State Budget Troubles Worsen — This can’t be good.
States are facing a great fiscal crisis. At least 44 states faced or are facing shortfalls in their budgets for this and/or next year, and severe fiscal problems are highly likely to continue into the following year as well. Combined budget gaps for the remainder of this fiscal year and state fiscal years 2010 and 2011 are estimated to total more than $350 billion.
Found by John Ligums.
# 18 Mr. Fusion said, “Interesting that you want to just slash spending across the board. So which programs would you cut?”
As for CA (which I’m most familiar) just not having yearly auto increases on programs for the last 3 years was enough.
You don’t know much about the CA budget, do you?
Interesting that you want to just slash spending across the board. So which programs would you cut?
http://tinyurl.com/9xopsq
Here’s the 2007 budget for Ohio. Take your pick. Just browsing through it for a couple of minutes, I saw a dozen items that were questionable.
Hard choices have to be made. States either have the money to continue funding things best left to the private sector or they don’t.
45% of the 09 Ohio budget goes to Health and Human Services. I am confident there is plenty of fat in this make some serious cuts. From what I have read the expenses for 2009 increased by 6%. What about a budget freeze?
Perhaps Ohio could consider not giving money away to these folks in this NPR sob story:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92592545
Two right wing nuts have so far responded to my challenge. Yet neither will put down any spending that deserves to be cut.
All these programs are necessary. All State governments have been trimming “fat” for the past 25 years. There just isn’t any “fat” left to cut. So again, WHAT PROGRAMS WOULD YOU CUT ???
Follow up, now how will you deal with the people who’s programs got cut?
# 21 LibertyLover said, “http://tinyurl.com/9xopsq Here’s the 2007 budget for Ohio. Take your pick.”
Thanks. Off hand, I saw a few hundred million that could be lopped off without major impact. If I had a quick briefing on each line item I’d find much more, I’m sure.
#22, One wing nut having to hold another wing nut’s hand. This is terrible.
@Mr. Fusion – you are totally ignorant. There is tons of fat in the system. Every program could be cut across the board by 10%. Government agencies are extremely inefficient and could get the same amount done with less. The private sector does it all the time. Government agencies never get more efficient. If any company lost customers, they would trim their staff. Why can I go to Costco and get a membership with my photo on it in under 5 minutes but if I have to renew my driver’s license at the DMV, I have to wait 4 hours in line. Costco has a lower ratio of employee time to memberships than the DMV has to its licensees. If you have a problem with a DVD player you purchased from Best Buy, how hard is it to talk to someone to get the problem fixed. If you have a problem with an unjust parking ticket and have to deal with government, how is this experience compared to the DVD player. Government provides a poor product, poor service, and high prices. If we put the same standards on government as the company we buy our socks from, government would be run better, provide better services, and be 30% less expensive.
#25–thermo==haven’t read such faulty reasoning by analogy in a long time. Did you make this up yourself, or get spoon fed it from somewhere else? Could you post a link to the source?
Yes–the government enforcing licensing regulations is just the same as a consumer getting repair services.
If its not just exactly the same, its in those differences that you “might” find the justification for different experiences.
Silly.
@Bobbo It’s not silly. That’s the problem. Government is providing a product just as any company is. Government has to look at itself this way. The USPS delivers mail for $0.42 and it still looses money. If UPS was allowed to deliver mail (which the government does not allow it to) they could deliver mail for $0.27 and make a profit. If the Government was as efficient as companies, they would be less expensive. They could do more for less.
Raise taxes on everyone that has a job! Raid social security! Sell the Washington monument and the national parks to ‘foreigners’!
Sell the interstate highways to private ‘interests’.
We have plenty of ‘assets’ to sell.
Rent out our armed forces…
Turn out the lights.
Turn off the heat.
Park the car.
or, start another world war!
#19
RE: Spending
CA approved 9 billion in bonds for a idiotic bullet train. How about dumping every bond until the budget is balanced? That would provide a boat load in savings on interest payments alone.
#29–thermo==the USPS is one of the best run businesses around. So well run and efficient that it gets saddled with all kinds of other “mandates” that special interests have secured and with all of that, it is still extremely well run.
USPS == letter == 42 cents
Fed Ex = letter == $6 Dollars
I think your “model” falls apart real fast. For profit adds on a lot of rip off “profit” on top of the “reals means of production” in about a 12 to 1 ration to the waste (extra services not actually required) caused in governmental services.
Thank You for making my point. We find the same thing occurring where ever there are comparable government vs private enterprise. Shocking really.
@bobo – why don’t you learn your facts. FedEx and UPS are not allowed to deliver standard letters. They are banned from doing so by the government. They only way they can get around this is by offering a time sensitive parcel service. If they were allowed to deliver standard post, they could deliver a letter for $0.27 AND make a profit at this price. How can you say that the USPS is well run when they charge $0.42, raise rates every year, and LOSE money every year and need to be subsidized by our tax dollars to make up the loss. Idiots like you is the reason why the country is in such trouble. You are proof of a public education system spends money and produces morons. Private schools cost less than public schools and at least produce intelligence. This is another example where the budgets can be cut.