October | 2008 | Devich's Xanga Site

Over-extending Your State’s Budget

A lot of states have overextended themselves, using the State budget to support programs and things that require taxpayer money. So once personal income drops, taxes drop. And those programs, supported by taxpayer money also lose funding. This is what happens when you depend on the government to give you money for programs — socialism. The government cannot be an efficient spender of money, due to bureaucracy. It passes many many hands before it ends up in the programs/charities for which it is intended. And the bargaining tools are usually not there. There is no bargaining for the government. If they need more money, they just increase taxes, or print more of it.

Here are the states that the government is now going to be asked to bail out, because for some reason, these days, the government is asked to solve everyone’s problems.

States who have overextended their budget
(map created from http://www.cbpp.org/1-15-08sfp.htm)

I’m all for charity. I believe that helping my neighbor is fine. But, in order to help my neighbor, I have to survive too. I guess people are forgetting that if you want to be a successful parasite, you can’t kill your host. I expect that people don’t understand this. And therefore, I see that taxes are going to go up this year, despite anything the government can do. For some reason, we will all be asked to share our loaves of bread, because of the sins of a few.

Excerpt from 29 STATES FACED TOTAL BUDGET SHORTFALL OF AT LEAST $48 BILLION IN 2009
by Elizabeth C. McNichol and Iris Lav
(Full article at http://www.cbpp.org/1-15-08sfp.htm)

“The bursting of the housing bubble has
reduced state sales tax revenue collections from sales of furniture,
appliances, construction materials, and the like. Weakening
consumption of other products has also cut into sales tax revenues.
Property tax revenues have also been affected, and local governments
will be looking to states to help address the squeeze on local and
education budgets. And if the employment situation continues to
deteriorate, income tax revenues will weaken and there will be further
downward pressure on sales tax revenues as consumers become reluctant
or unable to spend.

“The vast majority of states cannot run a
deficit or borrow to cover their operating expenditures. As a result,
states have three primary actions they can take during a fiscal
crisis: they can draw down available reserves, they can cut
expenditures, or they can raise taxes. States already have begun
drawing down reserves; the remaining reserves are not sufficient to
allow states to weather a significant downturn or recession. The other
alternatives — spending cuts and tax increases — can further slow a
state’s economy during a downturn and contribute to the further slowing
of the national economy, as well. . . .

The 29 states in which revenues
were expected to fall short of the amount needed to support current
services in fiscal year 2009 are Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, and Wisconsin. In addition, the District of Columbia closed a shortfall in fiscal year 2009. The budget gaps totaled $47.6 to $49.2
billion, averaging 9.3 percent to 9.7 percent of these states’ general
fund budgets. (See Table 1.) California — the nation’s largest state
— faced the largest budget gap. The shortfalls that states other than
California faced averaged 6.2 percent to 6.7 percent of these states’
general fund budgets.
Analysts in three other states — Missouri, Texas, and Washington — are projecting budget gaps a little further down the road, in FY2010 and beyond. . . .
“The federal government — which can run
deficits — can provide assistance to states and localities to avert
these “pro-cyclical” actions. . . .

So, the federal government can run deficits? Where does the federal government get the money to pay back those deficits? From us. What they’re saying is that we are becoming a socialist country, where the government is bailing out everyone. Why? Because of the threat that the economy will crash if we don’t let the government have our money and do whatever they like with it. People like the idea of the government handing out money to the poor and those who are sick. But they don’t like the idea of doing it themselves. I don’t get that.

Instead, liberals look down on using the government for its intended purpose. National security. Yeah, it’s not nice to think about sending money to the government to support the executive branch of the government. But schools and businesses don’t run well, if people are shooting and bombing you, or flying planes into your office.

It is not the government’s place to save people from their follies. That’s a personal responsibility for citizens to help their fellow citizens directly. Not through a bureaucratic mess which will divert some money to pork based on either corporate lobbying, or a representative’s personal agenda.

In other words, why are people waiting for the damn government to pass a bill to help their fellow neighbor, just down the street. For God’s sake, just go over and help them, dipshits.

The other thing that bothers me is the constant reference to “improving the housing market.” The housing market is not what makes a country. It’s industry. Sure, the process of house building creates jobs and encourages industry. But, I’ve seen how the housing industry just moves people from bad parts of town to another part of town, leaving those older houses empty and creating dangerous neighborhoods with increased poverty.

People don’t like to admit it, but what pulled us out of the Great Depression was not the New Deal, but WWII, which created people who learned to save money, and who supported industry that helped the military. But no one likes to think of that, these days. War is bad. And that’s the end of the discussion, unless you want to be called insightful names.

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Month: October 2008

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