Budgets
All of the teachers I know are seeing cuts. Most of the women in my book club are reading teachers, and one in particular, her position is being cut. She will probably be laid off at the end of the year.
Rick Perry was evidently on a morning talk show this morning and said that it's time the state felt the same pain the small businesses have been feeling for the past two years. He also said he would not dip into the rainy day fund. He's been saying that. I paraphrase, because I didn't hear it.
My friend took to facebook to express her irritation. I know she is upset. I know she is a great teacher. I know she really, really cares about the middle school kids she teaches, and she knows that as a reading specialist, she is the last hope they have of getting their reading skills up to par before high school. It's not a good situation.
Rick Perry is sort of right. But he's not expressing it properly.
The government does not MAKE money. They have no income generation. They COLLECT money. From taxpayers. In a recession, tax payers make less money. Therefore there is LESS money to collect. Less money in state coffers means less money to pay out for state programs and state employees. States are having the lay offs that private businesses had two years ago, because of the layoffs private businesses had two years ago.
There is a new reality. There is LESS money being spent. Therefore there is LESS money to collect. The state and federal governments are going to have to lessen the size of their programs and their pay checks.
The real pickle that is happening, is because of the way the fed decided to deal with this problem (print money rather than cut anything) we have massive inflation. Inflation that the fed does not want to publicly talk about. But just look at your grocery bill, and you will see that it is happening in large percentages. So we have less money to spend, but things cost more.
What exactly do we expect the governments to do? The union morons think that they should bleed the calf dry. Because apparently, government workers think that there's this massive pile of money that Governors are sitting on, and they should get all of it.
School budgets are being slashed. My husband sees this. He's talking about it daily. I feel the teachers pain, in an abstract way, as our income is going to be affected too. But we have to tighten the belt, as a state. We have to pay for what we need, and cut what we don't.
I pay my taxes. Every year. I do not begrudge the firemen, the police officers, the teachers their pay check and I understand their anger. But the government does not make money to pay their salaries. I do. And if we are making less, than unfortunately, they are going to have to make less too.
The jobs report came out today, and it was somewhat positive. We are now (for the time being) at 8.9% unemployment. I'm glad to see a new number out in front, and that it's going down.
BUT - this is modest good news for a few reasons ... it's good news because the private sector added jobs (yippee!!) and that's the engine that keeps us afloat. BUT - the negative is that 30,000 government employees were laid off. So, and this only makes sense, there is probably going to be a rash of government layoffs as states try to remain or get back to, being solvent, and therefore there are going to be more people looking for work. Hopefully, the private sector can keep hiring and we can offset those losses. But that means we will not be getting back to low unemployment any time soon.
But, like I said, there is a new reality. 3% unemployment, by any economists standards, is really low, and not sustainable. Many economists are saying that if we get in the 6-7% range, that is excellent.
With a looming government shut down, and I do believe the government will shut down, and state budgets that can't be sustained without massive spending cuts, we are in for a rocky road ahead. Added to this, gas is probably going to be at $4 a gallon this summer, meaning prices on everything are going to inflate.
We can not spend our way out of this mess. It's 10 years in the making, started by some fiscal policies at the end of Clinton (lead by a Republican Congress) and ending with President Obama. President Bush and his Republican Senate started a spending spree that we can not continue. Wouldn't it be nice if all the money they made from their book tours and speaking engagements went into the treasury? It's only fair, since they got us into this mess and were borrowing and spending away my children's future.
It's time to cut, save, and pay the bill. It's due.
And for the record, I believe we need to make serious cuts / changes to social security and medicaid. Those currently recieving pay outs should continue as per usual, but the retirement age needs to be raised and we need to change the pharamcy benefits. The only people benefiting from that crap piece of legislation are big pharma. And we need to cut education. I know people hate this. But there is such a beauroctratic red tape crap system that just SUCKS money into a hole that NEVER GETS TO OUR KIDS. Teachers are having to buy their own materials for their class rooms. Kids (parents) are having to bring in materials at the beginning of the year like tissue and crayons. We spend more money per student than any other country in the world and have very little to show for it. That's a tragedy. We need to start over. Because education administrators are bringing home 6 digit salaries. And teachers are n't incentivized to be better teachers.
Anyway. The bill is due. It's sad. But governments don't make money they take money. And there is less money to take so there's less money to give. The end.
Rick Perry was evidently on a morning talk show this morning and said that it's time the state felt the same pain the small businesses have been feeling for the past two years. He also said he would not dip into the rainy day fund. He's been saying that. I paraphrase, because I didn't hear it.
My friend took to facebook to express her irritation. I know she is upset. I know she is a great teacher. I know she really, really cares about the middle school kids she teaches, and she knows that as a reading specialist, she is the last hope they have of getting their reading skills up to par before high school. It's not a good situation.
Rick Perry is sort of right. But he's not expressing it properly.
The government does not MAKE money. They have no income generation. They COLLECT money. From taxpayers. In a recession, tax payers make less money. Therefore there is LESS money to collect. Less money in state coffers means less money to pay out for state programs and state employees. States are having the lay offs that private businesses had two years ago, because of the layoffs private businesses had two years ago.
There is a new reality. There is LESS money being spent. Therefore there is LESS money to collect. The state and federal governments are going to have to lessen the size of their programs and their pay checks.
The real pickle that is happening, is because of the way the fed decided to deal with this problem (print money rather than cut anything) we have massive inflation. Inflation that the fed does not want to publicly talk about. But just look at your grocery bill, and you will see that it is happening in large percentages. So we have less money to spend, but things cost more.
What exactly do we expect the governments to do? The union morons think that they should bleed the calf dry. Because apparently, government workers think that there's this massive pile of money that Governors are sitting on, and they should get all of it.
School budgets are being slashed. My husband sees this. He's talking about it daily. I feel the teachers pain, in an abstract way, as our income is going to be affected too. But we have to tighten the belt, as a state. We have to pay for what we need, and cut what we don't.
I pay my taxes. Every year. I do not begrudge the firemen, the police officers, the teachers their pay check and I understand their anger. But the government does not make money to pay their salaries. I do. And if we are making less, than unfortunately, they are going to have to make less too.
The jobs report came out today, and it was somewhat positive. We are now (for the time being) at 8.9% unemployment. I'm glad to see a new number out in front, and that it's going down.
BUT - this is modest good news for a few reasons ... it's good news because the private sector added jobs (yippee!!) and that's the engine that keeps us afloat. BUT - the negative is that 30,000 government employees were laid off. So, and this only makes sense, there is probably going to be a rash of government layoffs as states try to remain or get back to, being solvent, and therefore there are going to be more people looking for work. Hopefully, the private sector can keep hiring and we can offset those losses. But that means we will not be getting back to low unemployment any time soon.
But, like I said, there is a new reality. 3% unemployment, by any economists standards, is really low, and not sustainable. Many economists are saying that if we get in the 6-7% range, that is excellent.
With a looming government shut down, and I do believe the government will shut down, and state budgets that can't be sustained without massive spending cuts, we are in for a rocky road ahead. Added to this, gas is probably going to be at $4 a gallon this summer, meaning prices on everything are going to inflate.
We can not spend our way out of this mess. It's 10 years in the making, started by some fiscal policies at the end of Clinton (lead by a Republican Congress) and ending with President Obama. President Bush and his Republican Senate started a spending spree that we can not continue. Wouldn't it be nice if all the money they made from their book tours and speaking engagements went into the treasury? It's only fair, since they got us into this mess and were borrowing and spending away my children's future.
It's time to cut, save, and pay the bill. It's due.
And for the record, I believe we need to make serious cuts / changes to social security and medicaid. Those currently recieving pay outs should continue as per usual, but the retirement age needs to be raised and we need to change the pharamcy benefits. The only people benefiting from that crap piece of legislation are big pharma. And we need to cut education. I know people hate this. But there is such a beauroctratic red tape crap system that just SUCKS money into a hole that NEVER GETS TO OUR KIDS. Teachers are having to buy their own materials for their class rooms. Kids (parents) are having to bring in materials at the beginning of the year like tissue and crayons. We spend more money per student than any other country in the world and have very little to show for it. That's a tragedy. We need to start over. Because education administrators are bringing home 6 digit salaries. And teachers are n't incentivized to be better teachers.
Anyway. The bill is due. It's sad. But governments don't make money they take money. And there is less money to take so there's less money to give. The end.
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