Barbour’s outlook for state recovery was on mark
In November 2009, then-Gov. Haley Barbour warned it would take a long time for the nation – and specifically Mississippi – to dig out from what has been dubbed the Great Recession.
In the narrative for his budget proposal to the 2010 Legislature, the former governor pointed out that various economists warned it would take until fiscal year 2014 or 2015 for the state to collect as much revenue as it had in 2008 or for employment to return to the level it was before the recession hit.
“We should expect employment to stay below summer 2008 levels for at least 30 more months,” Barbour wrote. And of revenue collections, he concluded “numerous studies project that state revenues will likely not recover to FY 2008 levels until 2014 or 2015.”
djournal
7/10/12
Magnolia Tribune
