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posted by Fnord666 on Wednesday July 05 2017, @04:33PM   Printer-friendly
from the government-by^Wof-the-people dept.

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


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  • (Score: 2) by digitalaudiorock on Thursday July 06 2017, @02:02AM

    by digitalaudiorock (688) on Thursday July 06 2017, @02:02AM (#535507) Journal

    Government is NOT a business and should not be run as one.

    ...Yet people have been brainwashed to the contrary so successfully as to intentionally put a bad businessman in the White house because...actually I have no idea...

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2