RALLY TO SAVE PA BUDGET
Here we go again…
That’s right, it’s time for another round of Pennsylvania’s legislature versus Pennsylvania’s citizens. Who will be the first to get kicked in the teeth? The elderly? Children? The mentally retarded? Victims of domestic violence? The unemployed?
It’s going to be one hell of a summer folks, and if we’re going to hold onto what little we have, we’re going to have to fight like our lives depended on it, which they do.
June 27th, 2010 at 12:54 am
Brendan-
The legislature has to balance its budget and revenues are down this year. They’re not going to raise taxes lest PA becomes less competitive for new/expanding/rehiring businesses.
If they borrow, they’re just sticking to the next generation.
So something has to be cut. Someone’s going to have to get out of the lifeboat. Elderly, retarded, unemployed children don’t have have a short term economic benefit.
June 28th, 2010 at 12:11 pm
You don’t have to be an economist to know that what we need now IS spending, and we pay the deficit down when the economy’s healthy. basic Keynesian economics.
i always laugh when I hear “the next generation gets the bill”. since when has anyone EVER cared about “the next generation”?
June 30th, 2010 at 12:19 pm
Brendan-
We don’t pay the debt down. Even in good years the Feds spent more than came in. If it wasn’t for some Enron- style accounting, the US government would be broke.
We can either hurt a little now (long term recession) or hurt a lot when the bill comes due (think Weimar-era Germany).
We’re opting for the second right now.
June 30th, 2010 at 4:45 pm
frankly, I’m not hopeful for either. I’m with krugman: we’re in a depression, and our “leaders” are making bad decisions on our behalf.
I HATE seeing the poor lose what little they have. And i hate seeing the middle class turned into poor people, while corporate profits hit records numbers (which they have).
these people don’t get it: they keep wondering why everyone’s mad and out of work when the profits are so high. i don’t know why this is: but it seems as if they ignore the fact that they have fewer workers working at high productivity, they save money by hiring temps and contractors, so they don’t have to pay benefits, they outsource jobs to nations that pay pennies for wages (and sometimes employ slave labor). of course the profits are good, because the corporation’s expenditures are much lower.
i’d like to see how much profit is tied to measures like these, and how much is tied to consumers.