what started in wisconsin as a lollapaloozer of a POLITICAL story, just huge, has now evolved, as it was fated...
it's still as BIG a battelground, still as defining, as extreme, as empassioned as any political front america's gonna face...
but now the badger state is a bit more in the background
that is, this thing is HUGE
and it's NATIONAL
ohio, new jersey, indiana, already red hot
and we all know it's gonna spread far and fast
it's cuz the states are, according to the financial times of london, still the most prestigious economic publication on earth, TWO POINT FIVE TRILLION DOLLARS underground on public pensions alone
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/dd3ff74c-2272-11e0-b6a2-00144feab49a.html
and that's not counting MEDICAID which is also crippling the commonwealths
the BONDS MARKET is collapsing
http://www.stateline.org/live/details/story?contentId=552151
the direction is clear and the momentum appears overwhelming
all across the country public service unions are getting SCAPEGOATED
deserving or no, they're talking it on the CHECKS---bennies, payins, pull...
what's gonna happen to afscme's campaign contributions when its membership, due to MASSIVE LAYOFFS, is reduced like draco?
members are gonna start showing some resentment that their 1000 dollars a year in dues are yielding them SQUAT
look at new york, did you see cuomo's radical, revolutionary state of the state?
The State of the State begins with an honest analysis of the crisis that we face. In government, as in life, you can never solve a problem if you refuse to acknowledge it. The economic recession has taken an especially hard hit on the State of New York. In 2009, we had a twenty-six year high in unemployment, roughly 800,000 New Yorkers are now unemployed, hundreds of thousands more are under-employed. We have the worst business tax climate in the nation, period. Our taxes are 66% higher than the national average. Upstate is truly an economic crisis. In real GDP, from 2001-2006, upstate New York grew about 1.7% per year while the average in the nation was 2.7%. The costs of pensions are exploding, 1.3 billion in 1998-1999, projected for 2013, 6.2 billion - a 476% increase and its only getting worse.
The State of New York spends too much money, it is that blunt and it is that simple. Our spending has far exceeded the rate of inflation. From 1994-2009, inflation was about 2.7% per year; medicaid went up over 5% per year and education went up over 6% per year. We just can’t afford those rates of increase. State spending actually outpaced income growth. State spending increased just under 6%, personal income growth was only 3.8%.
And most damaging, our expenses in this state far exceed revenue. We’ve been focusing on this year and the deficit this year, which is a very large deficit about $10 billion, and that is a problem and it is a major problem; what’s worse, is it’s not just about this year. Next year, the problem goes to $14 billion. The year after, the deficit goes to $17 billion. This is not a one year problem my friends. This is a fundamental economic realignment for the State of New York.
Not only to we spend too much, but we get too little in return. We spend more money on education than any state in the nation and we are number 34 in terms of results. We spend more money on Medicaid than any other state in the nation and we are number 21 in results. We spend about $1.6 billion per year in economic development and we are number 50 in terms of results.
And the large government we have is all too often responsive to the special interests, over the people of the State of New York. The proof is in the pudding. And New Yorkers are voting with their feet. Two million New Yorkers have left the State over the past decade. What does this say? It says we need radical reform, it says we need a new approach, we need a new perspective and we need it now. This is a fundamental realignment for the state.
And we have to relearn the lesson our founders knew and we have to put up a sign that says New York is open for business. We get it. And this is going to be a business friendly State.
The property taxes in New York are killing New Yorkers. Thirteen of the sixteen highest tax counties are in New York when assessed by home value. In absolute dollars, Westchester County has the highest property taxes in the United States of America. Nassau County the second highest property taxes in the United State of America. It has to end, it has to end this year. We have to hold the line on taxes for now and reduce taxes in the future. New York has no future as the tax capital of the nation. Our young people will not stay. Our business will not come. This has to change.
http://www.governor.ny.gov/sl2/stateofthestate2011transcript
this is CUOMO, kiddies, this is NEW YORK
look around
one of you, one of your best, claims to have some professional association with congress, and the funniest part is i believe you---
i am truly stunned you are missing the meaning of these maco machinations
but it's become run of the mill for your party
look at california
moonbeam today threatened to CUT a whopping TWENTY SIX BILLION unless he gets his way
and all he wants is a SPECIAL ELECTION in june merely to ASK for a tax hike
and he's having fits just getting that
Brown Says California Faces $25 Billion Cut Without Vote - Bloomberg
this is california, my state, the only one in the nation to buck the manifest trend of tsunami tuesday
upshot, big picture---public service unions, coast to coast, are gonna be taking one hell of a hit, monetarily and politically, in the next foreseeable
spin, anyone?