A VIEW FROM THE LEFT - THE MICHIGAN BUDGET BATTLE GOES ON AND ON AND ON...

Here comes a time when regardless of which side you stand, left or right; you must take a step back and look at the big picture of the Michigan budget.   Senate Majority Leader, Broken record Bishop continues to propose more and more cuts – none of which affect his lifestyle or the lifestyles of the wealthiest.  Instead, his cuts proposals dig deeper in to the poorest of our citizenry.  Cuts like:

* More money in the classroom through education reforms.

* Labor and wage concessions from public employees or on public projects when Michigan's unemployment rate exceeds the national rate by more than 20 percent.

* Cost reductions in the three main budget areas growing the most and representing more than 60 percent of the total budget. (Corrections, Medicaid, and Human Services).

The idea of more money in the classroom sounds great.  But will it be at the expense of classroom sizes and a reduction of teachers, or will it be from a reduction in teacher pay and benefits?  Bishop doesn’t really go in to that little detail.  He just leaves it at the catch-all ‘reform’. 

Labor and wage concessions from public employees.   Now I ask you, the reader.   How would you feel if your employer or clients decided that YOU make too much money for the hard work that you do?  After you have budgeted your income for yourself and your family; it would be just fine and dandy for you to simply, do with less”?  Would you just shrug your shoulders and accept this wage cut?  The constant call for wage cuts and concessions equates to a form of coercion.   Employees either concede to wage and benefit cuts, or will be threatened with the cutting of the jobs all together.  The employee has the choice to either lose their job, or take the wage cuts.  Put yourself in their situation.. how would you feel?  Just because we are talking about state employees doesn’t make them or their families any different that you and your family. 

Bishop and company really go aloof in the call for cuts in Medicaid, and Human Services.  Nearly everyone agrees that we need reform and cuts in the Corrections department.  However, advocating for cuts in Medicaid and Human Services is going to hurt those who need the help of others the most.  Cuts in these departments will harm seniors and children the most. 

The constant charge for more and more and more and more cuts is getting tedious.   Bishop’s all-out fear of a tax increase is beginning to reach the extreme Grover Norquist level.  Nearly every economist who has studied Michigan’s economy has agreed that a mix of both cuts and a tax increase are needed to bring Michigan back to prosperity.  Knowing this… we need to find that new tax.  The cuts have already been made time and time again. 

If Bishop and company do not like Granholm’s tax proposal… let them come up with the new tax or tax increase… on top of the previously made cuts.  They are wasting valuable time by politicking and stalling trying to come up with more and more cuts when they know that the “Revenue enhancement” is also needed to bring our budget and our state back to where it needs to be.

Guest Writer –

Jeff Winston
www.michiganliberal.com

Comments

[B Post]

Jeff,

In response to some of your points, I agree that we probably will need some sort of tax increase to solve the present budget dilemmas. But while so many possibilities of spending cuts that frankly seem common sense to me, why would we trust Government that has been so inactive in keeping an eye on spending all these years to actually get to those cuts if we allow the tax increase first?

In manufacturing we're almost rabid about the need for "lean" operations. That word "lean" is used thousands of times a day. We're asking the same be true of how our government is run where no competitive pressures are usually present to insure that we're getting value there. Well now there's pressure for the first time in a long time and is it any wonder that the private sector is demanding that Government work as hard as we do to keep costs down in industry?

As to the question of how I would like to have my benefits slashed? Of course I wouldn't like it. But in one year the company I work for raised the employee paid part of our health insurance premium from 7% to 27% of the total cost. Sure, we grumbled, but it also preserved our jobs by keeping us competitive and brought us into line with the industry standard for our products. So is it really that unreasonable to say that with rising health care costs that State employees are asked to pick up more of their premiums as well? Government and Education seem to feel that they are immune from the need to share these costs as long as they can spend tax payers dollars. That's why I don't feel that it is unreasonable at all that we have a better accountability of how our tax dollars are spent. We the taxpayers work hard for those dollars too!

[Mark]

Bleh - the same old "it's for the children" arguments. Raise the charter cap and we'll see the real explosion of reduced costs and improved education. Raising taxes to prop up the bloated public school bureaucracies and the bloated public teacher pension system does nothing to improve the system. More taxes will just hasten the decline of our state.

[Chuck E. P.]

I have to concur with Mark.

If you keep giving the public schools, bloated pension/health care system and state workers more and more of our tax dollars, they will keep taking all we give and never do real cut backs, real reform and improved programs.

Much like the open market, if you open it up, it creates better competition, lower prices and often better service as you can shop around if it does not.

Giving them unlimited dollars has not and will not be the answer.

Chuck

[Dan]

Charter schools have not reduced cost or have they improved education levels of the kids that go there compared to the traditional public school system they came from. Why is it that the charter school movement prefers to teach k-8 and does very little to almost zero in the 9-12 grade levels, money, the for profit charter companies are makeing large sums of money teaching the easy grades while leaving the rest up to the traditional schools. Charter schools have also takin away many students from the parochial schools that are now closing schools also. But at the end of the day i think we will see a compromise where the governor will get a tax increase and bishop an the right will get some cuts and compitition for health care benefits from the public school teachers, or an end to messa in other words.

[Mike]

You know, it's almost funny how little imagination the democrats have in this situation. The post from the republican on the budget situation actually proposes a large number of options for solving the problem - creative options. What do the democrats offer? Tax increases and accusations of hating the poor, elderly, and children. Boring.

[Cannon]

Mike,

You nailed it this time.

Same old lack of ideas on the left and same old accusations too.

The right at least has a laundry list of ideas that could possibly work. Will some have to take a hit, probably. Aren't we all really taking a hit already?

There's always pain when cleaning up previous messes (overspending, overtaxing, budget woes, those who got too much in good times and now need to cut back in bad times, etc.).

It's now or never.