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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

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Spend it now or spend it later…

The National Conference of State Legislatures has surveyed all the states to see how quickly they're spending their federal economic stimulus money - some are spending it all to close their state budget gaps in the current fiscal year, leaving nothing for the following year and prompting fears about state budgets "facing a cliff" when the federal money runs out. Idaho falls in the middle of the pack of the 25 states that have responded to the survey so far, spending 54 percent of its stimulus money in fiscal year 2010, which started July 1. Washington was a bit more cautious, spending 33 percent. Highest on the list was Texas, which is spending 96 percent of its stimulus money in the current year; at the bottom is Alaska, spending only 3 percent. More here at Eye on Boise

Question: If you got a big chunk of money tomorrow, would you spend it now or spend it later?
 



Betsy Z. Russell
Betsy Z. Russell joined The Spokesman-Review in 1991. She currently is a reporter in the Boise Bureau covering Idaho state government and politics, and other news from Idaho's state capital.

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