"More cuts and more hard decision," Perdue said. "It is what it is. It's a global meltdown. And North Carolina, even if the economy recovers today, I'm told will take 18 months to fully begin the recovery process."
N.C. State Economist Michael Walden says despite the recent good news, he and other economists don't see things bottoming out until the end of this year or the beginning of the next.
"I think that's realistic," Walden said.
The unemployment lines in North Carolina, for example, will continue to be long well after the national recover begins according to Walden.
"A lot of tax revenues are generated simply from people working and spending money - sales tax, income tax," he said. "And then on the spending side, when there are more people out of work unemployment compensation goes up, Medicaid expenditures go up."
That's why the governor is warning of more cuts ahead. It's a no-nonsense approach some of us seem to appreciate, even as we hope she may be wrong.
"I want her to be real," Raleigh resident Audrey McCarter said. "I mean, I don't need anybody sitting around here lying to us, saying everything, we want people to tell the truth."
