Griftopia: Bubble Machines, Vampire Squids, and the Long Con That Is Breaking America Highlight

According to the Rockefeller Institute, which tracks state revenue collection, the rate of growth for state taxes hit its lowest point in five years in the first quarter of 2008, which is when oil began its surge from around $75 to $149 a barrel. In the second quarter the institute reported continued slowdowns, and in the third quarter, the quarter in which oil reached that high of $149, overall tax growth was more or less flat, at 0.1 percent, the lowest rate since the bursting of the tech bubble in 2001–2. Obviously the collapse of the housing market around that time was a major factor in all of this, but surging energy prices impacting the entire economy—forcing business and consumer spending alike to retract—also had to be crucial.