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| Coming to the Texas legislative session. |
Leadership in the Texas Legislature, which is dominated by fiscal conservatives, is not expected to support attempts to raise taxes to fill the multibillion-dollar hole. But social service advocates say the state's safety net system can't afford any further budget cuts.The story goes on to enumerate how this state of affairs came to pass.
Texas is famously pro-business, low-taxes, no-union. It doesn’t have a state income tax, and it lowered its school property taxes by a third in 2005.
Still, it has this 15% deficit, and a total debt which will cross the 100% mark this year—which pretty much gives lie to the notion that you can get all that you want by lowering taxes, squeezing out unions, and letting business get down to business.
People like Mish Shedlock who constantly harp about the union and the taxes fail explain that the only way a low-tax, pro-business, no-union situation can exist is to cut services—drastically. Or not have them at all.
In Texas, they’ve already “deregulated” state university tuition costs, and now, they’re not only considering reducing Medicaid, they’re even talking about cutting it altogether.
Which is fine—if Texas wants to be a state were the poor and indigent get no medical treatment. If Texas wants to be a state where only the well-off get an education.
If not, well . . . the solution is obvious.
The 82nd Texas legislature convened on January 11, and runs through May 30.
"People like Mish Shedlock who constantly harp about the union and the taxes fail explain that the only way a low-tax, pro-business, no-union situation can exist is to cut services—drastically. Or not have them at all."
ReplyDeleteMish talks about doing away with services all the time, I don't agree with him, but he does.
Preposterous.
ReplyDeleteStates do not need to cut services at all.
Instead they need to scrap union wages, scrap absurd union benefits, get rid of collective bargaining for unions, and get rid of prevailing wage laws.
Not a single teacher, firefighter, or police officer need be fired.
The problem is public union wages and benefits are bankrupting states. I have explained this 100 times. Some people simply cannot read.
Mish
GL,
ReplyDeleteWhat would you do if you had a million illegal residents in your locale, draining government resources? I don't have any answers, but I do know that running a deficit like that sure is a quick path to "hell".
I had no idea that Texas is just another "California".
-Dave in MO
It seems that cutting benefits etc... would be the equivalent to using a squirt gun to put out a forest fire..that's all. It blindly addresses the real problem at hand. The holographic monetary model that we adhere to.
ReplyDeleteGL,
ReplyDeleteTexas HAS medical care for the poor. Every region has special taxing districts specifically FOR this purpose. Most of the money for hospitals does not come out of the state budget, but local taxing authorities.
The big problem is the illegals... they know how to scam the system.
Two months ago I was in an accident with an illegal, had no insurance, had no driver's license. She pretended she couldn't speak English. No damage to the car. 87 days later she called me on the telephone to ask me money for "pain medication" with perfect English. 89 days after the event she called up the insurance company who gave her several hundred dollars just to not waste their time.
Check out this report:
http://www.window.state.tx.us/specialrpt/undocumented/undocumented.pdf
Medicaid expendurtes for illegals in 2005 were $96 BILLION
In 2005 the local sheriff's counties combined spent $49 BILLION dealing with ILLEGALS WHO CONDUCT CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES (most illegals aren't hassled.)
That is not even getting into the number of illegals in prison or in schools.
And the illegals know how to game the system. There was a fund established by the state to help "Children with Special Health Care Needs". In 2005 they spent $4 million on Texas Citizens and Legal Residents (Including Legal immigrants) and $16 million on illegals! For every $1 a Texas resident received through this program illegals were given $4!
So what is this shortfall? A deficit of $27 Billion? I can tell you how to make that up real quick.
Texas has a problem with its budget because it has a problem with illegal immigration. This is not to be confused with legal migration. This is in place because politicians in Washington see Texas as an "enemy" and want to permanently alter the demographics in order to secure a malleable voting block.