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The World Socialist Web Site reports
Three US states--New Jersey, Maine, and Illinois--with a combined population of 23 million people entered a new fiscal year [July 1] without a state budget, forcing widespread shutdowns of public services, state offices, and schools, as well as the closure of state parks on the Fourth of July holiday weekend.
In a fourth state, Connecticut, Democratic Governor Dannel Malloy ordered across-the-board spending cuts totaling $2.1 billion after the legislature failed to pass a balanced budget. Malloy's cuts include the elimination of summer youth employment programs and rental assistance for low-income families, as well as a reduction in education funding.
Six more states entered the new fiscal year without a final budget, but without, as yet, any significant shutdown of state services: Delaware, Massachusetts, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin. Cuts are to be expected in all of these states if new budgets are not enacted by July 5, the first workday after the holiday.
[...] In a display of elitist arrogance, [Republican Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey] spent the weekend with his family at an official residence in a state park that had otherwise been closed to the public by his own executive order.
[...] In Maine, Republican Governor Paul LePage ordered the first statewide shutdown of government services since 1991 after the legislature failed to bow to his demand that it adopt a new, two-year, $7 billion budget without any tax increases.
In a brazenly antidemocratic action, LePage and Democratic and Republican state legislators had already agreed that the new budget would repeal a measure approved last November by the votes of more than 357,000 people in a statewide referendum. The referendum imposed an additional three percent income tax on the wealthiest state residents--those who make more than $200,000 a year--to increase funding for public education.
Additional Coverage: ABCNews
(Score: 2, Interesting) by idiot_king on Wednesday July 05 2017, @04:37PM (33 children)
Just more proof the Capitalist pigs running most of the country could care less about the common man. Get rid of all of 'em, put in university profs who actually STUDY economics and what the average human being needs.
(Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 05 2017, @04:47PM (1 child)
Were this a matter of capitalism, the people of these states would be signing up with other, more competent service providers by now; instead, all they can do now is complain while writing more checks to the government at the point of gun.
Try again.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 06 2017, @12:04AM
That proves precisely the opposite point of what you're suggesting. Good job, it's rare that I see that around here.
The reason why these things are a problem is in large part because capitalism doesn't work very well when partisan hacks continually knee-cap the government's ability to regulate economic activity.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 05 2017, @04:57PM (7 children)
Wow, is this a parody account? Because almost all these states suffer fiscal crisis because they have unfunded pension liabilities. Who could have guess giving "the worker" insane lifetime pension with full health benefit after only 25 years of work somehow was a recipe for disaster.... Mind you a lot of these "retirees" still work and collect pension at the same time. Must be nice!
(Score: 5, Insightful) by sjames on Wednesday July 05 2017, @05:18PM (5 children)
Of course, they could also have avoided the problem by noting that having offered that significant benefit in lieu of competitive salary, they needed to actually FUND it as they went along rather than raiding the retirement fund to give tax cuts to the wealthy.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 05 2017, @05:38PM (4 children)
People who offered it did not know the actual cost of what they were offering, or in fact knew but didn't care (which is malicious). A lot of them just offered up this shit for votes. Now the outcome will be that you can't get blood from the stone, so the same people who sold their votes will now get diddly squat. Good riddance.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 05 2017, @05:42PM (3 children)
Nah, the problem is they dipped into those accounts like it was their personal piggy bank and failed to live up to their funding obligations.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 05 2017, @07:21PM (2 children)
That is definitely part of it, but this part is unsolvable. You simply cannot tell the government where you keep your money, because they will always find a way to steal it. To them if you have money lying around, then you don't really need it.
Regardless, the funds that were siphoned off, were only part of what was needed, the other part always came from taxes because they "estimated" there would always be more revenue in the future to use for this, so why pay for it back then? Any way you involve the government in retirement you will be screwed. And anytime you go private, you might get screwed there as well. It's simply no longer cynical to think there is no point in saving for retirement. You might think about getting a second property instead of 401K (IRAs will most definitely get poached in the future, and 401Ks will get hammered in some fashion), but then the wonderful comrades will find a way to penalize you for owning two homes.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 05 2017, @08:59PM (1 child)
You've got good points, but your rhetoric needs help. The people you envision as the bogey men are not the ones to worry about. It is a range.
Also, taxes are a civic duty, this is not a new concept.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 06 2017, @02:50AM
... you're full of shit!
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday July 06 2017, @12:49PM
Probably yes. The account has a habit of leaving a single blatant partisan screeds on stories without replying or explaining their position.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Justin Case on Wednesday July 05 2017, @06:04PM
Just more proof the sun is hot.
I think you are piling up evidence against a claim nobody made.
No one says business owners started their companies so that they could "care" for people. Pretty obviously, they want to sell stuff, and they hope to sell it for more than it costs, otherwise, why go to all that bother?
Similarly, I don't think politicians go into government because they "care". They go into government because they love to govern, that is, to control other people.
Maybe some politicians lied, and claimed to care. Don't vote for them next time.
If you want someone to care, look to your friends and family. Not business owners and politicians.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Lagg on Wednesday July 05 2017, @06:05PM (10 children)
I don't disagree with the spirit of your comment. But consider that intelligent people are still people. They are subject to biases, brainwashing and convincing like anyone else is. The thing with an intelligent person and especially an academic is that they're really good at internalizing what they want to believe in and defending it. Do you want someone with the persistent attitude of the current president and adminstration replaced with intelligent academics that think christian science is legit?
btw, christian science:
and yes an intelligent person can buy this shit. I consider myself at least a thinking man and I was very much a christian (non-science, standard new/old testes) for a large part of my life. Just like judging based on white trash IQ is probably not the only thing you should go by. You probably don't want to just go by savant IQ.
Also professors have their own biases. It's the butt of like 10000 stupid jokes but there is a kernel of truth to it. Long term solution: Put enough factions into the system to represent views and people that aren't cartoons like they are. In other words it's probably not just a leader issue. Christie keeps getting re-elected because the only two tangible parties like to swordfight with their cocks. Chances are, you're going to get a "left leaning" or "right leaning" professor. Trends and the reality of social progression is usually going to give you the former. And that is not a good thing either. You need contrary arguments to build solid foundations on.
http://lagg.me [lagg.me] 🗿
(Score: 3, Informative) by Justin Case on Wednesday July 05 2017, @06:30PM (7 children)
The "right leaning" professor is pretty rare. I worked at a University for many years and here's what I observed:
They've never, in their whole lives, had to earn a dollar. First Mommy and Daddy took care of them. Then Mommy and Daddy paid for their college. And more education. And even more.
Sometimes Mommy and Daddy don't cover the full bill, so Peggy Professor has to beg for a grant or maybe even a scholarship. Still looking for handouts, just not exclusively Mommy and Daddy any more.
Eventually Peggy gets her PhD and now she can kick off a full time career of begging for more grants. This money, with exceedingly rare exceptions, comes from various government bodies directly or indirectly.
In other words, the only way a professor knows to get money is to rob the taxpayers. So yeah, of course, they are going to be very vocal advocates of even more stealing. They'll even barf out blatantly absurd insanity like "debt doesn't matter" and "you can spend your way to prosperity".
These are the "economists" you trust to design a functional national economy? They couldn't manage a gas station.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 05 2017, @06:47PM (5 children)
So, worked at a university? In food service, or janitorial? Not that there is anything wrong with that. But let me guess, just in case I have misread you: despite your Matt Damon level of brilliance, and all your hunting for good will, they flunked you out, right? I am sorry for you. Perhaps more respect for the upper classes would help?
(Score: 2) by Justin Case on Wednesday July 05 2017, @06:58PM (2 children)
So do you have anything to say that is on topic, or do you generally agree with my analysis?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 05 2017, @08:25PM (1 child)
No hes saying your biased. Shoot before this comment we could only assume you never graduated, after this comment you've removed all doubt. Thanks slugger.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 06 2017, @02:59AM
A little too close to home, slugger?
(Score: 2) by Lagg on Wednesday July 05 2017, @07:29PM (1 child)
Well I mean the courses at MCC don't set the bar very high so no. Oh and I learned my field from reading TCPL and other such material starting at age 14. Meanwhile one of my profs thought hexadecimal went past F. I just went there to get the toilet paper. Amusingly it turns out the places that still care about degrees are also looking for something bachelor or above. Which was time I simply couldn't give and still can't.
I guess it's not University(TM) level edumucations. But frankly I don't expect any better from a uni if our current stock is the result. Respect for the upper classes you say? I think you mean respect for the supporting underclass that wipes their asses for them.
http://lagg.me [lagg.me] 🗿
(Score: 2) by Lagg on Wednesday July 05 2017, @07:39PM
Well hey look at that I proved the thing about everyone having the capacity to be stupid by getting lost in my own thread. Still topical I would hope. Idea that educators are infallible is as silly as placing any role or right to leadership on someone for their class alone.
http://lagg.me [lagg.me] 🗿
(Score: 2) by Bot on Thursday July 06 2017, @05:39AM
In fact I thought that the parent's idea of handing matters to university professors were a subtle joke.
Anyway, y'all step aside please, I actually had two [wikipedia.org] university [wikipedia.org]professors as mayors recently. The agenda went on smoothly, no matter their influence. And the agenda is about making the city center a place for special events and for getting tickets and pay through the nose to park, while shoppers on cars flock obviously to malls outside the city. You follow the directions to the city center, you end up outside. Same agenda as in most cities BTW.
The current professor mayor seems keen on spending money on projects which the citizens protest about (and not for mere ideological opposition). He's gonna get to parliament, mark my words.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 05 2017, @07:03PM (1 child)
Sure, that is possible, but it's far more likely that the person buying into that nonsense is unintelligent. What matters is probability.
Also, IQ is unproven nonsense.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 05 2017, @09:31PM
You are unproven nonsense:
(Score: 2) by bradley13 on Wednesday July 05 2017, @06:13PM (2 children)
"Just more proof the Capitalist pigs running most of the country"
It's not "capitalist pigs" who are the problem. We are specifically talking about governments that have spent themselves to bankruptcy.
In capitalism, if a company overspends, it goes bankrupt and gets replaced by a competitor. If your local government overspends, they raise taxes and take it out of your wallet. When that doesn't work anymore, they just refuse to honor their commitments, but the government - along with essentially all of the individual politicians and high level bureaucrats that make up the government - remain in place and keep collecting their paychecks.
Heck, governor Christie even keeps going to the beach. Gets caught in outright lies ("I didn't get any sun today") and doesn't have to give a shit.
No, it's not capitalism that's the problem. What do you call an overspending, out-of-control government? Socialism?
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by tfried on Wednesday July 05 2017, @06:52PM
Sigh. It's not so hard to keep these terms apart, is it?
1) Overspending or budget deficits is a wide-spread problem in governments of every color.
2) Once deficits hit a limit, there are two distinct responses: Capitalist governments will cut public spending, but not increase taxes (and occasionally, cut taxes, arguing that this will spark the economy, and generate more income in the long run). Socialist governments will increase taxes, typically on the high income end, first, but not cut spending (and occasionally, increase spending, arguing that this will spark the economy, and generate more income in the long run).
There are reasons to be sceptical of either approach, and you will not have difficulty finding examples of either approach yielding terrible results, but the one(s) TFA is reporting on is clearly of the capitalist side.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Wednesday July 05 2017, @07:19PM
Maybe someone needs to re-plug governor Christie into the control system feedback loop. The one where if you mismanage your job it hurts the paycheck and the boss tells you to do more hours, perhaps reading up on economy.
Suppose water supply to that state park closed to the public by his own executive order went dry because "budget deficit", electricity bzz bzz oops no money for repair man, the sewer got blocked because no one around to fix it, the access road however needed some urgent repair but the workers went home because check bounced and of course the fiber connection somehow got crushed under some road equipment with no one on call.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 05 2017, @06:29PM (5 children)
Illinois, NJ and Maine are blue states. A better comparison would be Venezuela.
Perhaps if you studied economics on a rudimentary level you'd realize that "profs" are mostly left wing - they either don't have a fucking clue what's going on or refuse to admit that their political ideology always results in moral and fiscal bankruptcy.
(Score: 5, Touché) by rcamera on Wednesday July 05 2017, @07:33PM (4 children)
Governor of Illinois: Bruce Rauner (R) [wikipedia.org] - assumed office 2015
Governor of New Jersey: Chris Christie (R) [wikipedia.org] - assumed office 2010
Governor of Maine: Paul LePage (R) [wikipedia.org] - assumed office 2011
/* no comment */
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 05 2017, @07:37PM (2 children)
Yea and both Christie and LePage are not well liked in their states. I think you intended to disprove but ended up proving. *golf clap*
(Score: 4, Insightful) by rcamera on Wednesday July 05 2017, @07:57PM
not liked, but are both multi-term. how's that work?
agreed, they're not popular NOW. they were both very popular when they ran on a platform of cutting taxes. of course, the spending cuts to go with those tax cuts never really materialized (other than NJ cutting infrastructure and education funding and dropping like a rock in national standing), so now they have massive deficits. their problem is that they're still both in office to reap the "rewards" of their decisions.
pick your poison; democrats "tax and spend" or republicans "cut taxes and spend".
/* no comment */
(Score: 4, Funny) by realDonaldTrump on Wednesday July 05 2017, @08:51PM
That's a lie. It's a lie that's been going around so maybe you don't know you're lying. Trust me, there's no such thing as the golf clap. Folks, I was examined by a doctor. By Dr. Jacob Bornstein, M.D. That means he's a medical doctor, if you didn't know. A fellow of the American College of Gastroenterology. And Dr. Bornstein said I'm in astonishingly excellent health. The healthiest individual ever elected. To the presidency or anything. Believe me, folks, Dr. Bornstein knows everything there is to know about the clap. And he says I don't have it. A lot of people ask me about the golf clap. Mostly ladies. And I asked Dr. Bornstein. He says there's no such thing as the golf clap. Which is great to know. It's a huge relief. Because I tee off a lot. But I don't get laid a lot. Not as much as I want to. And the lie going round about the golf clap is a big part of that. So don't spread it. And I love Chris Christie. Sometimes I love him. ❤️ #TrumpGolfLinks [twitter.com] #Trump2020 [twitter.com] 🇺🇸
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 05 2017, @08:35PM
Still a Blue State.
Governor of Illinois: Bruce Rauner (R) [wikipedia.org] - assumed office 2015
President of the Illinois House: Michael Madigan - Assumed House Seat 1970 - Speaker of the House 1983.
Stretch of years 1995 - 1997, House under Republican Rule.
Years the State of Illinois could even be considered Red. 1995-1997.
Illinois has been a Blue state for the vast majority of its existence. The Democratic machine was based in Chicago for a number of Decades.
Chicago's politics reaches deep into Springfield.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday July 06 2017, @03:09AM
And of course, let us note that every single one of these states is a blue state (most heavily so). Funny how these "capitalist pigs" and their budgetary problems manifest in highly urbanized environments which happen to favor one political faction notorious for being unable to balance a budget.
Which will work just fine, until you actually put them in charge of something. They don't know what the average human being needs. The average human being knows what the average human being needs.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 07 2017, @03:25PM
it's a bunch of socialist states you stupid fuck.