on the state of governments running out of cash.   New York has just announced that they are running out of cash and cutting back on government services:

Under a possible budget-saving measure, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority would charge students half-price fares next year – and full fares starting in 2011, sources told The News.

About 550,000 schoolkids get free or discounted bus and subway passes under a program the state and city once fully funded.

Some school districts are having difficulty making payroll because of budget cuts and delayed payments from the state, Deputy Education Commissioner Dale Dennis said Tuesday.He said he has not seen schools in such dire financial shape since he started working for the state 42 years ago.

“School people are about as stressed as I’ve seen them,” Dennis said.

He said the Division of Budget is working with at least 7 schools districts on forwarding enough money to them to make payroll before Christmas.

“The cash flow for them is extremely crucial,” he said.

And in Illinois:

CARBONDALE, Ill. – Thousands of employees are on edge after hearing news they might not get a paycheck later this month.  They work for Southern Illinois University, which is one of the region’s largest employers.

The problem started in October, when the state fell behind on its payments to SIU.  University leaders say they can’t make anymore cuts and need $16 million in back payments with in a weeks time or they won’t meet payroll at the end of Dec.

Interestingly, almost every article I read on states cutting back almost always have to do with education: schools, universities, and transportation (for kids) is cut.   I haven’t read a single story about bloated government administration officials being laid off or fired.

Ever since I went back to work, I thought we were finally climbing out of the hole we dug ourselves into but the reality is starting to hit me that we are just BEGINNING to go down the rabbit hole.   What wonderland 2010 has in store for us is up in the air but I don’t think it will be anything good.