December 12, 2007 (LPAC)--As "Ground Zero" in the housing bubble collapse spreads nationwide, the original "Ground Zero" -- Loudoun County VA -- and its immediate neighbors, some of the most elite areas in America, are now facing budget shortfalls threatening healthcare and education. Fairfax County, which houses the "Dulles Airport Corridor," home to many of the beneficiaries of the government contract boom of the recent war years, announced a $220 million budget shortfall for Fiscal 2008, due to the fact that 60% of its $3.3 billion budget comes from real estate taxes. A collapse in housing sales, a fall in housing values by 4%, a spike in unsold houses, and an increase in foreclosures from 198 in 2005 to over 4,000 this year, means the County will have to either curtail education spending, which accounts for half their budget, or raise taxes.

Neighboring Prince WIlliam County expects a $51 million budget shortfall, and Loudoun County plans to announce their bad news today; it's been estimated at a $150 million hole. All three admit this is a long term problem that is certainly going to get worse.

Lyndon LaRouche, a resident of Loudoun County, has been warning the County officials for the past 20 years of exactly this outcome of their foolish "real estate only" destruction of the County's economy.