2008 Nevada budget crisis
The 2008 budget crisis in Nevada was a fiscal crisis in which the state faced a budget shortfall of at least US$1.2 billion out of a $6.8 billion budget. The budget crisis was a result of the larger subprime mortgage crisis and the late-2000s recession. The budget shortfall resulted Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons and the Nevada Legislature making large cuts to many state programs and agencies. Origins As the fastest growing state in the U.S. during the United States housing bubble, Nevada was hit especially hard by subprime mortgage crisis. The Nevada Policy Research Institute argues that the state government raised taxes during an economic boom and increased government spending more than 20% in 2004. The shortfall for 2008 and 2009 resulted from, they argue, government spending money at unsustainable levels. Las Vegas Housing Crisis The libertarian Nevada Policy Research Institute blames the financial crisis in Nevada, especially Las Vegas, on poor monetary policies, moral hazards created by government bailouts, and bad regulations such as the Community Reinvestment Act and the Security and Exchange Commission allowing several investment banks to increase their capital ratios. The result, according to NPRI was to rapidly increase home prices in Nevada, from a median