Sunday, May 8, 2011

Slashing Budgets Even When They Don't Need To

Graphic from the Daily Kos shows some of the problem.
While our Repubic Party brethren are slashing and burning every dollar they can find in the federal budget (save for those that support the very rich in making even more money), the guy in the Virginia Governor's Mansion is going a step farther and cutting when there isn't even the need. My buddy Dan Casey of the local daily deals with the phonomenon in a fine column today (here).

Dan talks of the inconsistency of cutting Public Broadcasting funding while throwing funding at a movie ("Lincoln" by Steven Speilberg) to be made in Richmond.There is inconsistency all over the board, but the primary problem here isn't whether the cuts are consistent, it's there's a major philosophical gulf between the right and the left. The right's idea of proper government function--and, therefore, funding--is far different from the view from the left, or even a wide portion of the center.

The right has been cutting--deeply cutting--education funding for years and it now rests at such a low level that Virginia families can't afford to send their children to state-supported colleges. Money for roads and bridges and transportation has dried up and the infrastructure is falling apart amid cries of even deeper cuts.

Meanwhile, a story in USAToday yesterday tells of a federal tax rate that parallels that of the 1950s when the largest question about President Eisenhower was, "What you got again' Ike? He ain't done nothin'." And he, by god, hadn't if it cost a dime. Meanwhile, the Repubs got us into two wars (up to three now) while slashing taxes and we've built a deficit that they're blaming on the Dems. Some of it is sticking, not so much because it should, but because the Dems have the White House.

So, the cuts just keep on coming and the services just keep on diminishing. Look at the post prior to this one and you'll see what at least one offshoot of all those cuts is. Hint: on Mother's Day, our mothers are losing their place in the world.

1 comment:

  1. My belief is that the Republicans are cutting these services, not because they don't want them, but simply because they want them privatized. The profit motive drives them. Why "provide a service" gratis when someone can make money from it? I don't think there is any question the GOP, our Gov. being right in the middle of them, would ultimately like to see public education become a thing of the past. It's sad but true. Of course what also guides them is their belief that for every one person who might benefit from a government service, there are 10, mostly lazy Democrats, looking for a handout. In their view, if there is not profit incentive, why do it?

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