Texans taxed to bailout rich California democrats

377OHMS

377OHMS

From American Thinker:

"Currently, states are not allowed by federal law to go bankrupt, a situation David Skeel seeks to change, in an important article in the Weekly Standard. He argues that this is far preferable to the inevitable federal bailouts for spendthrift states like California, New York, and Illinois, which have been so generous to their employees in pay, benefits, and pensions that they are unable to raise enough revenue to meet their obligations.

The idea that taxpayers in more sensible states like Indiana and Texas should have to bail out wealthy Democratic strongholds unable to operate responsibly is explosive. Mark Steyn has even warned that secession talk could get serious in the face of such looting of the prudent."

The Obama regime must bailout California even if they vote themselves into bankruptcy in the name of social justice. Unfortunately some of that bailout money will come from states that managed their spending carefully and have moderate to low taxes.

Those taxes are going to have to be increased to keep the lights on at the mansions of the rich liberals in Hollywood and San Fransisco because we all know you can't power the whole state on windmills and solar cells and California refuses to build powerplants of any kind.

Texans might as well just build nuclear power plants and string wires straight to California. It might be more efficient than handing the money to the federal government.
 
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704513104575256734081528528.html



Big Texas Deficit Puts Governor in Tight Spot
Perry Wants Cuts Alone to Close Gap, But Critics Say Solution is Shortsighted

By ANA CAMPOY

DALLAS—A Texas-size hole in the Lone Star state's budget is putting pressure on Gov. Rick Perry, who is running for re-election this year as a model fiscal conservative.

Mr. Perry, a Republican in office for a decade, is touting his tax-cutting prowess and tight-fisted spending record as proof that he remains the right man for the job. He has maintained a wide lead in polls.
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But as the state's budget shortfall widens—to as much as $18 billion, or about 20% of the next two-year budget, according to the state legislature's latest analysis released earlier this month—critics are complaining that Mr. Perry's policies have left the state with little room to reduce spending.

"There is no way that they will be able to come up with $18 billion in cuts," said Eva DeLuna Castro, a senior budget analyst at the Center for Public Policy Priorities, a nonprofit that advocates for low-income Texans. "They would have to shut down our prison system."

Conservatives say that while cutting enough to balance the budget will be hard, it can be done, and that the governor is the right man to do it. "He has worked hard to encourage the legislature to keep spending within the revenue available," said Talmadge Heflin, director of the Center for Fiscal Policy at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank that backs limited government.

States in the Red


Most states have addressed or still face gaps in their budgets totaling $196 billion for fiscal year 2010, while tax revenue declined in the final quarter of 2009 in 39 of the states for which data is available. View interactive

The governor's cost-cutting zeal is being questioned after the Associated Press reported he had spent some $600,000 of taxpayer dollars over the past couple of years to rent and maintain a luxurious home while the official governor's mansion was repaired after a fire.

The state's Democratic Party responded to the report with a YouTube video that flashes images of the governor's rental home—complete with wood paneling, a chandelier and a heated pool—and plays the theme music from the television show "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous."

"While Texas families tighten their belts…why should we pay for Perry's extravagant rental mansion?" is the video's closing line.

A spokeswoman for the governor said that he, too, is cutting back, slashing his office budget by 10.8% and asking the agencies that fund his living quarters to reduce spending by 5%.

Texas doesn't levy an income tax and boasts that it has one of the nation's lowest overall tax burdens. Those policies, Mr. Perry has argued, have attracted businesses to the state and strengthened its economy. While many states saw their economies shrink in 2008, the first year of the national recession, Texas continued to grow.

But the economic downturn is catching up with Texas. Sales-tax revenue started falling in February 2009 compared with the previous year, and only started to recover a bit in April of this year.

Although Mr. Perry has railed against the federal economic-stimulus program, billions of dollars from that initiative helped Texas legislators balance the current budget. Those funds won't be available for the next budget.

Political analysts say the state's financial woes may bolster the campaign of the Democratic gubernatorial candidate, Bill White, the former mayor of Houston.

Mr. White said the governor has focused on shortsighted fiscal policies, including plugging budget holes with stimulus money. "For 10 years Rick Perry has failed to develop a long-term budget," he said.

Mr. Perry countered that he has ample budget-balancing experience and that he overcame a $10 billion deficit in 2003. He has promised to put the state's finances in order without raising taxes. As an initial step, he and other state leaders this month ordered budget cuts of $1.2 billion across state agencies.

"These reductions reflect our state's ongoing commitment to keeping taxes low by limiting government spending, a key aspect of the continued strength of our state's economy," he said.

Local officials, meanwhile, worried they would end up bearing the brunt of state cutbacks.

"Our great fear is that they will dump a bunch of unfunded mandates on counties," said Elna Christopher, a spokeswoman for the Texas Association of Counties.
 
lol the thread says 1 reply but I don't see anything so it must either be an irrelevant snotty foreigner or wange-wover because I only have the two on ignore! :D
 
Quote from 377OHMS:

lol the thread says 1 reply but I don't see anything so it must either be an irrelevant snotty foreigner or wange-wover because I only have the two on ignore! :D
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You should read his clip.
 
I made a comment on another thread about the strength and stability of the currency union known as the US of A. I take my comment back. Looks like it's also showing signs of stress. I think this "American Thinker", David Skeel or Mark Steyn (are they the same person?), knows not what he says.
 
Quote from jem:

making the idea of state bankruptcy even more important to consider.
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Right. And thus the whole problem with this "too big to fail" crapola.

What's the point if you can't fail? We should all just spend ourselves into oblivion knowing that our neighbor will always foot to the bill for our recklessness.

I'm sure my neighbor won't mind.
 
Quote from bugscoe:

Right. And thus the whole problem with this "too big to fail" crapola.

What's the point if you can't fail? We should all just spend ourselves into oblivion knowing that our neighbor will always foot to the bill for our recklessness.

I'm sure my neighbor won't mind.
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What if, say, California failed with no bailout?

Police?
Fire Department?
Parks?
Street Lights?
Street Maintenance?
DMV?
Operation of California Aqueduct system?
California Highway Patrol?
Welfare Payments?

Dunno, sounds like possible anarchy. I rather expect there will be an epic huge bailout. California is going to become a federally funded experiment in socialism and green folly and all US citizens are going to have to pay regardless of their own financal prudence.
 
Quote from 377OHMS:

What if, say, California failed with no bailout?

Police?
Fire Department?
Parks?
Street Lights?
Street Maintenance?
DMV?
Operation of California Aqueduct system?
California Highway Patrol?
Welfare Payments?

Dunno, sounds like possible anarchy. I rather expect there will be an epic huge bailout. California is going to become a federally funded experiment in socialism and green folly and all US citizens are going to have to pay regardless of their own financal prudence.
More...

Good questions and would agree, bailout. The bigger question becomes the fallout from this, which is what the article was touching on. Then what? Does secession become serious discussion...?

It would appear the last entity to find this troubling is the state of Cali. One would assume they'd have acted responsibly, as would've all "too big to fail" entities, if they had to actually deal with risk and be held accountable with failure being a viable consequence.
 
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