December 17, 2007 (LPAC)--The financial blowout is destroying the governments that Americans have depended upon for their day-to-day services. A case in point, counties in metropolitan Washington D.C. report that they are now projecting a combined nearly $1 billion deficit in the next fiscal year. This will force a destruction of essential services and an increased tax burden on populations less-and-less able to pay.

It is the case that, in the immediate term, those jurisdictions more dependent upon residential real estate taxes are making more dire predictions than those, such as Washington itself, which also collect local income taxes.

Suburban Montgomery County in Maryland is facing a currently estimated $401 million deficit for the next fiscal year. The original Ground Zero, Loudoun County in Virginia, is forecasting a $251 million shortfall. Last week, officials in Virginia's Fairfax County said that they are facing a $220 million shortage for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

Some of the proposed "solutions" for dealing with the budget crisis give an idea of things to come. Loudoun officials estimate that without cuts in spending, they will have to raise the average home's property taxes by $940 a year. In Prince William County, Virginia, supervisors are considering eliminating some $370 million in road improvements.

"The implosion of the home finance sector has injected an element of bona fide anxiety..." the  Washington Com-Post says, which tries to falsely portray the current crisis as akin to the housing slump of the 1990s.