At the end of the fiscal year 2021, 31 states did not have enough money to pay all of their bills. This means that to balance the budget—as is required by law in 49 states—elected officials have not included the true costs of the government in their budget calculations and have pushed costs onto future taxpayers. While this year’s report has been highly affected by both Covid relief money and the stock market. Pension numbers hide a lot of facts which is of great concern in our opinion. Our research found state finances were positively impacted by Covid relief money and last year's record gains in the stock market. However, those numbers are deceiving since most stock market gains were only on paper and Covid money most likely won't be renewed.